The PRESS OF AROOSTOOK COUNTY, Maine.

Source for the above: "The Press of Maine" by Joseph
Griffin 1872 Brunswick, Maine


Contributed by New England Old Newspaper Index
Project of Maine (R)
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/1460 and
the Androscoggin Historical Society
http://www.rootsweb.com/~meandrhs Copyright.  All
rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm




BY THEODORE CARY.


AROOSTOOK PIONEER, The establishing of the first
paper in Aroostook County is largely due to the
efforts of Joseph B. Hall, Esq., who, as he writes
us early in 1857, "conceived the idea of starting a
newspaper literally in the wilderness." Public
attention at that time was in some measure turned to
the fertile lands of Aroostook, and he thought a
newspaper would do much towards drawing settlers
into this new county.  Little was known of the vast
resources of this then remote region except what was
obtained from the annual reports of the Land Agent
to the Legislature, and Mr. Hall's scheme was
considered by almost every one to whom he commu-
nicatcd it as, being visionary and impracticable,
and all doubted its success.  Mr. Hall was then
Secretary of the Maine Senate, and while then
engaged in finishing up the work of the session, he
in-duced W. S. Gilman, a printer and compositor in
the Maine Far-mer office, to join him in his new
enterprise.

The prospectus for the Aroostook Pioneer was printed
at the Farmer office, and was written by the late
Dr. Holmes, then editor of the Farmer.  The paper
was to be published by Hall and Gil-man, and edited
by Joseph B. Hall.  The prospectus was sent out, and
there were soon gathered in the county and from
other parts of the State eight hundred subscribers. 
The old office of the Bangor Gazette, consisting of
an old hand press and a quantity of type, was
purchased by Mr. Hall and transported on a team from
Bangor to Presque Isle.  The office was located over
Winslow Hall's store and the first number of the
Pioneer, the first paper ever printed in Aroostook,
was issued in the fall of 1857.  The project proved
a success.  Mr. Hall continued to edit the Pioneer
until February, 1860, when his connection with the
paper ceased. It then had a circulation of about two
thousand subscribers.  He sold out his interest as
publisher at the close of the second volume, in
1859, for reasons which we give in his own words: "I
advo-cated the building of a railroad to Aroostook,
as a means of its development, and the following
winter the Legislature passed a bill in aid of such
a road, to be submitted to the people for their
approval.  I strongly advocated its adoption, others
differed, and this was the commencement of a bitter
hostility to me personally:'

After the retirement of Mr. Hall the Pioneer was
carried on by William S. Gilman, as editor and sole
publisher, assisted at dif-ferent times by Warren A.
Plummer, Daniel Stickney, and George Curtis, Jr.,
who in the absence of Mr. Gilman (he being away from
his post much of the time), have taken entire
editorial charge of the paper.  In January, 1868,
the Pioneer was removed from Presque Isle to
Houlton, where a larger field of operation was of-
fered and better inducements for success held out
to: Mr. Gilman, the editor and publisher.

AROOSTOOK DEMOCRAT. The Aroostook Democrat, the
first political paper printed in the county, was
started at Houlton in the month of April, 1860, by"
an association of Democrats." The first two or three
issued of the paper were printed at the Democrat
office in Bangor, being principally made up of
matter taken from the Bangor Daily Union. Afterwards
the publication was assumed by Messrs.  Madigan,
Mansur, Trueworthy and Co. at Houlton, and edited by
William Bartlett, a Bangor printer.  In August,
Zebulon Rowe, sheriff of' the county, bought out the
paper, but found it a losing operation. The Democrat
did not receive the support of the Douglass wing of
the party, and the election, State, county, and
National, going against the Democracy that year, the
publication of the paper, af-ter a hard struggle for
a brief existence, was discontinued in No-vember,
1860.  The press and material were subsequently sold
and removed into the province of New Brunswick.

AROOSTOOK TIMES. The Aroostook Times, the first
paper ever printed at Houlton, was established April
13,1860, by Theo.  Cary, editor and publisher, some
two years after the Pioneer at Presque Isle, which
then ably advocated the interests of northern
Aroostook.  As there was no paper printed at the
shire town, we saw that the field was open and that
another paper would be useful and highly conducive
to the best interests of our section of the county,
and believing that it could be made self-sustaining
we started the Times, not as a ri-val of the
Pioneer, but as a co-laborer with that sheet, in the
work of giving information concerning the vast and
varied resources of Aroostook County and of opening
up the wilderness lands to set-tlement, which at
that time was attracting large numbers of emi-
grants.  The Times was not started as the organ of
any party, but as an independent paper, and has
since maintained that character, devoting its
energies to the best interests and welfare of our
beau-tiful young county.  During the war it did not
hesitate to array itself on the side of loyalty and
patriotism, and was always uncom-promising in its
support of all measures adopted by the govern-ment
for the suppression of the rebellion.  It was among
the first, after the Presidential election of 1860,
to sound the note of alarm and to strengthen the
hands of all union men, when the rebel States were
arming and making every preparation for seceding
from the Union and destroying the government.  It
has lived to see the rebellion crushed and the
country restored to peace.  The Times was started
with a list of about 500 subscribers, which has been
gradually increased without the aid of canvassers.
We un-dertook the enterprise with no practical
knowledge of the business, either as editor,
publisher or printer, and have succeeded beyond our
expectations - never having received pecuniary
support from any one to whom we have not paid dollar
for dollar.  During the eight years in which the
Times has been published, it has not failed to
appear promptly on the day of publication.  It has
been our aim to make a paper that will attract
subscribers to its support, without personal
solicitation, and experience has confirmed us in
this course.  The size of the Times when started was
32 X 22, six columns to a page; in June, 1867, it
was enlarged to a sheet of 36 X 24 inches, seven
columns to the page.  Within the last ten years our
town has increased in population and wealth, and
con-sequently the receipts from advertising, job-
work, and sub-scriptions are much more satisfactory
than formerly ; but truth compels us to admit that
had we devoted the same time, energies, and capital
to almost any other branch of business, the
pecuniary result must have been still more
satisfactory.

AROOSTOOK HERALD.

The fourth paper printed in this county was the
Aroostook Herald, the first number of which was
issued on the 24th day of June, 1860, by Joseph B.
Hall, editor and publisher.  It had a subscription
list, to start with, of something over four hundred
subscribers, which was increased to over a thousand
before the end of the first year.  It was Republican
in politics, and for the first time the Republicans
carried the county, electing their entire ticket
that year.  At the meeting of the Legislature in
1861, the ,editor, Mr. Hall, was elected Secretary
of State, and he associated with him Mr. George
Curtis, Jr., who had charge of the paper as editor
while Mr. Hall's was at Augusta.  In the spring of
1862, Mr. Hall, with other parties, projected the
starting of a new daily paper at Portland, to be
called the Portland Press.  The Herald was
discontinued and the material removed to Portland,
and the subscription list was merged in the Maine
State Press.


LOYAL SUNRISE.

The publication of the Loyal Sunrise was commenced
at Presque Isle August 5, 1863, by D. Stickney and
Co., publishers, and Dan'l Stickney, editor, under
not very favorable circumstances ; five persons had
offered to pay for thirty copies, and some thirty
others promised to patronize it, As Mr. Stickney
informs us, fifteen hundred copies of the first
number were printed, which were sent to as many
different persons, with a request "to send a dollar
if they thought the paper worth more." The editor
said in that issue that the paper was intended for
those who had "brains," and if any one should
receive it who was conscious of being desti-tute of
that indispensable article, to return the paper
immediately - nine copies only were returned.  In a
few weeks the Sunrise bad four hundred subscribers. 
The material for printing the Sun-rise was brought
from Bangor, by Mr. Stickney, with one horse at one
load; hence, says Mr. S., "I suppose for that
reason, if for no other, it might properly have been
called a I one-horse newspaper.'  " For the first
two years the press-work was done in the Pioneer
office, taking the forms to and from that office.
Until January, 1867, all the type-setting, making up
the forms, and all the mechanical work of the paper
was done by females, and the most of the time
entirely by one young lady.  The Sunrise from the
outset has been an unconditional, loyal paper, and
the aim of its editor has been to give it a pure and
unexceptionable moral tone, to advocate earnestly
every moral reform and improvement, to promote the
interest of every worthy object, encourage social
order, education, and everything which conduces to
the elevation and improvement of society; and we
believe that be has accom-plished much good in this
direction.  In his note to us Mr. Stick-ney says,
"Perhaps I have been, sometimes, somewhat radical
and severe, possibly to a fault ; yet nevertheless I
have felt that good and patriotic men have always
been ready to pardon something for the spirit of an
earnest, and I hope an honest, old man." Mr.
Stickney never had any experience in publishing, and
but little in editing, until be commenced the
Sunrise.  In February, 1868, the paper was sold to
Messrs.  Glidden and Rowell, who have since
published it under the name of Sunrise, having
dropped the "Loyal." Mr. Stickney is retained, and
he continues to wield a vigorous pen in the capacity
of political editor.  The Sunrise is now printed on
a sheet 30 X 24 inches, a little larger than when
first started.


NORTH STAR.

The North Star was commenced, Jan. 1872, at Caribou
and Fort Fairfield, by W. J. Sleeper and Son, edited
by the senior partner.  It is well printed upon a
sheet 36 X 24.  Terms, $2.00 a year.  Judging from
the number (31, vol. 1) sent us, the paper is
independent in politics.  One half of it is taken up
with business notices; the other well filled with
matter of interest and utility for family reading.
One column of the paper is printed in the Swedish
language ; also advertisements in Swedish; about
three columns are in French ; the remainder English.
Circulation weekly, 750 copies.  This paper is said
to be taken by every family in New Sweden.