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Newspaper The Hardin Herald (Hardin, Mont.) 1919-1925

About The Hardin Herald (Hardin, Mont.) 1919-1925

In 1907, the Lincoln Land Company platted the town of Hardin on the edge of the Crow Indian Reservation on land open to non-tribal settlement. Although the town did not incorporate until 1911, E. H. Rathbone, whose previous work included founding the Fergus County Republican in Lewistown, Montana, in 1890, published the first issue of the Hardin Tribune on January 10, 1908. Harry A. DeTuncq purchased the paper from Rathbone in August 1909 and ran it for the next nine years.

R. A. Vickers, the Tribune’s editor, bought out DeTuncq in 1918. The next year, the Hardin Herald published its first issue and the small town supported two papers until they merged to form the Hardin Tribune-Herald in 1925. Around the same time, J. E. Patton started another paper in Hardin, the Searchlight. The Tribune-Herald and the Searchlight quickly became rival papers, competing for the Big Horn County printing contract. The competition moved to the courts, where a judge determined that the Tribune-Herald was the only legal bidder for the county contract. The Searchlight ceased publication in 1927, and the Tribune-Herald continued to bring news to the people of Hardin and Big Horn County.

In their early years, the Tribune and Herald focused on local and county news. The weekly paper published articles about county commissioner meetings, school updates, and the growth and development of Hardin mixed with obituaries, as well as local marriage and event announcements. It also reported on national and state politics and served as a booster for agricultural and business development. While Hardin sits next to the Crow Indian Reservation, the newspapers gave minimal coverage to the tribe, instead continually promoting the sale of reservation land opened to non-tribal settlement in the 1910s and 1920s.

In 1938, Hollis and Helen Johnson purchased the Hardin Tribune-Herald and at least one of them had a hand in publishing the paper until 1973. Helen took over after Hollis passed away in 1947. Under her ownership, the Tribune-Herald continued to promote the business interests of Hardin and Big Horn County and provided readers with regular features, such as the County Agent’s Column on local agricultural conditions. The paper also extensively covered the planning and construction of the Yellowtail Dam on the Bighorn River from its authorization in the 1940s to its completion in 1967, giving particular attention to debates surrounding the sale of Crow lands necessary to build the dam.

Helen Johnson, who remarried and changed her name to Helen Peterson, became first female president of the Montana Press Association in 1966 and ran the paper until she sold it in 1973. The new owners renamed it the Hardin Herald, and after a series of publisher changes the paper became the Big Horn County News in 1988.

Provided By: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Hardin Herald (Hardin, Mont.) 1919-1925

Dates of Publication

  • 1919-1925

Created / Published

  • Hardin, Mont. : Hardin Herald Pub. Co., -1925.

Headings

  • -  Hardin (Mont.)--Newspapers
  • -  Hardin (Mont.)--History--Sources
  • -  Montana--Hardin
  • -  United States--Montana--Big Horn--Hardin

Genre

  • History
  • Periodicals
  • Sources

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  -v. 5, no. 29 (Jan. 14, 1924 [i.e. 1925]).
  • -  Began July 1919 Cf. Gregory, W. Amer. newsp., 1821-1936.
  • -  "The Farmers' Independent Weekly Newspaper."
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 3, no. 50 (June 9, 1922).
  • -  Hardin tribune (DLC)sn 86075230 (OCoLC)13749704
  • -  Hardin tribune-herald 2996-4105 (DLC)sn 86075229 (OCoLC)13749664

Medium

  • volumes

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn86075231

OCLC Number

  • 13765187

Succeeding Titles

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Chicago citation style:

The Hardin Herald Hardin, Mont. -1925.

APA citation style:

The Hardin Herald Hardin, Mont. -1925.

MLA citation style:

The Hardin Herald Hardin, Mont. -1925.