More Newspaper Histories

Albany Bulletin 1884-1887 Semi-weekly, daily	In 1884 the semi-weekly Bulletin was started, and Orville T. Porter became its editor. He was credited by Editor Nutting of the Democrat (69) with being a “versatile writer, with a very extensive vocabulary.” In 1886 the Bulletin became a morning paper, daily except Sunday, continuing the semi-weekly. The next year it had disappeared.

Albany Sunday Telescope 1891-1891	The Albany Sunday Telescope was set up in 1891 by C. W. Watts publisher. The paper was four pages 13x18 inches. The circulation was reported at 850. The Telescope was soon dismounted.

Albany Populist 1893-1896 Weekly	The middle nineties, characterized by a flood of Populist and free-silver papers throughout the West, saw several started in Albany. The Populist, a Wednesday weekly, ran from 1893 through the 1896 campaign. The publisher was anonymously listed as the Populist Publishing Co.

Albany People's Press 1893-1903 Weekly	The People’s Press, a Socialist organ, was issued Fridays by A. D. Hale editor and publisher from 1893 to 1903. A sworn circulation of 1500 was advertised.

Oregon Silver Imprint 1896-1898 Weekly	The Oregon Silver Imprint, established in 1896 as a Wednesday weekly by Finch & Campbell, was edited the next year by J. A. Finch alone, and the next year, its last, by Johnston S. Smith. Another publication launched by Finch, the Bell, failed to last, and Finch moved to Portland. There he became a lawyer. His career ended in Salem, where he was dropped through a trap for shooting to death a fellow-member of the bar.

Albany Argus 1906-1906	Another short-lived paper was the Argus, published and run for a short time in 1906 by Paul B. Johnston.

Albany Citizen 1910-1910	Still another that failed to make the grade was the Albany Citizen, published in 1910 by Ethen N. Kibbey editor and Paul S. Ware business manager. It lasted only a few months.

Mill City Logue Western Stamp Collector 1932-	The Western Stamp Collector, a twice-a-week journal of nationwide circulation, established in Mill City, Marion county, in 1932 as a successor to the Mill City Logue, a struggling weekly almost dead from the depression, was moved to Albany in August 1935, leaving Mill City without a publication. The town had, as a matter of fact, been without a local newspaper for three years, since the Stamp Collector succeeded the Mill City Logue. Mr. and Mrs. Al Van Dahl, both of them linotypers on the Salem Capital Journal, had purchased the Logue in December 1930, just in time to run into the stretch of hard times which followed the panic in 1929. Mr. Van Dahl had been a co-publisher of the Baker Herald at the time of its consolidation with the Democrat, and he longed to get back into the publishing field. When the meager field threatened a loss of the firm’s working capital, Mr. and Mrs. Van Dahl gradually turned an old hobby of his into account by incorporating a philatelic section in his local paper. Before long this feature had overshadowed everything else in the paper, and the Mill City Logue and Western Stamp Collector was changed to the Western Stamp Collector, with the local news gradually giving place to the philatelic matter. The paper was made a twice-a-week in November 1934. The circulation, starting at a few hundred, climbed to 15,000 after the national scope was attained. Mr. Van Dahl devotes his time to the extensive correspondence and the editing, while Mrs. Van Dahl handles the circulation. At the time of the move the staff had grown to include a linotype operator, job man, pressman and assistant pressman as well as the two publishers, Al and Arlene Van Dahl. A new press, folder, another job press, and more magazines for the linotype were installed when the move to Albany was made.

Oregon Good Templar Oregon Granger Oregon Cultivator	Trade and class publications appeared and disappeared through the years. Among these were the Oregon Good Templar, started in 1871, M. C. George editor; the Oregon Granger, 1875, A. S. Mercer editor; Oregon Cultivator, agricultural organ, edited from 1873 to 1876 by N. W. Garretson.