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Newspaper Idaho Weekly Keystone (Ketchum, Idaho) 1884-1884

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About Idaho Weekly Keystone (Ketchum, Idaho) 1884-1884

The Ketchum Keystone became the fourth newspaper to be published in Idaho’s Wood River region on December 24, 1881. It was preceded by the Wood River Miner in Hailey, the Wood River News in Bellevue, and the Wood River Times in Hailey. The Ketchum postmaster, H.E. Cook, was listed as the editor in the early issues of the Keystone. In the first issue, Cook included an explanation for the title of the newspaper, “Ketchum, situated as she is in the very heart and center of the Wood River mining country, is the Keystone City of this vast newly discovered mineral field.” He also noted that politics and religion would appear in the paper “when a cause demands it, but until such time they will not be discussed.”

The Ketchum Keystone was a four-column, four-page paper published weekly. In July 1882, half of the business was sold to Charles Foster, a newspaper man who had worked on the Idaho Statesman, the Idaho World, and the Wood River Miner. In August of that year, George J. Lewis purchased the other half of the Ketchum Keystone, and with his involvement, the paper became Democratic. Lewis was the son of an early Ketchum settler who had been a mine owner and local businessman. Lewis had no newspaper experience, yet the Keystone flourished with his involvement.

In January 1883, George J. Lewis’s brother, Horace Lewis, bought out Foster’s interest in the Keystone, and the two brothers began issuing the paper as a semiweekly in June. The motto under the masthead read, “The Sole Representative of the Upper Wood River and Sawtooth Mineral Region.” In addition to the semiweekly, the brothers also briefly published a weekly edition in 1884, the Idaho Weekly Keystone. During the election year of 1884, the Lewis brothers hired Henry Clay Street to edit a daily Keystone, issued every morning except Monday. The daily was discontinued at the end of the campaign season.

Calvin C. Clawson purchased the Ketchum Keystone from the Lewis brothers and changed its name to the Idaho Keystone. The paper continued to be Democratic, and Clawson published it as the Tri-Weekly Keystone in October and November of 1884. In June 1885, Clawson leased the paper to William A. Wheeler, a journalist from Nevada. Wheeler published the Idaho Semi-Weekly Keystone until a fire destroyed the building and printing equipment on August 19, 1885. The fire ended Clawson and Wheeler’s involvement in the Keystone, and George J. Lewis again took over the paper, having new equipment shipped from Portland. Lewis revived the paper as the Ketchum Keystone, and with the new equipment, published an expanded seven-column weekly beginning on September 19, exactly one month after the fire. Isaac H. Bowman of the Idaho World purchased the Keystone in 1886, stating it would be an independent paper. However, the Keystone continued to champion Democratic principles and candidates.

The Ketchum Keystone remained in print until February 4, 1899.

Provided By: Idaho State Historical Society

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Idaho Weekly Keystone (Ketchum, Idaho) 1884-1884

Dates of Publication

  • 1884-1884

Created / Published

  • Ketchum, Idaho : G.J. Lewis

Headings

  • -  Ketchum (Idaho)--Newspapers
  • -  Idaho--Ketchum
  • -  United States--Idaho--Alturas--Ketchum
  • -  United States--Idaho--Blaine--Ketchum

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Vol. 3, no. 26 (June 21, 1884)-
  • -  Ceased in 1884.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Idaho semi-weekly keystone 2637-546X (DLC)sn 89055142 (OCoLC)19826046

Medium

  • v.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn89055141

OCLC Number

  • 19826027

ISSN Number

  • 2637-5648

Preceding Titles

Succeeding Titles

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.

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Cite This Item

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

Chicago citation style:

Idaho Weekly Keystone Ketchum, Idaho. (Ketchum, ID), Jan. 1 1884. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn89055141/.

APA citation style:

(1884, January 1) Idaho Weekly Keystone Ketchum, Idaho. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn89055141/.

MLA citation style:

Idaho Weekly Keystone Ketchum, Idaho. (Ketchum, ID) 1 Jan. 1884. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn89055141/.