Clatsop County OR Archives Biographies.....Dellinger, John S. 1866 - 
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Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com February 16, 2011, 2:57 am

Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 977 - 979
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     JOHN S. DELLINGER.  Endowed with exceptional force of character, a keen 
intellect and that indomitable spirit which spurs the individual ever onward 
and upward, John S. Dellinger, editor and owner of the Morning Astorian, has 
had a career of intense activity and marked usefulness. He is one of the best 
known newspaper men in the west and also one of the most progressive, is a 
leader in agricultural circles of Clatsop county and a power in Oregon 
politics. Mr. Dellinger was born in Union county, Pennsylvania, in 1866 and 
his parents, H. R. and Sarah Ann (Dubbs) Dellinger, were also natives of that 
state. As a young man the father engaged in teaching school and in 
merchandising and later became a civil engineer. For many years he served as 
county surveyor and superintendent of public instruction of Grant county, 
Nebraska. His life's labors were terminated in 1912 and the mother passed away 
a few years previously. Their forbears were natives of Holland and the 
American progenitors of the family came to this country before the year 1700. 
One of Mr. Dellinger's ancestors was a colonel under General Washington during 
the Revolutionary war, Colonel Dubbs of Pennsylvania, who not only gave his 
services to the cause but his fortune. On both his mother's and father's side 
his forefathers were in the war of the Revolution, and an uncle of John S. 
Dellinger was a Union soldier who lost his life in the battle of 
Fredericksburg. Mr. Dellinger was named after this uncle.

     Mr. Dellinger was a child of four when his parents went to Iowa and his 
education was acquired in the public schools of Jefferson and Scranton. In 
1882, the famous "smallpox year," he went to Lake City, Iowa, securing 
employment on the Blade, then published by T. B. Hotchkiss, and remained with 
the paper until the fall of 1883. During the smallpox epidemic, which claimed 
almost fifty per cent of those stricken, after he recovered from the disease 
he helped nurse the sick and bury the dead. He was almost wholly without 
funds, but nature had endowed him with unmeasurable gifts. A youth of 
seventeen, he was of prepossessing appearance, of sound physique and strong 
mentality, but the one characteristic that attracted everyone to him was his 
unfailing good humor, hearty good nature and inherent optimism, which enabled 
him to look beyond the various setbacks and misfortunes that assailed him. 
Leaving Lake City in 1883 practically penniless, Mr. Dellinger went to 
Fremont, Nebraska, and soon afterward located in Arlington, that state, where 
he founded The Enterprise. Abandoning this, he transported his plant and 
machinery to Scribner, thirty-one miles away, and started the publication of 
The News. Six weeks later he disposed of the plant and went to Valentine, 
Nebraska, where he published The Republican during the Blaine campaign, 
espousing the cause of that statesman. There he remained for a year and then 
removed to Fremont, where he owned the Fremont Journal for six months. The 
Hooper Sentinel was his next newspaper property and after leaving there he 
founded The Nebraska Statesman at Broken Bow. The Mason City Transcript and 
the Anselmo Argus were subsequently issued by Mr. Dellinger and in conjunction 
with The Argus he founded another paper at Broken Bow, The Daily World. Going 
to Grant county, Nebraska, he entered a tract of land in that section in which 
the Burlington Railroad Company was about to extend its line and in 
conjunction with the road laid out the town Hyannis on his land. The people of 
the new settlement wanted it named Dellinger in honor of his father, but as 
many of the railroad officials were from Massachusetts, the names of that 
state were given many western Nebraska towns on the Burlington and Hyannis was 
given the preference. Mr. Dellinger owned a cattle ranch near Hyannis, of 
which he was first postmaster, and he also had the distinction of being the 
first county clerk of Grant county. There he founded The Hyannis Tribune and 
later went to Alliance, where he purchased The Argus and continued its 
publication. At Marshland he founded The Tribune and went from Alliance to 
Chamberlain, South Dakota. During the famous state capital fight between Huron 
and Pierre he published The Chamberlain Daily Tribune, espousing the cause of 
Pierre.

     Mr. Dellinger next decided to locate in Oregon and disposed of The Daily 
Tribune, transporting the plant to Bay City. He established its first 
newspaper, The Bay City Tribune, which he issued for eighteen months, and then 
discontinued the journal removing the plant to Astoria, where he established a 
job printing, blank book and bindery concern. The Astoria Daily News was 
published for a time by him from this plant and the Nehalem Herald was a 
protege of his. In 1898 he shipped a complete newspaper plant to Skagway, 
Alaska, and founded The Morning Alaskan. Although he did not issue the paper 
in person, he personally directed its fortune and was the owner of the first 
daily newspaper published in Alaska. At Warrenton, Oregon, he published The 
Port Oregon Tribune. In 1903 the opportunity was presented to him of 
purchasing The Morning Astorian, of which he availed himself, consolidating 
with it his bindery and blank book establishment. Since he acquired the paper 
it has made notable strides and now is excelled only in influence and prestige 
by The Portland Oregonian. He has equipped his plant with the latest presses 
and machinery. The Morning Astorian, by the way, had the first linotype 
machine in use west of the Rocky Mountains. After the disastrous fire which 
visited Astoria in 1922 he completed the first permanent building here and 
occupied it in less than sixty days, erecting a class A structure.

     Mr. Dellinger is not only an expert newspaper man but also a scientific 
farmer, being the largest farmer in Clatsop county, has done much to advance 
the standards of agriculture in Clatsop county, and at one time was the owner 
of a narrow gauge railroad used in development of the cranberry industry — the 
only railroad in the world, Fred Lockley said, that "started in a mint julep 
patch and ended at Cullaby Lake amidst good fishing." In 1912 he purchased a 
large tract of marsh land fourteen miles southwest of Astoria and planted 
forty acres to cranberries. He was one of the pioneers in this field of 
activity, in which he has achieved notable success, and is the largest 
producer of this fruit in Oregon. During the harvesting of the crop he employs 
about one hundred and fifty pickers and each year ships and distributes over a 
trainload of famous Dellmoor cranberries. He has installed cleaning and 
grading machines and the work is further facilitated by large packing houses. 
Mr. Dellinger introduced the eastern blueberry plant into Clatsop county and 
has also demonstrated that this fruit can be successfully grown in this 
section of the country. In 1921 he was elected president of the Berry Growers 
Association of the Northwest and for a number of years has been the executive 
head of this association. He is a recognized authority on the subject of fruit 
raising and is also a prosperous dairyman, having a fine herd of Jersey cattle 
on his ranch. "Dellmoor" is regarded as one of Oregon's show farms.  
     
     In 1912 Mr. Dellinger was married in Portland to Miss Gertrude Stahley, a
native of Salem and a member of a family of Oregon pioneers. John Stahley, 
their only child, was born in Astoria in 1914 and is attending the public 
schools but spends his vacations on the farm, evincing a keen interest in 
agricultural pursuits.

     Mr. Dellinger belongs to the Oregon Society of Sons of the American 
Revolution and to the Elks lodge of Astoria. His Masonic affiliations are with 
Harbor Lodge, No. 183, F. & A. M., of Astoria, and Al Kader Temple of the 
Mystic Shrine at Portland. In Oregon politics he has long figured prominently 
and has been a member of the executive committee of the state republican 
central committee and chairman of both the county and city central committees. 
He is an ardent advocate of good roads and through the columns of his paper 
encourages every movement for the betterment of his city, county and state. 
Throughout his career Mr. Dellinger has been a builder, directing his energies 
into those channels through which flows the greatest and most permanent good 
to the largest number. He belongs to that class of men who are destined to 
lead in everything that they undertake and his activities have been of far-
reaching extent and importance and most beneficial in their effects. A keen 
judge of character, he never fails to recognize and appreciate the good in 
others and his friends are legion.

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