February 5

On the 5th in 1846, the Oregon Spectator began publication. This was the first newspaper published on the left coast. Printed in Oregon City, The Spectator ran four pages, and a hand press was used to print it in a tabloid format. The press got to Oregon from New York by a ship sailing around Cape Horn. Its first editor and much of the staff got to Oregon in a rather more mundane manner – wagon train. When Portland eclipsed Oregon City as a center of interest in Oregon in 1855, the Spectator folded its tent and slipped quietly into the pages of history.

The Oregon Printing Association published the paper. The association consisted of William G. T'Vault (No! That is not a typo even if my spell check insists that it is), James W. Nesmith, John P. Brooks, George Abernethy, John H. Couch, Robert Newell, and John E. Long. The paper’s first editor was T'Vault who was also the president of the group. Nesmith would go on to represent the glorious state of Oregon as a United States Senator and Abernethy would become Oregon’s first governor.