Top of page

Notice
Monday, February 16, 2026: For the President's Day holiday, The Library will open under normal operating hours.
Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper The Nespelem Tribune (Nespelem, Wash.) 1934-1936

View All Front Pages

About The Nespelem Tribune (Nespelem, Wash.) 1934-1936

Washington-born entrepreneur Frank Spalding Emert, a prolific publisher and editor stationed in Okanogan, Washington, established the Nespelem Tribune in 1934. It was marketed as a weekly subsidiary of the Omak Chronicle, which he published for 31 years. He owned and ran multiple local newspapers after returning home from his duties as a corporal in World War I, frequently buying and selling them. While he was best known for his ownership of the Chronicle, his other endeavors included the Chesaw News, Molson Leader and Oroville Gazette.

While the Nespelem Tribune dutifully covered the mining, timber, and agricultural interests of the small community settled at the edge of the Colville Reservation, it regularly covered tribal news and the construction progress of the much-anticipated Grand Coulee Dam. A new road had been built between Omak and Nespelem in 1929. By 1934 it was extended to the newly plotted town of Grand Coulee, opening up greater access for residents eager to be employed during the Great Depression. In 1935, federal New Deal funding, run by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), created the Civilian Conservation Corps and Indian Emergency Conservation Work (IECW) programs and a chance to work on one of the largest construction projects in the world. With so many critical changes in the landscape, resources, and the economy, the need for news was strong.

On June 18, 1934, Congress signed the Wheeler-Howard Act, also known as the Indian Reorganization Act, which allowed tribal members to vote on its acceptance. On the same day, dam construction bids finally opened after years of discussion, and the first issue of the Tribune came out closely after, competing with local publishers eager to establish their newspapers as the go-to source for news of the dam. The Tribune masthead boasted of “Nespelem—Nearest Permanent Town To The Grand Coulee Dam.” It also covered the unfolding story of the local tribes and their opportunity to self-govern in their community.

Subscriptions were $2 per year, or $1 per six months, and were sold out of the Nespelem Drug Store. New issues were released every Wednesday for about two years, and were four pages in length, with local ads dispersed throughout. Regular features included editorials, school news, and the ever-popular rodeo and golf activities. Furthermore, since much of the readership was Methodist, as was Emert himself, local Methodist events and church activities were well advertised. Emert’s newspapers, though, were generally less biased than one might suspect. Emert was politically conservative, but an ardent supporter of his writers and their right to free speech. One issue featured the words of nationally known Colville author Mourning Dove, also known as Christine Quintasket (ca. 1884-1936).

The Nespelem Tribune ceased production in 1936. It hadn’t won the race to be the newspaper of the Grand Coulee Dam—that achievement went to the Grand Coulee News, launched in 1933 by another local publisher, Sidney Jackson. Emert eventually sold the Nespelem Tribune to Jackson in February 1936, who continued to release issues through March. The dam was completed in 1942, at which point the Nespelem Tribune was long out of publication, yet it remains a key piece of national, state, and tribal history.

Provided By: Washington State Library; Olympia, WA

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Nespelem Tribune (Nespelem, Wash.) 1934-1936

Dates of Publication

  • 1934-1936

Created / Published

  • Nespelem, Wash. : Emert Pub. Co.

Headings

  • -  Nespelem (Wash.)--Newspapers
  • -  Washington (State)--Nespelem
  • -  United States--Washington--Okanogan--Nespelem

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in 1934; ceased in 1936.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 1, no. 8 (Aug. 8, 1934).

Medium

  • v.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn88087034

OCLC Number

  • 18550681

ISSN Number

  • 2832-8671

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

The NEH awardee responsible for producing each digital object is presented in the Chronicling America page display, below the page image – e.g. Image produced by the Library of Congress. For more information on current NDNP awardees, see https://aj.sunback.homes/ndnp/listawardees.html.

For more information on Library of Congress policies and disclaimers regarding rights and reproductions, see https://aj.sunback.homes/homepage/legal.html

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The Nespelem Tribune Nespelem, Wash. -1936. (Nespelem, WA), Jan. 1 1934. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn88087034/.

APA citation style:

(1934, January 1) The Nespelem Tribune Nespelem, Wash. -1936. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn88087034/.

MLA citation style:

The Nespelem Tribune Nespelem, Wash. -1936. (Nespelem, WA) 1 Jan. 1934. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn88087034/.