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Chronicling America
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Newspaper Wallowa County Chieftain (Enterprise, Or.) 1909-1911 Wallowa chieftain

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About Wallowa County Chieftain (Enterprise, Or.) 1909-1911

The Wallowa Chieftain was first launched in Joseph, Oregon, on May 15, 1884, by a group of local businessmen headed by Frank D. McCully.  The Chieftain began as a six-column, four-page weekly distributed on Thursdays at $2.00 for a year’s subscription, serving the communities of Joseph and Enterprise in the newly founded Wallowa County.

In part, the paper functioned as a sounding board for regional economic boosterism.   McCully remained in the background as a financial backer for two years before formally taking a position as manager, conducting the paper until 1892. In 1893, Editor Ernest Duerselen oversaw the transfer of the Chieftain to the town of Enterprise, a political move by local Republicans designed to check the influence of Wallowa’s Populist Party. Soon after, William E. Beers took over publication, replacing Duerselen with Frank A. Clarke, but maintaining the paper’s political opposition to the Populists until 1896.

The Chieftain reported national and international news in addition to local bulletins through the use of press ready-prints. In 1884, the front page featured women’s, children’s, and editor’s columns, poems, short stories, and advertisements. By 1888, the paper expanded to eight pages. McCully added a regular “Women and Home” section in 1892 that highlighted the habits of Victorian women. By 1902, the Chieftain included a serialized fiction segment that featured sections of popular novels by authors such as Arthur Conan Doyle. In 1909, women’s fashion became a mainstay of the “Women’s Realm” column and the “Farm and Garden” section provided gardening tips to the Chieftain’s readers.

The Wallowa Chieftain downplayed issues of race and ethnicity in the early editions. In advertisements, Chinese immigrants were depicted as foreign, exotic practitioners of “celestial” medicine and science. However, the paper’s report of the massacre of Chinese miners at nearby Hells Canyon in 1887 appeared sympathetic to the victims. Though the paper was named after Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, coverage of Native American issues was thin and ambivalent, and Chief Joseph’s public request to resettle in the Wallowa Valley in 1900 was met by a reluctant Chieftain which urged that Joseph not be allowed to return. 

From 1896 to 1902, the Chieftain was co-managed by Carl Roe and Levi J. Rouse. Roe conducted the paper independently for another two years until he sold to publisher Ben Weathers in 1904. After four years, Weathers sold the Chieftain to the owners of Enterprise News-Record, former Enterprise competitors, who then published the Chieftain alongside their existing paper.  Co-publication lasted until June of 1911 when the News-Record merged with the recently renamed Wallowa County Chieftain to become the Enterprise Record Chieftain. Owners Homer A. Galloway and Snow V. Heaton then sold the paper to Kansas City editor George P. Cheney in November 1911.  Cheney operated the paper as the Enterprise Record Chieftain until changing the name to Enterprise Chieftain in 1938. Since 1943, the press has continued publication to the present as the Wallowa County Chieftain.

Provided By: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Wallowa County Chieftain (Enterprise, Or.) 1909-1911

Other Title

  • Wallowa chieftain

Dates of Publication

  • 1909-1911

Created / Published

  • Enterprise, Or. : Enterprise Press, 1909-

Headings

  • -  Enterprise (Or.)--Newspapers
  • -  Wallowa County (Or.)--Newspapers
  • -  Oregon--Enterprise
  • -  Oregon--Wallowa County
  • -  United States--Oregon--Wallowa--Enterprise

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  25th year, no. [21] (Jan. 14, 1909)-
  • -  Ceased in 1911.
  • -  Also issued on microfilm from University of Oregon.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format as part of the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format as part of the Historic Oregon Newspaper online collection.
  • -  Merged with: Enterprise news-record, to form: Enterprise record chieftain.
  • -  Enterprise news-record 2330-7544 (DLC)sn 96088044 (OCoLC)37593491
  • -  Enterprise record chieftain (DLC)sn 96088041 (OCoLC)37593481

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn96088042

OCLC Number

  • 37593473

ISSN Number

  • 2330-7463

Preceding Titles

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Wallowa County Chieftain Enterprise, Or. -1911. (Enterprise, OR), Jan. 1 1909. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn96088042/.

APA citation style:

(1909, January 1) Wallowa County Chieftain Enterprise, Or. -1911. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn96088042/.

MLA citation style:

Wallowa County Chieftain Enterprise, Or. -1911. (Enterprise, OR) 1 Jan. 1909. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn96088042/.