Charles Lewis Dotson Biography


	This biography appears on pages 677-678 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				CHARLES LEWIS DOTSON.

	The history of journalism in South Dakota contains the name of 
one who is well known to the profession and whose work the public 
regards as largely a standard of that which is professionally ideal. No 
one ever questions the honesty of his policy or that of his paper, for 
it is well known that his position is never an equivocal one. If he 
fights he fights in the open; if he endorses a man or a measure all the 
world may know of his attitude upon the question. Men have thus come to 
believe in Charles Lewis Dotson, and though they may differ from him, 
they respect him. 

	Mr. Dotson is a native of Iowa, his birth having occurred in 
Jasper county in 1859. That was eleven years after his parents had 
established their home in that state, casting in their lot with its 
pioneer settlers. The country schools afforded him his early 
educational privileges, but he was ambitious to advance along 
intellectual lines and eagerly embraced the opportunity of attending 
the Christian college at Oskaloosa, Iowa, and later of becoming a 
student in a business college of Chicago. Following his return to 
Jasper county he engaged in teaching in a rural school for two years. 

	It was in that county that Mr. Dotson was married at Ira, on the 
31st of December, 1882, to Miss Fernanda Baker, who was born and reared 
in Jasper county and was also a student in the Christian college at 
Oskaloosa, while her husband was attending there. They have become the 
parents of five children. The young couple began their domestic life 
upon the old Dotson homestead, but after a year he turned to commercial 
pursuits, conducting a hardware store for two years. Subsequently he 
sold out and for a year and a half was upon the road as a traveling 
salesman for a wholesale hardware establishment. 

	Long prior to that time, however, he had made his initial step in 
the newspaper world as a correspondent writing under the nom de plume 
of Bob White when but fifteen years of age. He was correspondent for 
several weekly papers and his pithy sayings and breezy news notes soon 
brought him into prominence, leading to his ultimate connection with 
state papers as correspondent. It was after his experience as a 
traveling salesman that he removed to Des Moines and became identified 
with the Daily News of that city. He was afterward connected with the 
Iowa State Register, acting as local advertising manager for seven 
years. Subsequently he became business manager for the Des Moines Daily 
Capital, but after two years returned to the Des Moines Register, with 
which he was connected for four years. His experience was wide and 
varied, for he had not only been a writer but also advertising 
solicitor and business manager and thus be became thoroughly qualified 
for the successful conduct of a paper of his own. The possibility of 
ownership was the result of his close application, indefatigable effort 
and economical habits. With his arrival in South Dakota, in 1901, he 
purchased a half interest in the Sioux Falls Daily Press, his partner 
being W. S. Bowen, now editor of the Daily Huronite. In September, 
1907, Mr. Bowen sold his interest to W. C. Cook, at that time chairman 
of the republican state central committee. His political duties, 
however, so occupied his time that he employed W. R. Ronald, previously 
managing editor of the Sioux City Tribune, to edit the paper. On the 
30th of March, 1910, Mr. Dotson purchased his partner's interest and in 
time his son, Carroll B., became editor and still continues, while 
another son, Russell, is acting as associate city editor. At the time 
Mr. Dotson became half owner of the Press it was issuing two editions, 
the daily and the weekly, and in 1902 Mr. Dotson changed the weekly to 
the South Dakota Farmer, making it the only weekly farm paper in the 
state. Moreover it is the only farm paper in the state owned 
exclusively by a South Dakota man. 

	In politics Mr. Dotson has ever been an earnest champion of 
republican principles, and conducts his paper as an independent 
republican journal. Governor Byrne appointed him a member of the board 
of charities and corrections and upon its organization he was elected 
its president. He is a fluent and entertaining speaker. His oratorical 
powers are in demand at banquets and on other public occasions. He 
takes a most active interest in civic affairs and for three years has 
been president of the Sioux Falls Commercial Club. The building of the 
street railway in Sioux Falls is largely attributable to his efforts 
and many other works of public improvement owe their existence largely 
to him. One of his contemporaries in the field of journalism wrote of 
him: "Eleven years ago when C. L. Dotson came to South Dakota he was a 
stranger here. His identification with the Sioux Falls Daily Press, one 
of the two big family newspapers of the state, at once brought him into 
prominence and gave him a statewide acquaintance-- an acquaintance, by 
the way, that has worn well, one that has sunk deeper and grown broader 
with the successive years- until today it encircles the state. We are 
glad to have him with us.

	"Charles Lewis Dotson has developed one of the most essential 
elements of success in life- an organized will. His mind is analytical 
in the extreme. He reasons with the precision of a machine. When he has 
reached a conclusion he is as unyielding as the sphinx on the Sahara. 
Stubborn? No; merely determined. Stubbornness is the child of 
ignorance; determination is will power intelligently directed. It is 
this element in Dotson's makeup that drives him forward to certain 
victory." _