Clatsop-Umatilla County OR Archives Biographies.....Drake, Lee D. May 5, 1882 - 
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Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com January 24, 2011, 1:48 pm

Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 785 - 787
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     LEE D. DRAKE.  No citizen of Astoria has shown a more public spirited 
attitude towards interests affecting the welfare of the community than has Lee 
D. Drake, manager and one of the owners of the Astoria Budget, which under his 
management has developed into one of the most progressive, efficient and 
popular newspapers in the Columbia River valley. Personally and through the 
columns of the Budget he has been a constant booster for Astoria and has 
contributed in very great measure to the progress and development of his city 
and county. On March 12, 1924, after an interview with Mr. Drake, Fred Lockley 
printed the following in the Oregon Daily Journal:

     "When Ray Andrews said that purpose, punch and persistence will bring you 
your heart's desire he must have been thinking of Lee Drake, native son of 
Umatilla county, Oregon. 'Where was I born?' said Lee, repeating my 
question. 'I was born on a ranch in Umatilla county on May 5, 1882. I got into 
the newspaper game early. I started delivering papers for my dad when I was 
six years old. My father was agent for the Oregonian at Pendleton for thirty-
three years. Sometimes it makes me smile when people say they have to get up 
early to get to work at eight-thirty. When I was going to school at Pendleton 
I used to get up at three o'clock in the morning to get the Spokane Chronicle. 
I had to have the papers delivered by four o'clock, because at four o'clock I 
reported to J. P. McManus, proprietor of the Pendleton Tribune, and carried a 
route on the Tribune. I had to get these papers out of the way by five 
o'clock, for at five o'clock we met the eastbound train to get the Portland 
paper, and I carried a route on that. Then I hurried home, got my breakfast 
and went to school. After school I carried a route on the East Oregonian. So 
you see I kept pretty busy. This was during the Spanish-American war and 
people were very anxious for papers; so I had big routes, which kept me on the 
go.

     "'The first actual work I did on a newspaper aside from carrying a route 
was in 1891, when I was nine years old. I got a job from C. S. Jackson to work 
as printer's devil on the East Oregonian. Felix Mitchell was foreman. That was 
when he was getting out the New Year's edition of the East Oregonian, the 
finest special edition ever issued in eastern Oregon. When I was fifteen I 
went to work on the East Oregonian as assistant pressman. Dave Ingram was 
pressman. I always took to machinery. Every once in a while our steam engine 
would go on the blink and we would have to hire a woodsaw engine to furnish 
the power to run the press. Dave let me take the steam engine to pieces and 
rebuild it. I not only greatly enjoyed this job, but I made it work; so we had 
no more trouble with it. I was getting nine dollars a week.

     "'About the time of the Heppner flood I struck the business manager for a 
raise. I wanted ten dollars a week. He couldn't see where I was worth ten 
dollars; so we parted company. The East Oregonian occupied the evening field 
and the Tribune the morning field; so I went in with W. S. Dunbar and we 
issued a paper at noon called the Pendleton Guide. We also took job work. It 
went from the start. Within a year we had paid for our presses and outfit and 
were out of debt. When Dunbar died I sold my interest in the shop and went to 
the Tribune as pressman. From the pressroom I went to the ad alley, and 
finally became foreman. The East Oregonian had decided it could afford to pay 
me ten dollars a week; but by that time I decided I wanted fifteen; so it 
finally concluded to have me come back, paying me fifteen dollars a week. I 
went to the "E. O." as general utility man, setting up jobs and helping in the 
pressroom. Finally I was given charge of the mechanical department. Later, 
when the advertising manager sold out and went to Boise, I became advertising 
manager. One of the partners in the paper, Bert Huffman, sold and went to 
Alberta, while you sold your one-quarter interest in the paper and came down 
to Portland to be with the Pacific Monthly. Ed Aldrich, one of the reporters, 
and I bought a one-third interest each on credit. Before long we had paid out 
from the profits of the paper and owned the paper. The present firm consists 
of Fred Lampkin, Ed Aldrich and myself. In addition to my duties as 
advertising manager, I took over the work of superintendent of the mechanical 
department.

     "'When we bought the Astoria Budget a good many people prophesied we were 
biting off more than we could chew. We have not only chewed it successfully, 
but digested it, because we doubled the circulation of the Budget within a 
year of purchasing it, and we increased the business from a little over thirty 
thousand dollars to nearly one hundred thousand dollars a year.

     "'My theory of making a success in the newspaper business is to be active 
in public affairs. In other words, the more altruistic things a man does the 
more he will prosper financially. When Pendleton wanted to put on a frontier 
show, I was made publicity man, because I was in the newspaper business. It 
was up to me to suggest a name; so, having been brought up in Umatilla county, 
and having seen lots of round-ups, I said, "Since we are going to round up a 
lot of frontier attractions, why not call our show the Round-Up?" We asked for 
suggestions for a slogan, and from these I picked the famous "Let 'er Buck." 
Because I realized that the crowds who came to the Round-Up wanted something 
to do in the evening, with several others I organized a show called "Happy 
Canyon." In addition to having served as volunteer publicity man for the first 
two years of the Round-Up, I also took over the duties of stage manager of 
Happy Canyon, and served in that capacity for every show at Happy Canyon since 
it was started until 1922.

     "'Down at Astoria the people were mighty good to me. They made me 
president of the Chamber of Commerce, president of the Astoria Rod and Gun 
Club and president of the State Sportsmen's Association, and have given me 
various other offices. A little group of us got together recently and put the 
Astoria Ad Club on its feet, and we recently promoted the first Community 
Style Show at the Astoria theater. I was honored by being made director of the 
show. We had seventy models, with one hundred and fifty showings. We filled 
the Astoria theater to capacity two evenings.

     "'I married Miss Frances Hager in 1904, and our son Jimmy, six years old, 
is going to be a chip off the old block, for he looks exactly like his dad, 
and before long he will be carrying a route as the first step on the ladder 
that leads to the ownership of a newspaper.'"

     Mr. Drake is a son of James A. and Josephine (Dolsen) Drake, who came to 
Oregon in 1876 and here the father engaged in farming during his remaining 
years. Both are now deceased. Lee Drake received his education in the schools 
of Pendleton. His activities in the newspaper field have been referred to in 
the preceding paragraphs and it is only necessary to add that he is still 
devoting his attention closely to the Astoria Budget, of which he is the 
manager. The Budget was originally established in 1892 by O. W. Dunbar, as 
editor and publisher. During the ensuing years it changed hands a number of 
times and the last owners before Mr. Drake became connected with it were John 
F. and W. E. Gratke, who sold it to the Astoria Budget Publishing Company, the 
officers of which at that time were, E. B. Aldrich, president; M. R. Chessman, 
vice president; Lee D. Drake, secretary and manager; and F. W. Lampkin, 
treasurer. The Budget is an evening daily, of from eight to sixteen pages, all 
home print, and has the United Press and N. E. A. news service. Shortly after 
Mr. Drake and his associates took over the paper, the plant was completely 
destroyed by fire, but a new building was erected and a complete and up-to-
date equipment installed. The Budget, which is independent in politics, is 
still rapidly increasing its circulation list, has become one of the best and 
most popular advertising mediums in this section of the valley, and is a 
welcome visitor to practically all the homes of this locality.

     Mr. Drake is a member of the Woodmen of the World, of which he was consul 
commander in 1906, being at that time the youngest man ever to hold that 
office. He is a past exalted ruler of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks 
at Pendleton, and belongs to the Astoria Rotary Club, also the Neighbors of 
Woodcraft. He is not only a past president of the Astoria Chamber of Commerce, 
but is a director of the Clatsop County Chamber of Commerce, also a director 
of the Oregon State Chamber of Commerce, in which he belongs to the state land 
settlement committee. He was also president of the State University 
Conference. In his political views he is registered as a republican. He has 
always taken an active interest in outdoor sports and at one time served as 
president of the Eastern Oregon Baseball League. He was for a number of years 
a member of the Oregon National Guard, and at the time of his retirement, in 
1910, was commander of Company L of the Third Regiment. At the state rifle 
shoot of the National Guard in 1908 he was the winner at slow fire at all 
ranges. During the World war he served as county chairman of the War Savings 
Stamp sales, in which capacity he did effective work. As president of the 
Astoria Chamber of Commerce, he was a leader in the work incident to the 
rehabilitation of the city after the great fire of 1922 and in countless ways 
has shown a public-spirited and progressive attitude towards matters affecting 
the prosperity and progress of Astoria and Clatsop county. Because of his 
business ability and success, his sterling character and his splendid 
personality, he commands to a marked degree the confidence and esteem of his 
fellowmen.

     On September 1, 1928, Mr. Drake with his associate owners of the East 
Oregonian and Astoria Budget, took over the Twin Falls Daily Times of Twin 
Falls, Idaho. He is president of the corporation that publishes this paper, 
which has been changed in name to the Idaho Evening Times, and is now acting 
in the capacity of manager to both the Astoria Evening Budget and the Idaho 
Evening Times. With a chain of three newspapers 750 miles apart, Mr. Drake is 
already confronted with the need of covering more space space in less time and 
is considering trading in his automobile for an aeroplane.

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