37. American Journalism Movement to the West

At the end of the XVIII century. almost the entire population of the country lived along the coast of the Atlantic. To the west of the Alleghenian mountains began a vast expanse of fertile, but almost not populated land. At the expense of immigration and high fertility, the endowment of the United States grew rapidly, and thousands of pioneers rushed for Allegans to explore the expanses of the West. In 1803, a French colony of Louisiana was bought for just $ 15 million, which is now about one third of the territory of the United States — the entire Midwest. In 1845-1848 as a result of the war with Mexico, the lands were annexed from Texas to California, and in 1846, by agreement with England, Oregon.

Following the first settlers, journalists moved from the East to the West. New territories had to start all over again. Here, with complete lack of roads and only emerging mail service, news from the East reached in weeks and even months. The situation was even worse with paper, printing ink and other equipment. Sometimes the share of journalists fell risky adventures, in which there was no shortage of the "Wild West". All this paid off the lively interest of the first settlers to the printed word. Journalists traveled a perilous journey of hundreds and sometimes thousands of kilometers to print a weekly newspaper on a primitive manual machine, a small piece, usually two pages, which the small audience eagerly awaited for news.

The first newspaper to the west of Allegan, the Pittsburgh Gazetg, began publication in 1786, when only 300 people lived in the city of Pittsburgh. And next year, in this, in fact, the village, a higher school was created, proudly called the Academy. In the XIX century. Pittsburgh entered a period of rapid development. By 1810 there were already three newspapers.

In Michigan at the end of the XVIII century. the material prerequisites for the newspaper were even less than in Pittsburgh. And yet the newspaper appeared. It was a “talking newspaper.” In 1798, the local priest appointed a special crier, who was supposed to announce the news from the steps of the church at a certain hour. The Talking Newspaper included advertising that was shouted along with the news. In 1809, the same priest organized the first print newspaper, The Michigan Essey. It was printed partly in English, and partly in French, since a significant part of the population of Detroit at that time were French.

In 1789, the first newspaper appeared in Kentucky, in 1791 - in Tennessee, in 1793 - in Ohio, in 1804 - in Indiana, in 1811 - in Alabama, and finally, in 1814 - in Illinois.

At the time of the purchase of Louisiana by the United States in its main city, New Orleans, three newspapers were already published in French. In 1804, the English-language Louisiana Gazette was created there.

Circulations of publications-pioneers were initially negligible. Established in 1808 in St. Louis, Missouri Gazette had, for example, a total of 172 subscribers. But it looks almost a giant against the background of the already mentioned “Louisiana Gazette”, the circulation of which was only 19 copies. However, the publisher of this newspaper, a certain John Mauri, not only did not lose heart, but even made plans to publish a newspaper every day, which, of course, did not succeed.

At the beginning of the XIX century. journalism has stepped over the Mississippi line, and began the "mastering" of the "Wild" West by the prairie journalists. Here they were waiting for new adventures, sometimes in the spirit of westerns. For example, in 1862, Indians from South Dakota seized the town of St. Falls, where the newspaper Demokrat had been published for several years. Among the trophies they got a typographic font, which was found worthy use: the "red" poured out of his pipe, which later smoked on the occasion of the world with the "pale faces".

In 1859, two journalists arrived in Denver, Colorado at the same time, intent on publishing newspapers. None of them wanted a competitor. Both understood that the two of them in a small town were too crowded. Clarification of the relationship threatened to end in death, but then the citizens had a happy idea - to arrange a competition. Remain could the one who has time before the competitor to release the first number. The winner was a certain William Baers, whose Rocky Mountain News was 20 minutes ahead of the rival newspaper. But the adventures of this publisher are just beginning. On the pages of his newspaper, Baers declared war on the owners of gambling houses, incompatible, in his opinion, with morality. Those, in turn, decided to answer the daring publisher in the only language they understand — the language of weapons. "Controversy" was conducted in the spirit of the best militants with shooting, chases, hostage taking. Baers had numerous supporters, and in the end it all ended in a traditional "happy end". Moreover, the very next year, Rocky Maungin News began to be published daily, although it was sometimes printed on wrapping paper, since newsprint in such a remote place as Denver was very difficult to get.

Somewhat to the west, on the territory of present-day Utah, settled the religious sect of Mormons, followers of preacher Joseph Smith. The founder of this doctrine claimed that he could decipher the letters of the ancient European prophet Mormon, who allegedly originated from the American Indians (!) Before our era. Teaching Smith? represented a mixture of different religions from Christianity (the expectation of the second coming of Christ, one of the results of which, by the way, should be the transformation of the Indians into whites) to Buddhism. Mormon polygamy caused the hostility of others, and in the 1840s they had to move from Illinois to the deserts of the far West. Traditionally, the desert was considered a refuge for the builders of the “City of God”. Hardworking Mormons have worked hard at turning it into a blooming garden. Irrigation canals were dug, cities were built. Among other improvements in 1850, the first newspaper, weekly Dathert News, was created. Unlike other pioneer leaflets, this newspaper belonged to the church hierarchy and its content was painted in religious and didactic tones.

Texas remained Mexican until 1845, but already in 1829, the first American settlers created the Texas Gazette here. In 1835 the Telegraph and Texas Register appeared. Both newspapers were in troubled times of struggle between Mexico and the United States for the region. Of course, they supported the idea of ​​joining the United States, and since the war was fought on the territory of Texas, the newspapers experienced considerable burdens.

In 1845, 250 settlers from the United States arrived in California along the California trail, branching off from Oregon. And next year, when the English-speaking population of this vast Mexican province was only 400 people, the newspaper Californian by Robert Sample, a Pennsylvania journalist, was released by will to the world. At first it was printed on cigar wrapping paper, which explains its small format. The newspaper was published partly in English, and partly in Spanish.

On March 15, 1847, a sensational news was published in “California”: “FOUND GOLD. On the new road to Sow Mill, large reserves of gold were found. Recently, one man returned from there, earning him $ 30 in a few days. ” The event quickly spread all over the world, and the "gold rush" attracted hundreds of thousands of fortune seekers to this forgotten corner of God. By 1852, the population of the region had increased 6 times and amounted to 250 thousand inhabitants. Accordingly, the number and circulation of newspapers has increased.

As already noted, the first publishers had to overcome numerous difficulties: small number of audience, lack of paper, poor means of communication and distance from the main centers of the country. The latter circumstance gave rise to another shortage - the lack of news, which sometimes forced us to reprint the same material in several numbers in a row in order to fill the newspaper with something. News from the Atlantic coast was in great demand among nostalgic settlers. Among the local news a prominent place was occupied by the theme of the Indians. Although usually the attitude towards them was far from friendly, there were also reverse examples: let us remember the Mormons. The first Oklahoma newspaper, the Cherokee Messinger (1844), was published not in English, but in the language of the Indian tribe Cherokee. This is not the only example of a newspaper for Indians in the United States in the 19th century.

The prices of newspapers (as well as industrial goods) in the West were much higher than usual. As a rule, a small piece of the "California" type cost 12-13 cents. The record was set by the already mentioned “Rocky Mountain News”, which sold for $ 1.25 per copy.

Initial difficulties were quickly overcome as the development of the West. Thus, the first newspaper in Wisconsin, the Green Bay Intelligencer, appeared in 1836, and in 1850 there were already 6 daily newspapers alone. Particular success fell to the share of the fast-growing Chicago press, whose population by the beginning of the civil war had exceeded 100 thousand. The Chicago Tribune founded in 1847 became the most successful Chicago newspaper. In 1860 its circulation was 18 thousand copies, and during the civil war it grew to 40 thousand. Chicago Tribune and is now one of the most influential US newspapers.

In a relatively short period of time, in less than half a century, American journalism has come a long way thousands of kilometers from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, developing not only “inland”, but also “widening”, like all American society.