History: History of Eau Claire Newspapers, Eau Claire Co., WI, 1857 ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, or the legal representative of the contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Nance Sampson 16 March 1999 ==================================================================== Over Dozen Newspapers Served Eau Claire Area a Century Ago The Eau Claire Press Co. with its two papers The Eau Claire Leader in the morning and The Daily Telegram in the evening, has roots that stretch back over a century both in the community and in Northwest Wisconsin as well. With a combined circulation of 35,000, these two papers cover 14 counties of the northwest offering not only state, national and international news but local and area coverage as well. The Eau Claire Leader, published this morning (1968) and covering mostly the area around Eau Claire, with a special State section, the Northwest News, was first begun in 1881 by W. H. Lamb. At that time it was one of more than a dozen daily and weekly newspapers in the city. Many of these died while a few merged. But the Leader survived the crises common to most newspapers of that time and thrived to become an important institution in the Northwest. The Leader was taken over by William K. Atkinson of London, Ont., in 1885. He was assisted by his sons Percy C. Atkinson, and Harry M. B. Atkinson. W. K. Atkinson (known as the "Major") was also assisted for a time by a brother, Henry M. Atkinson (known as the "Colonel"). Percy Atkinson later took over as publisher. His son, Marshall B. Atkinson, is now president of the Eau Claire Press Co., publisher of both newspapers. The Daily Telegram was begun in December of 1894 by William Irvine. In August of the following year it was sold to W. P. Welch and A. J. Rich. A short time later it was incorporated as the Telegram Publishing Co., with Welch, C. W. Fiske and G. A. Barry as incorporators. W. P. Welch remained as editor until 1913. In 1899 E. S. Welch became a stockholder and business manager until 1907. In that year C. W. Fiske took over as manager. The Free Press, which had been started in this community in 1857, was taken over by the Telegram Publishing Co. in 1901. This was the oldest existing paper in Eau Claire at the time. In 1912 the Leader and the Telegram were merged as the Eau Claire Press Co., with Fiske as the first president. At that time the two papers continued as separate entities with separate, though similar, news and editorial policies. Today the policies are the same. However the main news pages of the papers present an entirely different and new view of the news-of-the-day each morning and evening. It takes a staff of 98 fulltime and 20 part time employees to put out the two daily editions of the paper. In addition to these there are 55 steady correspondents in the area along with a large number of occasional contributors. The shop has the business of making the news into a newspaper. The men and women of this department have the job of setting up the type, making up the pages and preparing these pages into lead cylinders for the press that prints the papers. In the city, where the Telegram has a circulation of 13,000 copies daily, there is a crew of 152 newspaper deliverers, the youngest independent businessmen in the world. The annual payroll of the company is $800,000. And the annual paper consumption for the two papers reaches 1,800 tons per year. Another large expense of the business is for telephone and telegraph which averages $1100 per month. News rarely comes to a newspaper office of its own accord. Most always it's acquired by a lot of work and a lot of concerted effort. Both the United Press International and the Associated Press furnish the Press Co. with the latest in state, national and world happenings of the moment. The AP photfax furnishes the paper with the latest in news photographs, with photos from all over the country coming in each five minutes. Besides these pictures, the AP and other featrues services furnish both photos and stories that have reader interest. These latter not only include news but comics, cartoons, helpful hints and other matters of information and enteratinment for the readers. The news of the wire service is handled by two wire editors who must cut, weigh and glean, to give the readers themost important, the most interesting and the most desireable news ot come from around the world. Not all the news that comes across the wires each day could possibly be put in any one edition, for the paper would become too bulky and the reader hard put to decide what was important. These men then, one for the morning and one for the evening paper, must decide not only what the reader should be informed about but also what he or she wants tobe informed about. The wire men also supply the state, national and international copy for another part of the paper -- the sports department. Here, the sports editor and his two assistants compose the pages, which bring to sports fans the results of a varied amount of these events throughout the nation and world. This department has the responsiblility of satisfying the curiosity of fans for a number of different kinds of sports and also for explaining local sports happenings to people who may not necessarily be fans but who are interested in local and area activities. On the local beat, three reporters cover the courts, city hall and council, sheriff's department, police, fire department, health department, civic affairs and functions, meetings and such aspects of life as make news. These three men are backstopped by both the city editor and the state editor who often can handle more of a news story from a telephone than can be done on the streets. There are also two full-time photographers who record graphically, what occurs each day. On the area side, each day's mail brings in a large amount of news from the 55 correspondents. This is run through the mill of the state editor and the assistant state editor. Also this editor covers the area himself on news stories, features and such large events as fairs and centennials. Especially for the woman readers, the society page covers the weddings, anniversaries, births, meetings and other events of the woman's world as well as offering beauty, fashion, cooking and home information for its particular readers. Another aspect of the Leader and Telegram, beneficial both to the businessman of the community and to the reders as well, is the work of the advertising employees. They cover the town with beats almost comparable to those of a reporter collecting advertisements of the merchants, assembling them into appealing newspaper displays and presenting them to the readers in the simplest and most impressing form. The advertiser who is the highest-paying customer of the paper, profits from the readers who see what he has to offer and patronize his business. For the reader, who is the most important customer of the paper, the ads offer a chance to see what is being sold and at what price. And these ads he can read at his own leisure, deciding what it is he wants, choosing and comparing. In this respect the Eau Claire Press Co. is considered the greatest advertising medium in Northwest Wisconsin. In January of 1965 the company moved into a new $700,000 building at 701 S. Farwell St., leaving its old buidling at 405 S. Barstow St. which it had occupied for nearly 50 years. At the same time, a new and larger press was installed, together with much other new equipment. Besides Atkinson, president, the officers of the company are L. W. Graaskamp of Irvington, N.Y. vice president and Charles Graaskamp, secretary and treasurer. --Taken from the Eau Claire Leader / the Daily Telegram, Progress Edition, 1968