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Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper Sierra County Advocate (Kingston, N.M.) 1884-1960

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About Sierra County Advocate (Kingston, N.M.) 1884-1960

Sierra County, New Mexico, was founded in 1884, the result of a boom in population after silver and gold were discovered. Several towns were founded along Percha Creek in the Black Range including Hillsboro (originally spelled Hillsborough) in 1877 and Kingston in 1882. Hillsboro, a gold mining town, became the county seat in 1884. The Kingston area was rich in silver. Newspaperman James E. Curren established weekly newspapers in both towns.

Curren, formerly proprietor of the Deming Headlight sought to establish a chain of small newspapers in the Percha country mining camps. The Sierra County Advocate, “Published in the Heart of the Percha Country; Richest Mining District in New Mexico,” was first produced in Kingston in 1884 with Curren serving as editor. The paper’s offices were relocated to Hillsboro in March 1885.

Shortly after the move, Curren left the management of the Sierra County Advocate to W. B. Hardwicke, although Curren continued in the newspaper business, establishing the Folsom Idea in 1888 and acquiring the Clayton Enterprise in 1890.

Focusing on mining, the Sierra County Advocate produced articles and news notes about mine production, ore quality, and smelting operations. Railroads were closely tied to the mining industry; therefore, the paper contained abundant coverage of railroad business. A regular column, “Territorial Gleanings,” contained brief news items from around New Mexico.

Political news, both national and state, was also important. In the early days, the Advocate leaned Republican; however, later publishers were solidly in the Democratic camp. Its pages closely followed the silver question, a national controversy over the reintroduction of silver along with gold as the basis for U.S. currency. Originally, the Advocate had called for the suspension of silver coinage. Later editors, however, saw the advantages that silver currency would have for silver mining, and by 1893, editor and proprietor P.J. Bennett boldly printed “Free coinage of silver 16 to 1” in every issue.

Bennett ran the Advocate from 1891 to 1900, when he sold it to W.O. Thompson. Formerly the proprietor of the Black Range, based in the Sierra County mining town of Chloride, Thompson ran unsuccessfully for territorial governor in 1896 and later served on the Democratic central committee of New Mexico. He used the Advocate to support free silver until he left the newspaper in December 1911.

In November 1929, the Sierra County Advocate relocated to Hot Springs (later called Truth or Consequences), New Mexico, where it remained in publication until 1960.

Provided By: University of New Mexico

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Sierra County Advocate (Kingston, N.M.) 1884-1960

Dates of Publication

  • 1884-1960

Created / Published

  • Kingston, N.M. : J.E. Curren

Headings

  • -  Kingston (N.M.)--Newspapers
  • -  Hillsboro (N.M.)--Newspapers
  • -  Truth or Consequences (N.M.)--Newspapers
  • -  Sierra County (N.M.)--Newspapers
  • -  New Mexico--Hillsboro
  • -  New Mexico--Kingston
  • -  New Mexico--Sierra County
  • -  New Mexico--Truth or Consequences
  • -  United States--New Mexico--Sierra--Truth or Consequences
  • -  United States--New Mexico--Sierra--Hillsboro
  • -  United States--New Mexico--Sierra--Kingston

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began with Dec. 20, 1884 issue; ceased in 1960.
  • -  Published in Hillsboro, N.M., Mar. 7, 1885-Nov. 20, 1929; in Hot Springs (later called Truth or Consequences), N.M., Nov. 28, 1928-1960.
  • -  Microfilm published by BMI Imaging Systems; issued in series: Chicano serials collection.
  • -  Also issued on microfilm from Southwest Micropublishing, Inc. and University of New Mexico Library.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 1, no. 6 (Jan. 24, 1885).
  • -  Latest issue consulted: Volume XIII, no. 700 (Aug. 23, 1895).

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn94057006

OCLC Number

  • 30151809

ISSN Number

  • 2572-5718

Preceding 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:

Sierra County Advocate Kingston, N.M. -1960. (Truth or Consequences, NM), Jan. 1 1884. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn94057006/.

APA citation style:

(1884, January 1) Sierra County Advocate Kingston, N.M. -1960. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn94057006/.

MLA citation style:

Sierra County Advocate Kingston, N.M. -1960. (Truth or Consequences, NM) 1 Jan. 1884. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn94057006/.