Pioneer Press: The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Story

Pioneer Press: The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Story. Vignettes in History. , Fairbanks was a lively gold rush town-population 1,000-when its first newspaper began publication. It was just two years after E.T. Barrette cached his goods along the Chena River that printer George M. Hill hauled a printing plant from Dawson to Fairbanks. His Weekly Fairbanks News was first published Sept. 19, 1903, and survived to become the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner of 1984., In 1906, W.F. Thompson purchased the paper-by then a daily. In 1909, the News absorbed the Tanana Miner and gained the name it still carries., Thompson practiced his brand of personal journalism through much of the early 1900s, though times were turbulent as five other dailies and weeklies came and went. His last year was 1925. On Jan. 24, 1926, he died of pneumonia and former assistant editor A.H. Nordale became editor. In 1927, E.L. "Bob" Bartlett (who three decades later would be elected U.S. senator for the new state of Alaska) joined the paper's staff, remaining until 1933., On Nov. 8, 1929, Capt. Austin E. Lathrop purchased the paper and announced it would be Republican, a tradition echoed today. Nordale, a long-time Democrat, soon resigned., Capt. Lathrop's ownership continued until 1950. That year, C.W. Snedden came north to reorganize the News-Miner. A few weeks after arriving, Snedden, who had made a business of revamping ailing newspapers, offered to buy the paper. Despite Lathrop's death in a coal yard accident a few days later, the deal went through., By 1953, Snedden had reversed the paper's long-time stand against Statehood for the Territory of Alaska. The publisher's strong advocacy of Statehood was a principal catalyst behind passage of the Statehood Act in 1958., The News-Miner moved to new quarters on North Cushman Street in 1965, and remained there in 1984. On Aug. 30, 1965, the first edition rolled off the new offset presses., The paper continues an active leadership role in community, local and state concerns. In 1975, a pioneering Employee Stock Ownership Plan was begun. A monthly mail edition for northern Alaska, the Northland News, was started in 1981. In 1984 the News-Miner added a Sunday edition., In 1984, Snedden continued as publisher and Charles L. Gray, a 40-year News-Miner staff member and an internationally recognized authority on fine color printing, as president and general manager.