Multnomah-Klamath-Lake County OR Archives Biographies.....Beach, Frank Wilbur August 29, 1862 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com October 23, 2009, 1:23 am Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 69-71 Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company One of the most widely known newspaper men and publishers of the coast country is Frank Wilbur Beach, editor and publisher of the Pacific Northwest Hotel News, at Portland, in which enterprise he has realized a notable success, having made of it one of the leading publications in its line in the country. Mr. Beach was born at Brighton, Washington county, Iowa, on the 29th of August, 1862, and is a son of Martin H. and Sarah M. (Walsworth) Beach, the former a physician by profession. In 1879 they moved to York, Nebraska, where Dr. Beach practiced for a time, later locating in Waco, Nebraska, where, in addition to his practice, he owned a drug store. Selling out there because of continued ill health, he located in Klamath Falls, Oregon, in 1881, and practiced medicine and ran a drug store at Linkville until 1885, when he disposed of his interests and moved to Lakeview, Oregon, where his death occurred in 1888. He was survived many years by his widow, who passed away in 1924, at the age of eighty-three years. Frank W. Beach received a public school education and learned the printing trade. He and his brother, Seneca C. Beach, bought a small weekly paper at York, Nebraska, which they moved to Waco, that state, and started the Waco Weekly Star. His brother had previously had practical experience as the publisher of a Sunday school paper in Chicago. A few months later the boys moved their plant to Stromsburg, Nebraska, and established the Stromsburg Republican. They found the merchants of that place to be young and progressive men, who wanted a newspaper, and all but one gave the new enterprise their support, and that one the largest merchant, joined with the others within six months. They built up a good business there, but in the fall of 1881 Frank W. Beach sold his interest in the paper and came to Linkville (now Klamath Falls), Oregon, and engaged in the hotel business. In 1883 he went to Lakeview, Lake county, Oregon, and became editor and publisher of the Lakeview Examiner, which at that time was defunct. He ran it a year but was not satisfied and sold it, after which he returned to Linkville and there met Harry Loos, the humorous editor of the Greka (Cal.) Union, with whom he helped establish The Klamath Star, for Mr. Bowdoin, whose son lives in Klamath Falls. In the following spring he went back to Lakeview and took over the Lakeview Examiner, being at that time joined by his brother, Seneca. In the fall of 1889 Mr. Beach sold his interest in the paper to his brother and came to Portland, where he remained until the fall of 1890, when he went to Lakeport, California. He had a republican paper as a competitor but it closed shop a few months later. In 1894 Mr. Beach sold his paper and was in the county assessor's office until 1898, when he was elected county recorder, in which position he served several years. Soon after entering that office, the man who had formerly been his competitor there started a paper at Oak Park, California, and sent for Mr. Beach to assist him in getting it established. Mr. Beach acceded to his request and in return was offered a half interest in the paper if he would remain, but he declined and returned to Lakeport, where he continued to serve as county recorder until 1902. In 1903 he went to Mendocino, California, where he edited and published the Mendocino Beacon until 1910, after which he went to Concord, that state, where he ran the Concord Transcript a short time. He was editor of the Daily Standard at Martinez until 1912, when he returned to Portland and bought the Pacific Northwest Hotel News, a weekly publication, the official organ of the Oregon State Hotel Association. This paper is nine by twelve inches in size, carries from twenty to twenty-four pages, and circulates throughout the Pacific northwest. It is ably edited, is attractive typographically, and under Mr. Beach's judicious management is making very satisfactory progress. Fred Lockley, in the Oregon Daily Journal of January 9, 1928, printed the following interesting interview with Mr. Beach, on the question: "How did you earn your first money?" "This will be my sixteenth consecutive year as secretary of the Oregon State Hotel Association," said Frank W. Beach, when I interviewed him recently. "I am also publisher of the Hotel News. When I was a small boy I was paid fifty cents a day for running the roller on a Washington hand press on press days from seven P. M. to two A. M. This was at New Sharon, Iowa. I was eleven years old at the time. When I was eighteen my brother, Seneca C. Beach, and I bought a defunct Greenback paper at York, Nebraska. There were a few cases of old-fashioned, well worn type and that was about all. The paper had been printed by locking the forms on the stone, placing a dampened paper on the forms and rolling the forms with a homemade roller made of galvanized iron filled with concrete, over which was placed a blanket. At best, the printing was bad; at its worst, it was impossible. My father, who was a physician, lent us his horse and buggy on press days, and we locked up the forms and drove to the county seat, eight miles distant, and had our paper printed on the press of one of the papers there. "When I was in my teens I worked for a time on a farm in Nebraska. I remember one year we had a big crop of corn. The most we could get for it was eight cents a bushel. Coal was nine dollars a ton, so we burned corn instead of buying coal. With money secured from selling corn at eight cents a bushel Seneca and I bought a newspaper plant for seventy-five dollars. We ran this paper about a year, just about breaking even, so we moved to Stromsburg, Nebraska, which was the end of a stub line of the Union Pacific railroad. We secured promises from the merchants there of advertising support, so that we moved there. We picked up a second-hand Washington hand press at Lincoln, Nebraska. "In 1881 my father moved to what was then known as Linkville, Oregon, but is now called Klamath Falls. We moved there because Captain D. J. Ferree, an old-time army officer, was a friend of my father and advised him to come out and grow up with the country. Captain Ferree was postmaster at Naylox, which was his farm house and toll gate for the Modoe Point toll road, and he made me his assistant. He also had the government contract on the star mail route from Linkville to Fort Klamath. He owned the stage station. The stage left Linkville at four A. M., stopping at Ferree stage station where the passengers ate breakfast. The passenger business was very profitable, as the army officers and soldiers were constantly coming and going between Fort Klamath and Linkville. Captain Ferree always presided at the table. He frequently served beef and pork and occasionally he had bear meat and venison. Venison was so popular with the passengers that he hit on a happy expedient. He had a band of goats, and thereafter venison was one of the regular courses served. Not one person in fifty could tell the difference, as the goats practically ran wild and had a gamey flavor. "We arrived in Linkville in October, 1881. Charles Cogswell, an attorney at Lakeview, heard that I was a printer. He wanted to keep Lakeview on the map, so he sent word for me to come and take charge of his newspaper. When I arrived there I found the newspaper plant had been packed up ready for shipment across the California state line, fifteen miles away. The former owner of the paper had skipped out, taking the subscription list with him, and the paper had not been issued for some time. At this particular time no paper was being published either in Klamath or Lake county. I had to unpack the outfit, lay the cases and issue the paper. I also had to build up an entirely new list of subscribers. "I found the prospects for the paper were not particularly bright, so I decided to let Mr. Cogswell hire somebody else and I would go to Portland. When I arrived at Linkville on my way to Portland, William Bowdoin and Harry Loos, of Yreka, insisted that I stay in Linkville and help start a paper there. This was in 1883. Harry Loos was the publisher of the Yreka Union and had been induced to go to Linkville to help get things going. Klamath county had been created the preceding year. Before that it had been handed around to various counties. First it was a part of Wasco county, then a part of Jackson county, and then a part of Lake county. When Klamath county was organized there were about seven hundred residents. The county government was formally organized at Linkville in November, 1882. I decided to stay in Linkville and help get out the proposed paper. Harry Loos was a genius. He should have been a humorist or an actor, for he was both, instead of a newspaper man. Anita Loos, his daughter, who was born in Yreka, is the author of 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes!' She evidently inherited her father's literary ability. "After a few months Mr. Loos decided to get from under, and left me in charge of the paper at Linkville while he returned to Yreka. After running the paper at Linkville about one year, I received a telegram, signed by Charles Cogswell and Fuller Snelling, the county clerk, asking me to come at once to Lakeview to take over the paper there on favorable terms. They had come into possession of it by mortgage foreclosure. Upon going there I found they were anxious to get rid of the paper and would turn it over to me on my own terms. I bought it and ran it for a year, at which time my brother Seneca came and I took him in as a partner. I sold my interest in the paper in 1889 to my brother Seneca, and not long thereafter, or, to be exact, on May 30, 1890, I married Flora A. Stanley, whose father was assessor of Lake county, proprietor of the Lakeview house, owner of a sawmill near there, and also one of the pioneer stockmen. "With my bride I went to Colusa county, California, where we ran a resort for a year. From there we went to Lakeport, where I bought a paper called the Lakeport Democrat. I changed its politics to republican and its name to the Lake County Bee. Prior to my coming there A. C. Jackson, veteran publicity man for the Union Pacific, recently retired, had owned the Lakeport Democrat. The man who ran the other republican paper when I went there decided to run me out, but within a year his paper suspended and he shipped the plant elsewhere. After two years, because of the business depression, I sold my paper and became chief deputy to the county assessor. I held this place four years and then ran for county recorder, was elected and served four years. I refused to run again. I went to Mendocino and for seven years ran the Mendocino Beacon. From there I went to Concord and ran the Transcript two years, and for a time was editor of the Daily Standard at Martinez. In 1912 I came to Portland and took over the Pacific Northwest Hotel News, with my brother, Alvin Y. Beach, which we have run ever since. It gives an opportunity to write effectively for temperance and law enforcement." To Frank W. and Flora W. Beach were born four children, as follows: Curtise L., who resides in Portland; Pearl, who is the wife of Edwin Parr, of Vancouver, British Columbia; Frank W., Jr., who is a civil engineer in California; and Gwendolyn, who is at home. Mrs. Beach died in 1912, and in 1919 Mr. Beach was married to Miss Mabel Howard, of Portland, who had taught school prior to her marriage. To them has been born one child, Joyce, now six years of age. Mr. Beach is a member of the Woodmen of the World, the Gideon Club and the Portland Realty Board, the latter relation because of the fact that he is conducting a brokerage business for the sale of hotels, in which he has been very successful. Earl H. Ogden is in charge of the brokerage department, and A. Levy is in charge of advertising. Mr. Beach is an earnest member of the Hinson Memorial Baptist church and is a director of the Union Bible classes conducted by Rev. Sutcliff, and a director of the Union Gospel Mission. He has shown a deep interest in everything pertaining to the welfare of the community and the advancement of civic and moral standards, standing consistently for the better things of life. A man of sincere purpose, strong individuality and agreeable address, he commands to a marked degree the confidence and respect of all who know him and has a host of loyal friends throughout the community. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/bios/beach882gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 13.2 Kb