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The
Kennefick Livery Stable has been the Main Street, Fort Macleod
home of The Macleod Gazette since 1925. |
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Newspapers marched
west to Macleod |
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by Jack Murphy |
Since 1882, Fort Macleod has never been without a
local newspaper. In fact, during that period, there were times
when two, or even three, newspapers struggling for the attention
of its residents. The first of these was The Macleod Gazette,
established July 1, 1882.
Only eight years after Colonel Macleod and his cavalcade of 150
North West Mounted Police ended their trek west and established
Fort Macleod on a small island in the Old Man’s River in 1874, a
newspaper was founded by C.E.D. Wood and E.T. Saunders, two
ex-mounted policemen. It was the third newspaper to be published
in the Territories, proceeded by the Battleford Herald and
Edmonton Bulletin. The Bulletin later closed its doors and in 1905
the Battleford Herald became a part of Saskatchewan, leaving the
Gazette as being Alberta’s oldest continuously published
newspaper.
C.E.D. Wood was the Gazette’s primary publisher during its
fledgling years but others did attempt the task. Clarke Bros.
Publishers took over for a time, but in 1894 Wood returned. The
paper was then leased to Z.M. Hamilton but again Wood returned. He
left again when he was called to the bar of the North West
Territories. George Scheer took over ownership and control as of
June 30, 1903, replaced by George Grow in 1905. A year later Grow
was succeeded by C.F. Harris who was followed by H.S. French under
whom the Gazette name temporarily disappeared from the masthead in
1907.
The newspaper business flourished in the new town of Macleod and
during its first 50 years there were 10 different names for
residents to look for on the newsstands. Three opposition papers
to the Gazette sprang up during the 1890s, two of which left
almost as quickly as they appeared. The third, The Advance,
survived several years and later became the Gazette’s successor.
The Advance first appeared in 1899 and its editor was former
Gazette publisher Tom Clark. It survived until 1908 when the name
was altered and the paper became known as the Advance and Southern
Alberta Advertiser.
A rival paper, the Chronicle, came into existence in 1908,
published by R.W. Livingston but there was not enough room for
both papers and in 1909, with John E. Pember in charge, the
Macleod Advertiser became the only paper in Fort Macleod. It
enjoyed this distinction until 1912. September, 1913, the
Advertiser was bought out by its competitor, the Macleod
Spectator. L.S. Gowe was its editor and manager. Herbert Dennis
took over as editor May 20, 1915, replaced in December of that
year by Charles Underwood.
The Spectator reigned until 1916 when it was sold to D.J. Grier
and the name was changed. This time the masthead read The Macleod
News which was lengthened to the Macleod Weekly News. At the same
time, J.H. Campbell was hired as editor and Underwood moved to
position of manager.
March 1920 saw the arrival of The Macleod Times, published by
Dillingham and Day. Within one month the Times had amalgamated
with the News and Fort Macleod’s latest newspaper became known as
The Macleod Times and Macleod Weekly News. The Times remained
until the 1930s when Ralph C. Jessup assumed control and on
January 8, 1931 the Gazette name was revived and has topped the
front page of the newspaper since.
The Macleod Gazette was controlled by the Jessup family for 44
years with Mr. Jessup holding the position of editor until he
joined the armed forces in 1940. The business was then leased to
H.T. Halliwell who assumed the role of editor and manager until
July 1961. Upon his retirement, Jim McKay joined his sister-in-law
Anna Jessup, Ralph Jessup’s widow, in the newspaper business as
secretary-treasurer.
Allan Davis and Cliff Moses, two long time Gazette employees,
split Mr. Halliwell’s duties filling the positions of manager and
editor respectively. Mr. Davis left the Gazette in 1968 and the
managerial position was filled by Jack Murphy who, along with Mr.
Moses, eventually took over the business.
June 30, 1975, the Jessup family retired from the newspaper
business and a partnership of Moses and Murphy took over
ownership. During that partnership, the Gazette flourished and
underwent two major overhauls in its production department as it
kept pace with technological changes sweeping through the
newspaper industry.
October 10, 1991 was a sad day for newspapering, when Cliff Moses,
the steadying force behind The Macleod Gazette for close to 50
years, passed away at the age of 73. He learned the intricacies of
the weekly newspaper business from the ground up, beginning with
the Gazette in 1938 at the age of 19, as a printer’s devil. He was
honoured with a Silver Quill award by The Canadian Community
Newspapers Association in 1988. Another highlight of his long
career in weekly newspapers was the Gazette’s award sweep in the
1987 CCNA National Better Newspapers Competition.
Through a transfer, in 1989, of his shares in the Gazette, the
Moses family connection continued as his daughter, Allison, took
over and the partnership arrangement with Murphy carried on. The
title of publisher was retained by Cliff Moses until his passing.
July 1st, 1995, Jack Murphy brought the shares of Allison
Falkenberg and became sole owner of the paper, taking on the dual
role of editor and publisher. Like his former business partner,
Cliff Moses, Murphy started working for the Gazette right out of
high school at the age of 19.
In September 2001 Murphy sold the paper to Frank and Emily McTighe,
extending its legacy as an independently owned and operated
newspaper.
Frank McTighe came to The Gazette with more than two decades of
community newspaper experience. After studying Journalism Arts at
the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary, and
working two years in the composing room at the Calgary Herald,
McTighe landed his first reporting job at The Taber Times in 1982.
He later worked as editor of The Vauxhall Advance and Coaldale
Sunny South News before joining the staff of the High River Times,
eventually becoming editor of that paper.
In October 1989 McTighe and his wife Emily bought The Nanton News
and owned and operated that paper until 1995 when they sold to
WestMount Press. Frank McTighe continued to work for the new
company, which was later sold to Bowes Publishers, until 2001,
when he became an instructor in the Journalism Arts program at the
Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. |
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| THE MACLEOD GAZETTE — Staff at
The Macleod Gazette take a break outside the newspaper building in
1901. The Gazette was founded in 1882, and was one of the first
three newspapers to serve the Northwest Territories. Photo
courtesy The Fort — Museum of the North West Mounted Police. |
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1903 change of ownership
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(Editor’s
note: The following article by C.E.D. Wood, founder and publisher
of The Macleod Gazette, was published July 3, 1903. Wood left
Macleod for Regina, where he entered into a partnership in a law
firm.) |
by C.E.D. Wood
Gazette Publisher |
With
this issue of The Macleod Gazette, the paper changes ownership and
control. Some little time ago, all arrangements for the sale of
The Gazette to George Scheer were completed, but at my request the
actual change of management and control did not pass out of my
hands until the 30th of June last, thus completing twenty-one
years of publication under practically the same ownership and
management. The Gazette became of age on June 30th, 1903, and
today commences its 22nd year of publication.
A close connection with a newspaper for a great many years cannot
be severed without keen regret, any more than one can separate
from the friends of many years standing without a wrench, and this
feeling, very much emphasized, the writer has, not only in
severing his connection with The Gazette, but in leaving the town
of Macleod where he has lived continuously for nearly twenty-three
years.
There is very much that might be said on an occasion of this kind
but it would be impossible to crowd it into the columns of the
paper. The history of The Gazette is practically the history of
southern Alberta, and to a very great extent the whole of the
North West Territories. That history begins at the time of the
buffalo, when the settlement of the country had not even been
considered, and when the pioneers who had located were very few
and far between. The Gazette saw the foundation of the great range
cattle and horse business, and has lived to see it develop into
one of the most important industries in the Dominion, until now
when it is fast being crowded back by the rapidly advancing tide
of settlement. From a little hamlet of log huts with mud floors
and the grass growing out of the earth which covered the roofs,
The Gazette has witnessed the steady growth of Macleod, until is
has become a large and thriving town with substantial business
blocks and handsome residences. The changes in all those
twenty-one years has indeed been marvellous and bit by bit it has
been recorded in The Gazette.
In those days there were no railways, no schools, no post offices
and practically no representative government. Now railways
traverse the country in all directions, there are hundreds of
schools, and every settlement has its post office and mail
service, while the development of representative institutions
under wise and able administration has brought us to the verge of
full provincial organization.
But why go on. Those who are comparative newcomers to the west,
and see it as it is today will realize what we mean, and the
extent of the development of the entire North West since The
Gazette first saw the light, when we tell them that there was not
a settlement of any kind between Macleod and Manitoba. Calgary
consisted of a Hudson’s Bay Company post built of logs; a
tumbledown police barracks garrisoned by two or three men; I.G.
Baker & Co.’s little log store; and a few half-breed shacks. From
that point to Edmonton there was nothing.
From Macleod to Battleford and Prince Albert there was not a
settlement of any kind. Lethbridge was not on the map and Medicine
Hat had just begun to gather together a few tents in anticipation
of the CPR. In those days every necessary of life came up the
Missouri River, and was freighted in from Benton by bull and mule
teams to the accompaniment of the most picturesque blasphemy and
explosion of bull whips the world has ever witnessed.
The Canadian government was several thousands of miles distant and
several thousand more in point of time. Benton was our post office
and we used American stamps (even for government business). The
Gazette for mailing purposes was registered in the post office
department at Washington as second class matter. Reminiscence,
however, runs away with one, and a period must be put to it.
The Macleod Gazette was established in the old town of Macleod on
the island on July 1st, 1882, by E.T. Saunders, now proprietor of
the Lethbridge News, and the writer. The office was ten by twelve,
with no floor and a mud roof. It used to rain inside that office
for days after there was any indication of rain out of doors.
There were only two newspapers in the Territories at that time,
the Saskatchewan Herald, owned by P.G. Laurie, lately deceased —
rest his soul — and the Edmonton Bulletin, owned and published by
Frank Oliver, our member in the House of Commons. So The Gazette
came third, and all three are still alive and of age.
It is perhaps needless to say that the birth of The Gazette was
celebrated. We needed mighty little encouragement in those days,
and if whiskey was scarce, there were always the old old standard
standbys. Washington’s birthday, the 4th of July, the Queen’s
birthday, Dominion Day, Christmas, New Year’s, Tony Lachappelle’s
birthday, Saints’ days — everything went. Celebrations all looked
alike to us.
Tony Lachapelle got one of the first copies of The Gazette
printed, and went to bed early that night, so that he would be
sure to get everything there was in the paper before morning. Joe
Carr bought ten copies, and retired to the privacy of the Bulls
Head Market, where he read each one of them four times, and was
not seen for three or four days. Dick Kennefick lead the artillery
brigade and fired off the anvils, only four of his helpers being
seriously maimed, while the rest lost parts of their hair and
whiskers.
Old Kamoose kept open house and D.W. Davis dispensed liquid
refreshments. In the evening the leading ladies of the town were
“at home” and there was the sound of revelry there that night,
while Ed Brisbois acted as floor manager, and became very popular
with the female sex by requiring “de boys to chip in an’ buy
candies for de ladies.”
And so The Gazette was launched on the troubled sea of journalism,
and there has been more or less trouble ever since.
The writer has kept as far as possible from the personal end of
this valedictory, as it would be called in newspaper parlance, and
hopes that his little sketch of then and now may not prove
altogether without interest both for those who will recognize the
picture and more recent arrivals.
Just a word in conclusion. In severing my connection with the old
Macleod Gazette, and with the town of Macleod, I repeat that I do
so with the keenest regret. I shall never forget the many
kindnesses I have received, not only from the readers of The
Gazette, to whom I have talked almost every week, but from my many
friends throughout southern Alberta, and I desire to take this
opportunity of expressing my appreciation. In saying goodbye to my
friends (and I might add enemies) in southern Alberta, I sincerely
hope that Providence who has been so generous to southern Alberta
during the past few years, will continue to smile on them, and on
the country which has been my home for nearly twenty-three years.
During its lifetime The Gazette has been an adherent of the great
Conservative party of Canada, following the political faith of its
owner and publisher. I have always, however, reserved the right to
criticize the acts of that party, and while it was in power, never
hesitated to do so, when the interests of the North West were
being neglected.
The future political faith of The Gazette is now entirely out of
my keeping, but I would advise my successors to never let go of
the right to place the interests of their country above mere
party. Independence and neutrality are two totally different
things, and the latter in a newspaper is contemptible. Any paper
which gives a general support to the party it believes in, while
reserving the right to criticize its friends and praise its
opponents, is independent enough for a new country.
In finally relinquishing my connection with The Gazette, I would
ask that the same good will and generous support be extended to
Mr. Scheer as has always been accorded to me.
And so I make my farewell bow. With very best wishes for all
prosperity and happiness, believe me. |
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HEADLINES |
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Storm buries Fort Macleod car show
A weekend storm that left Fort Macleod under a blanket
of snow also buried a classic car show... |
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RCMP values its auxiliary
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Mural brightens library walls
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walls of the children’s section are familiar figures
such as the Paper Bag Princess and Winnie the Pooh. The
characters from popular children’s books are part of a
mural painted by Fort Macleod artist Trish Hoskin... |
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