than the little Spectator had been and compared favorably with its contemporaries by all the criteria to which readers paid much attention in those days. It was a four-page seven-column paper with 102 out of the 28 columns taken by advertising. Typographically, both in news and in advertising, it was a better-appearing paper than the Oregonian, which in its early numbers gave little promise in any respect of the strength it later was to develop.
And yet, in its first issue, off the press March 28, 1851, the Statesman did not contain a single line of local news gathered by its own staff. An account of a meeting of citizens held in Yamhill county's big town, Lafayette, which passed resolutions calling for the nomination of General Joseph Lane as delegate to congress might come under the head of local news, but it was not obtained by any initiative on the part of the Statesman. Like so many of the descriptions of meetings carried by the newspapers of those days, this one betrayed its origin in its concluding paragraph: "Resolved that the secretary be directed to furnish the different papers of the Territory with a copy of the proceedings, and respectfully request the publication of the same."
The first originally prepared Oregon news item in the Statesman was to appear in the second issue of this new weekly paper. Here it is, a reminder both of the days when the Willamette river was really a navigable stream and of the incomplete reporting done in those days:
The Steamer Willamet-This new iron steamboat, designed for the Willamet and Columbia rivers, is now being fitted up at Portland, and will be in readiness in about six weeks. She is one hundred and seventy-five feet long, twenty-eight feet beam, and eight and one-half feet depth of hold. She is provided with two powerful engines, and is said to be a splendid steamer.
The second local news story was an account of a murder. It was perfectly regular in those days to let partisanship creep into the news stories. The Statesman's warfare with the Oregonian, a bitter feud in which poisoned arrows were discharged by both sides, is recalled by the way an item on the Portland city election was handled in the same issue. Here is the story, in all its partisanship and factual incompleteness:
PORTLAND CITY ELECTION.—At the election in Portland on Monday, the Oregonian party was badly beaten. We are informed that they had a regular organization, nominated a ticket, and worked desperately at the polls, but all to no purpose. Hugh D. O'Bryant, Esq., independent opposition, was chosen mayor. Mr. O'B. is a gentleman, in the
