of his party leaders, and has often refused preferment at their hands on that account. He still superintends the mechanical department of his office, as well as attending to his editorial duties. He had achieved a competence but the panic of 1893 and the ensuing period of financial depression made great inroads upon his fortune, so that necessity compels him to remain in the harness, though nearly a half century of continuous work has certainly earned him rest.
The Seattle Gazette was the name under which the first paper published in Seattle appeared, dated December 11, 1863, nearly forty years ago. It was edited, set up, published, and with the assistance of an Indian for roller boy, printed by J. R. Watson. The office was in the second story of one of Yesler's buildings, then standing near the present north line of the Scandinavian Bank Building. The paper consisted of four pages, the printed matter on each page measuring 9½×14½ inches. The type and other material were destroyed many years ago, but the old Ramage[1] printing press is a relic highly prized at the State University. The Seattle Gazette, Puget Sound Gazette, and Puget Sound Weekly continued nearly four years with frequent changes in form and ownership.
Pioneer printers have taken a great deal of interest in regard to the antecedents of this old press. Mr. George H. Himes was an Olympia boy, who served his appren-
- ↑ The Ramage was so called because it was constructed by Adam Ramage, who went to Philadelphia about 1790, and is believed to have been the first press builder in America. For many years he constructed all the presses used in this country. The posts and cross-pieces of the larger sizes of his early presses were made of wood, and the bed, platen, tracks, springs, screw, lever, etc., of iron. The largest Ramage press I ever saw had a bed 22×32 inches, with platen 16×22 inches. This was used in printing the Oregonian for the first four months of its life, December, 1850, to April, 1851, and required four impressions to perfect a paper—an impression for each page. Sixty to seventy perfect papers per hour was the limit of a pressman's capacity. During the summer of 1853 a wooden extension was added to the platen of the press by an Olympia (Wash.) mechanic, thus doubling its capacity. The extra strain upon the muscles of the pressman as a result of this enlargement caused the old machine to be dubbed a "man-killer."—George H. Himes.
