Ear: Papers

“Some Reminiscences of Astoria Journalism,” in The Daily Morning Astorian, Sept. 4, 1887:

• A good many have asked, “what is that 10 cent piece there for?” referring to the silver dime of date 1873, in the middle of the “O” in the word “Office” in the glass in the front door of The Astorian office. That is said to be the original 10-cent piece that D. C. Ireland had when he started the (Tri-Weekly) Astorian (on July 1) in 1873 …

Note: The Astoria Marine Gazette, started by H.R. Kincaid in August 1864 as a weekly Republican paper, was Astoria’s first newspaper. In 1865, W. W. Parker took over as editor. It ended its run in 1867.

Other Astoria newspapers that were published before the story’s September 1887 date included the Advocate, issued in 1872 by Rev. T. A. Hyland, “which had but a brief existence.”

In December, 1883, A. W. Berry, J. W. Welch, and C. J. Curtis formed a corporation to start the Daily Independent. It changed owners, and when Snyder Brothers & Conner took over, they changed the name to the Gateway Daily Herald, which met its demise in 1885.

In October 1886, the Astoria Advertiser popped up, with G. W. Snyder as the publisher, along with the Astoria Transcript, with Snyder Bros. as publishers, following shortly thereafter. The Transcript was a “weekly paper, clean in tone and carefully edited”; the Astoria Library has microfilm of its editions up to 1889.