Table of Contents

Index

Volume List

Search All Volumes

Home

Page 141

When Texas (1845), New Mexico (1850), Kansas (1854), and Colorado (1861) decided upon their boundaries, cartographers discovered an oblong strip of unclaimed land remained. It was one hundred and sixty-six miles east and west, and thirty-four, and one-half miles north and south, and has been known as No Man's Land, the Neutral Strip (the Strip), Beaver County of Oklahoma Territory, and, lastly, Cimarron, Texas, and Beaver counties of the sovereign state of Oklahoma.

The Indians used the tract for a hunting ground until they were restricted to reservations. About 1870 cattlemen from New Mexico, Texas and Kansas began to extend their ranges into it; and along the eastern part two highways were worn by hundreds of thousands of cattle on the march from Texas to Dodge City, known as the Tascosa-Dodge, and Jones-Plummer Trails.

In 1886, following a proclamation of President Cleveland that No Man's Land was open for squatters, a great immigration began which brought the population up to nearly 15,000. In 1889, when the unassigned lands to the east were opened to homesteaders, most of the newer residents left for them, so that not many more than two thousand remained.

At this time No Man's Land had three towns, Kenton in the northwest corner near the Colorado and New Mexico borders; Hardesty, a mile from the mouth of the Coldwater Creek, and Beaver on the Beaver River about thirty miles from the east line. The last named had a population of two hundred persons, while Kenton and Hardesty were much smaller.

Oklahoma Territory established (1890), a great rush of homesteaders began which was increased by the building of the Rock Island railroad from Liberal, Kansas, to Dalhart, Texas. The population grew from 3,169 (1902) to 35,677 (1907).¹

Newspapers, in numbers quite out of proportion to population needs, were established in many small towns which resulted from this invasion. These were all weekly publications of a four page issue. The print paper came to the various offices in the form of large sheets, which were folded once. The inside pages, 2 and 3, were ready printed with "patent" material—stories of national figures, reviews of news, a short story, a woman's column, and a long list of humorous anecdotes, with some advertising for which the paper company received pay.

The name of the paper and date line, local news, exchange comment, a few brief editorials, rarely exceeding five hundred words,

Page 142

and the local advertising covered pages 1 and 4. The Hardesty Herald carried a half column of cow brand pictures, with owners range, and, for a time, the Beaver Herald did the same.

After 1890, space was taken by final proof and contest notices, and the reports of county commissioner proceedings, which forced advertising to the front page. E. E. Brown says the cost of equipment of an office in No Man's Land was about two hundred to two hundred fifty dollars. Two dollars and fifty cents bought five hundred sheets of print paper for one issue, and "it was hard enough to find the cash each week."

The press used at Hardesty was the oldest one in No Man's Land and it is a museum piece for in the American Dictionary of Printing and Bookmaking was found a picture of an old Ramage press which coincided exactly with the remaining parts of the Guymon press...R. B. Quinn stated that when he got the press it bore a plate. The name as he remembered it was something like "Bronstrub." Seemingly this ruled out the supposition that it was a Ramage Press. But shortly afterward in the American, Dictionary of Printing and Bookmaking the following paragraph was discovered: "Bronstrup Press. A Hand press formerly made by Frederick Bronstrup, the successor of Adam Ramage and having three sides...The material is chiefly wrought iron..."

Probably Bronstrup had some of Ramage's old wooden presses on hand and attached his name plate to them. There can be no doubt that the Guymon press is of the old Ramage type. Adam Ramage, the first press maker in America, began business in Philadelphia, 1800, and "was the only one of consequence in the country."² The Washington Press was the kind mostly used in the early days of No Man's Land though it was superceded by the Army Press in a few years. Both presses were operated by hand, printing one six-column page at a time.

When a man started a newspaper he was usually owner, editor and publisher. Many difficulties beset him. A heavy rain would cause the creeks to rise so the stage could not bring the print paper when it was expected. Repairs on the press were days away from the office and the subscription list was small, though almost everyone sent the paper "back home." An "ad" three columns square cost three to five dollars. "It was rare to have the advertising reach fifty dollars a month."³

A newspaper made a meager living for its editor and it is not surprising that the South and West advertised for "a few loads of chips" as payments on subscriptions and the Beaver County Demo-

Page 143

crat (1893) offered the paper in exchange for feed, chickens, eggs or butter. Dick Quinn (Hardesty Herald) burst into verse:⁴

Have you found that $ yet
     Hand it in.
We need it, you can bet,
     Hand it in.
We need it in our biz
To make this paper whiz,
It won't go less it iz,
     Handed in.

On April 29 of the same year this item appeared in the same paper: "We were asked to change $20.00 this week. Gentlemen, we are not a bank. "

It is difficult to characterize a newspaper of this period. The editor's opinion, choice of news, politics and experience made the policy of the paper—the editor was the paper. Although politics played a small part before 1890, editorials were favorable to either of the two leading political parties. The Hardesty Herald, the Beaver Herald and those so labeled were always republican. The balance of the field was democratic. After Oklahoma Territory was established, a constant and frequently bitter bickering began between the paper which won the county printing and those which did not. The defense of the county commissioners kept the lucky paper busy. As the county seat was at Beaver, the printing was given to local papers there.

The Cimarron News (Kenton) kept out of these quarrels, but spoke for the rights of the cattlemen, believing it was a mistake to use the semi-arid land for small farms. "Kenton was always a stockman's town."⁵ The Hardesty Herald was a friend of the "cowmen," also, though Dick Quinn lived close enough to Beaver City to keep in touch with politics there. Always ready to criticise those practices of the county commissioners, which he believed harmful, he maintained a constant editorial argument between their defenders and himself. Each subscriber reached for his Herald with the comment, "Well, I wonder what Dick's up to now." His view of ranchers and ranchmen follows: "We who have lived in Beaver County since the early days believe God made this country for the cattleman, and it is little less than a crime to destroy the natural grasses by plowing up the sod. We have seen this belief demonstrated both by the success of the cattleman and the failure of the man who confined himelf exclusively to farming."⁶

In the discussion of newspapers which follows, those which have not survived to 1940 will be completed when first mentioned. The last section will review the story of 1940 papers. It must be re-

Page 144

membered that frequently the early papers omitted the mast head which carried editor's and publisher's names. Therefore, changes in editors are recorded only as they are found in the mast heads of the papers filed at the Oklahoma Historical Society.

The newspapers of the Oklahoma Panhandle fall into three groups:

(1) Early: (a) No Man's Land and (b) Beaver County to 1900.
(2) Rock Island towns, 1900-1907.
(3) Oklahoma. Cimarron, Texas, and Beaver Counties, 1907.
(1) Early Newspapers—No Man's Land.

Four newspapers were established in No Man's Land, the Beaver City Pioneer (1886), the Territorial Advocate (1887), the Benton County Banner⁷ (1889), and the Hardesty Times⁸ (1889). The following can be listed as early papers, also; the Beaver County Democrat (1892), South and West (1894), and the Cimarron News (1898).

On June 19, 1886, the Beaver City Pioneer was launched at "Beaver, Neutral Strip," by E. E. Henley, who published the Fowler Graphic at Fowler,⁹ Kansas, a town about thirty miles north of Beaver City. The mechanical work on the Pioneer was done there. In the first issue Mr. Henley challenged the townspeople to support the paper for he had started it because he thought the town needed it.

In the account of the life of the paper the writer has been unable to find data to prove who represented the Pioneer at Beaver. The "brain food" was furnished by a stranger to local people. He showered attentions on the town girls so successfully that a rivalry sprang up between him and the cowboys. This was fanned into a flame when the crowd "hit the lumber with the leather" for the girls liked to dance with the new man and there were never enough girls to go around anyway. The cowboys vowed revenge and one night succeeded in getting the Pioneer man very drunk, when his face was painted in green stripes and his bald head, red. Then he was rolled in a "green" cowhide, hauled through the streets and tied to a hitching post before his rooming house.¹⁰ The newspaper ceased to be delivered thereafter.

E. E. Eldridge established the Territorial Advocate at Beaver City in June, 1887, sold it three months later to E. E. Brown¹¹ and

Page 145

George F. Payne¹² to be used for Boomer publicity. They changed the name to Beaver Advocate, editing it until 1899 when Mr. Brown moved to Oklahoma City. The first issues were printed on a Washington Press in a sod house.¹³ Mr. Payne spent much of his time cleaning up type cases since a tornado had taken off the roof of the office just before it changed hands. Many people "stopped in" to read the exchanges, the most popular of which was the Juneau (Alaska) Free Press.¹⁴

In 1892, Mr. Payne sold the Advocate to J. C. Hodge¹⁵ who sold to C. R. Wright in 1895. The name was changed to the Beaver Herald by Wright. The first women to edit a Panhandle newspaper were the misses Dolly and Lily Wright,¹⁶ daughters of C. R. Wright, who issued their first paper February 7, 1895. It was the best looking sheet which had appeared in Beaver County. W. I. Drummond¹⁷ bought the Herald, June 30, 1896, at which time he was assisted editorially by his father, I. S. Drummond.¹⁸ W. I. (Pete) Drummond bought the Enid Sun and sold the Herald to Noah Daves,¹⁹ Feb-

Page 146

ruary 17, 1898, who sold it to Franz S. Drummond²⁰ on December 29, 1898.

One of the ghost towns of Oklahoma, Benton was the home of the Benton County Banner, established by Extus Leroy Gay²¹ in 1886. Under the title ran the line "Benton, the Gem City of the Neutral Strip." The running line carried "Benton, Benton County, Indian Territory. It is sure to be the county seat because it is the exact center of the county." This is the one paper which recognized the Cimarron Territory organization in its set up. In fifteen months Mr. Gay sold to J. B. Nicholas and —.—. Kirtley who moved the paper to Beaver where it was named the Beaver City Tribune, January, 1890. Nicholas was sole owner before the first territorial legislature assembled. E. E. Brown assumed it died about that time for both men were interested in political affairs at Guthrie.

A party of men from Liberal, Kansas, visited Hardesty in May, 1889, to form a townsite. One of the party was Lambert Willstaedt, editor of the Liberal Leader. Dick Quinn²² persuaded him to start a paper and was employed to "get out" the Hardesty Times. The name was changed to the Hardesty Herald when it was taken over for back pay in about a year's time. This was probably the most widely read paper in Beaver County during its existence. The Beaver Herald, May 3, 1895, stated, "The Hardesty Herald, the oldest paper published in Beaver County, started on its fifth year last week." This must have caused a new thought, for shortly the Beaver Herald, assumed the volume number of its predecessor, The Advocate, and thereafter advertised as "the oldest paper in the county." Dick Quinn published his paper until May, 1900, except for a period of a year and a half when George Drummond²³ was owner, but

Page 147

he returned to the business world and Mr. Quinn resumed his work as editor of the "most unique"²⁴ paper of Oklahoma Territory.²⁵

When No Man's Land became Beaver County there was an ever increasing number of homestead entries which made final proof and contest notices a valuable asset to a paper. Frequently an editor's politics changed over night at the prospect of having these notices or the county printing. Land commissioners who owned papers prospered, and as they were appointed at Washington, it was not unusual to find a flourishing republican paper in democrat territory.

In the hurry and scramble of organizing pioneer communities, with their lack of individual responsibility, Oklahoma newspapers were conducted too often as a purely commercial enterprise; one being established by a political adventurer, another by a townsite promoter, and still another by what Oklahoma "hill billies" have learned to call "the special interests."²⁶

The Beaver County Democrat was started by Joe D. Carter in March, 1892. Two years later, February 22, 1894, Dr. J. R. Lindley bought it because he "had the county printing." In a few months C. F. Jenkins was employed as editor but he had some trouble with the land office at Woodward and left the country. Mrs. Jenkins left September 17, 1894, for Philadelphia to, make her home with relatives. In August the Advocate announced it was the only paper being published at Beaver City, so the Democrat must have died in late July.

South and West was another political adventure of Dr. Lindley. It was purchased by the Beaver Herald; May 13, 1897, after it had run from September 20, 1895.

Louis A. Wikoff,²⁷ who had been editor and publisher of the Springfield (Colorado) Herald, established the Cimarron News Au-

Page 148

gust 11, 1898 at Kenton and continued its career until March 24, 1910. W. E. (Billy) Bolton of the Woodward News and of the Livestock Inspector said that no one but Dick Quinn could print a paper at a place like Hardesty and "make a go of it." But Mr. Wikoff was printing a paper four days' travel from the county seat—if the weather was good—yet he kept alive an interest in affairs at Beaver and in Oklahoma, most praiseworthy since Kenton was a town almost "forgotten" by the politicians at Beaver City.

Franz S. Drummond who bought the Beaver Herald had for his assistant Maud O. Thomas, who purchased the paper February 17, 1902, thereby becoming the Panhandle's third woman editor.

When the Rock Island railway company decided to build southwest from Liberal, Kansas, the center of population of Beaver County shifted to a diagonal line along the railroad. New towns were located: Tyrone moved a few miles west to become a prospective county seat town; Guymon was platted by Liberal men; Hooker was a Chicago Townsite company's "boom town," and Teghoma was platted by J. A. Robertson who had homesteaded it. The railroad ran excursions every other week in the early 1900's to bring home seekers to look over the country, and the growth of the towns and population was rapid.

Guymon had the first newspaper. In 1900 it became known the Rock Island would not build through Hardesty. Early in May Dick Quinn loaded his printing office and equipment on five wagons and drove to a switching point on the railroad called Sanford. Here he set up his press to print the Sanford Herald. After a few weeks had passed the railroad asked to have the name of the town changed. Guymon, to honor E. T. Guymon of Liberal, one of the townsite organizers, became the permanent title for the earlier Sanford. The Guymon Herald flourished, for its editor was U. S. Court Commissioner, so the paper was crowded with final proof notices. In 1903, three to five pages were devoted to them, or contest filings. Hardesty and Hansford County ranchers transferred their subscriptions and allegiance as the Herald's editor became an influential politican. March 29, 1906, the paper had 1200 paid up subscriptions, and by June 21 of the same year, 1300. Warren Zimmerman,²⁸ who had

Page 149

been manager of the Chandler News bought the Guymon Herald March 14, 1907. It continued to grow under his direction and was regarded as the best business success of any paper in the Panhandle. Mr. Zimmerman sold the paper, December 15, 1915, to own and publish the Liberal (Kansas) News.

The Guymon Democrat was started under the leadership of M. G. Wiley, an attorney, January 17, 1907, "to pick plums for the democrats."²⁹ Mr. Wiley and J. Porter Wright were joint editors until February 6 when the latter sold his interest to Mr. Wiley and C. B. Baxter³⁰ became manager. The paper was purchased by E. N. Faris in 1910 and was sold to Rev. R. A.³¹ and Miss Mildred Baird³² February 1, 1912. Mr. Baxter bought from them November 26, 1913, and was publisher until February 13, 1919, when J. I. Denny of Guymon Herald consolidated the two papers under the Herald title. During the period from April 1, 1918 to February 13, 1919, D. J. Murr had an interest in the Democrat, though he worked on the Goodwell News at the same time. For a time in 1915 J. C. McConnell assisted Mr. Baxter.

The Hooker Advance began publication February 19, 1904, under the direction of Jesse S. Moffitt. It was started as a "boom" paper for a "boom" town, carrying a double column, half page section, titled: "Tell the Truth about Hooker." J. Henry Shields³³ acted as editor in Mr. Moffitt's absence. May 10, 1906, the paper became republican. July 6, 1906, the editor was appointed U. S. Court Commissioner for Hooker. The building and press were destroyed by fire June 7, 1908, at an estimated loss of two. thousand dollars. In 1906 the paper claimed a circulation of one thousand.

Page 150

During the period when the greatest number of homeseekers was coming into the Rock Island area, the Hooker Advance was outspoken as the settler's defender and protector against the cattlemen. A spirited exchange of editorials between the Advance and the Guymon Herald lasted for several years, for the latter believed the cattlemen, as first comers, should have consideration, as well as the settlers. Not the Hooker Advance! It aided in the organization of a "New Settler's Convention," an independent political organization, anti-cattlemen in spirit, but which wanted county offices for its members, also. The movement died down when the homesteaders became so numerous that ranching was impossible.

The Hooker Republican was established by H. P. Fluhart in 1906, but the Advance changed to the same party that year, so it is probable the newer newspaper was short-lived.

H. W. Hill³⁴ founded the Tyrone Observer May 5, 1904, consolidating with the Tyrone Leader, whose editor was G. W. Griffith, March 15, 1905, and gave it the name Observer-Leader. J. F. Carter purchased it two days later and sold it to W. V. Goforth, August 31, 1906. Mr. Carter continued to manage the paper for Mr. Goforth and for Mrs. Frank Belle Healy³⁵, when she purchased the Tyrone Observer, as it was again called, August 31, 1906. J. S. Maynard,³⁶ who was to purchase the paper three times and sell it twice, bought it in November 1910 for the first time.

Two newspapers have been published in Texhoma; the Texhoma Times which was established in September 1904 by J. E. Kerr, and the Texhoma Argus founded in January 1907 by Joe L. Buckley. The Argus, under the editorships of V. M. Grant and T. H. Davision, ceased publication December 3, 1914. The Texhoma Times was sold to J. W. Scroogins, a Texan, who edited it for about two

Page 151

years, when the U. S. Court Commissioner, J. S. Fisher³⁷ became its owner, August 30, 1907. Under his management the Times made a splendid growth and was widely quoted.

The Optima, Optimist, C. E. Brown editor, appeared October 29, 1905, and continued under his direction until May 4, 1917, when H. M. Holman succeeded him. The paper ceased publication November 9, 1918.

In addition to the newspapers established in the Rock Island area, five were started in the vicinity of Beaver. George H. Healy³⁸ and John W. Savage³⁹ started the Beaver Journal in 1904, but for some reason their names did not appear on the mast head until July 1, 1904.⁴⁰ A revived ("reincarnated") Beaver Advocate appeared about the same time, edited by H. E. G. Putnam⁴¹ and J. W. Culwell.⁴² It looked "as tho' there was a plan on foot to get the county printing."⁴³ The Advocate and the Journal were purchased by W. L. Beardsley⁴⁴ January 20, 1905. The united papers were issued as the Beaver Journal. Mr. Culwell was sole editor November 14, 1905, with a "Republican paper qualified to do legal work." J. C. Fisher bought the Journal the same year but was succeeded by

Page 152

W. T. Quinn⁴⁵ with C. M. Parr and E. B. Quinn as assistants, in 1906. They built up a good business when a fire destroyed the office, fixtures and all subscription and account books, valued at $2,000, in 1909. The good will was sold to the Beaver Herald.

J. S. Fischer and W. L. Beardsley began the Gate Valley Star the second week of April, 1905. Miss Edna S. Beardsley⁴⁶ moved over from Beaver to do the editorial work. Mr. Fischer was sole owner June 3, 1907, but L. L. Beardsley⁴⁷ took over the paper November 20, 1907. For a time (May 23—September 11) the newspaper was printed by F. S. Nipper, owner and publisher of the Englewood (Kansas) Tribune, on the Tribune press. In an early editorial Mr. Nipper wrote he would buy a new press for the Star, but Mr. L. L. Beardsley resumed management September 11, 1908, on the old press. His father, W. L. Beardsley, was in charge April 9, 1909. No copies of the paper are available dated later than this. The paper was published for a time by one of the Beaver papers. The editors during that period were Pearl Holliday, Bernidine Wiles and Arthur J. Stevens. A fire destroyed the Star plant in July, 1923, but Mr. Stevens was urged by the citizens of Gate to install a new press.⁴⁸ The Beaver Democrat absorbed it, however.

The Beaver County Democrat, "the only democratic paper in the county," was founded by W. B. Newman, July 7, 1906. Until L. B. Tooker⁴⁹ became owner June 18, 1908, there were a number of owners; A. J. R. Smith, with Bob Dickson, editor, October 1, 1907; F. C. Tracy and W. H. Willhour, joint owners, January 16, 1908. Mr. Tooker began to build up a strong newspaper by purchasing a number, of small town publications which had been started in places where there were not enough people to support them; the Forgan Enterprise, La Kemp (or Lakemp), Mirror, and Ivanhoe

Page 153

News. A. L. Kimball⁵⁰ and A. W. Cog bought the newspaper September 30, 1920, after which date it was known as the Beaver Democrat. Three years later Mr. Kimball, then sole owner, purchased the Beaver Herald and consolidated the Ivanhoe Independent, the Beaver County Republican, Farmer's News (Knowles) to form the Herald Democrat August 1, 1923. H. H. Hubbart bought the paper, May 17, 1928, and continues to publish it, and the Forgan Advocate today (1940).

The following were associated with The Beaver County Democrat:

When the Beaver Herald was purchased by Mr. Hubbart to form the Herald-Democrat, its long career as a republican paper came to an end. Since Mr. Hubbart left the name Herald first in the title, the writer has carried the Beaver Herald in the last section, when doubtless the Democrat should be there, instead.

Page 154

When Okahoma became a state, Beaver County was divided into three almost equal parts. The new names with their county seats were: Cimarron (Kenton); Texas (Guymon); Beaver (Beaver).

Kenton, located in the most northwesterly part of Cimarron County, accepted the general opinion that a county seat must be in the center of the county, "sat back to see what would happen."⁵⁷

Soon, seven towns organized more on paper than elsewhere, began a race for the prize, making one of the unique county seat fights in the history of the United States . . . and which sent two men to the penitentiary. The surest way to reach the voters was through the newspapers, though some of the villages of a handfull of small homes were too poor to buy any. The towns which did were Jurgensen, Hurley, Cimarron, Doby (Adobe Wind Mill), and Boise City.

Jurgensen's Cimarron Courier, with J. F. Carter⁵⁸ and J. Q. Denny, owners and editors, started the contest March 7, 1907. After three months Mr. Carter withdrew and Jurgensen's chance passed away for the Union Townsite Company, promoters for Cimarron, purchased the paper, changed the name to Cimarron Citizen and set up with Roy Rudolph, editor.

Then, J. F. Carter began (or reestablished) the Courier at Doby early in December where it had to be sorted for mailing twelve miles away as Doby had no post office. The Courier remained at Doby until it was apparent the county seat would be located elsewhere. The plant remained idle until it was moved to Boise City where it died in a few months. In September 1909 all the equipment was loaded in wagons and moved to Inka, Kansas, where Mr. Carter would start a new paper in a new town.

Hurley's paper was started October 11, 1907, by F. M. McKinney,⁵⁹ J. S. Fischer and W. E. Krieger.⁶⁰ After statehood J. Q. Denny purchased the plant and moved it to Boise City where he was U. S. Court Commissioner for Cimarron County. The paper, renamed the Boise City Tribune, July 31, 1908, was sold to R. C. Thomas to be absorbed by the Cimarron News (at Boise City), June 8, 1911.

Mr. Wikoff sold the Cimarron News to Roscoe C. Thomas who moved it to Boise City, the successful county seat aspirant on March 24, 1910. Ten years later it was sold to S. M. Koukel and F. S. Graves of the Springfield (Colo.) Herald-Democrat. Mr. Koukel remained in Colorado and Mr. Graves edited the News. H. W. Kes-

Page 155

ler and V. H. Shumway bought the paper April 7, 1921. J. S. Miller bought the interest of the last named March 9, 1922. Mr. Kesler was sole owner a year later and continued to edit the paper until Roy Butterbaugh⁶¹ and Fred Krieger bought it February 15, 1926. They operated as partnership until January 15, 1927, when Mr. Butterbaugh became sole owner.

The name of the News was changed to Boise City News July 25, 1930.

The following were associated with this paper:

There were four other newspapers started in Cimarron County which Mr. Roy Butterbaugh has summarized as follows: The Boise City Enterprise was born March 27, 1922 and died December 20, 1922. The three others were short-lived: the Keyes Advocate, Felt Enterprise, and the Ramsey Rig and Reel.

After building of the Santa Fe railroad from Elkhart to Felt through Keyes and Boise City, a paper known during its short life as the Keyes Advocate was established by Arthur Godown May 4, 1927. Having no plant, Godown had the mechanical work done by the Cimarron News. This arrangement was not satisfactory to the supporters of the paper, however, and after a few months the Keyes Chamber of Commerce acquired enough equipment to produce the paper at home. The News kept the paper alive until the commercial

Page 156

body put its plant in operation. Their editor, a Mr. Campbell, began slipping after a few months and the plant was then sold to Graves and Kesler (formerly Cimarron News). After operating the paper about a year this management suspended publication.

After the oil strike in Cimarron County in 1927 by Ramsey brothers, and subsequent laying out of the townsite of Ramsey, ten miles north of Boise City, a paper called the Ramsey Rig and Reel was established by R. B. McDermott of Las Animas, Colorado. Graves later became connected with it but no equipment was ever moved in, the mechanical work being done at Las Animas, Boise City and Stratford, Texas. When the potential oil field failed to develop, publication of the paper was suspended.

The other was called the Felt Enterprise, established at Felt in 1930. The founder, A. E. Clark, inaugurated a whirlwind circulation contest with his first issue, published two issues and disappeared. The postal department called the action "use of the mails to defraud" and his "reward" was five years in Leavenworth. The Enterprise was not revived.

Texas County, also, had a number of papers which did not last very long. Goodwell had the News, the Independent and the Farmer. Mr. H. E. Scholl writes that, during the Guymon-Goodwell contest for the A. & M. school, the Goodwell News was about to die for lack of support. He was persuaded to buy the paper, although he had "worked for a few months as solicitor and writer for the Guymon Herald. Jethro Scroggin, an itinerant newspaper worker was hired at a wage of eighteen dollars per week and his wages took all and more of the cash receipts for the first year, then I found it compulsory to get along without his help. I put the business on a paying basis and sold to a Mr. Hickey, another itinerant newspaper man who sold to V. W. Grant." Mr. Scholl⁶⁴ was editor from June 18, 1908 to December 3, 1910. J. Q. Denny absorbed the paper when he consolidated the Guymon Herald, Guymon Democrat, and the Goodwell News March 1, 1919. The Goodwell Independent was published by the Guymon Democrat and was absorbed by the Panhandle Herald January 6, 1927. Mr. Scholl states that V. W. Grant acted as publisher for a longer term than any other editor.

R. B. Quinn returned to the newspaper business with the Guymon Tribune in September 1921, which he published until the end of 1926 from the old Herald office. It contained many No Man's Land experiences and a series of sketches of "old B. C." and his wife Matty. Mr. Quinn was appointed U. S. Marshal in the spring of 1926 and left for Oklahoma City, placing his daughter, Florence,

Page 157

in charge of the newspaper. It was sold to Giles E. Miller to be absorbed by the Panhandle Herald.

The following were associated with this paper:

Page 158

The files at the Historical Society have no issue which states the change to a "daily, except Sunday." On November 23, 1933, the mast head carried this information, and the number of the issue was changed to daily issue numbers.

The following men were associated with the newspapers listed below:

Page 159

Forgan, a new town, was started in Beaver County when the Santa Fe extended its line to Felt (1912). It has had the surplus of newspapers that came to many Oklahoma villages. The Forgan Enterprise, Forgan Democrat and the Forgan Eagle left the Forgan Advocate in control of the field.

The Forgan Enterprise was started by Leroy B. Tooker who began the movement of consolidation of newspapers of less strength, and the following were associated with it:

The Forgan Eagle was established by L. L. Beardsley in February 1927 and sold to Chauncey V. Rice in 1918 and absorbed by the Advocate.

The Forgan Advocate had the following editors:

Lakemp, now a ghost town, had two papers; the Mirror and the Citizen. The Mirror had the following men associated with it: