FIRST PRINTED PAPER
Out of this spoken, and later written, newspaper, grew the first printed sheet in Michigan entitled The Michigan Essay, or Impartial Observer. It first appeared in Detroit on August 31, 1809. As editor and publisher Father Richard selected one of his parishioners, James M. Miller. The French section not a half, as has so often been asserted, but about a column and a half was undoubtedly written by the Father himself. An editorial announcement informed the public that the paper would be published every Thursday and handed to city subscrib- ers at five dollars per annum, payable half-yearly in advance. It stated its policy in the following words: "The public are respectfully informed that the Essay will be conducted with the utmost impartiality; that it will not espouse any political party, but fairly and candidly communicate whatever may be deemed worthy of information, whether foreign, domestic, or local."
The second paper in Michigan was The Detroit Gazette, started on July 25, 1817, by Sheldon & Reed. This was the first perma- nent newspaper in Michigan, and like its predecessor, The Michi- gan Essay, it had to serve not only the English but also the French population of the city. One page was in French and the other three in English. It had an unusually hard time to make both ends meet, for in its issue of July 14, 1820, it asserted that only ninety of its one hundred and fifty-two subscribers had paid their subscriptions and not a single advertiser had yet met his bill. In spite of this fact, however, the paper survived until April 22, 1830.
The next paper was The Michigan Herald, also of Detroit, brought out on May 10, 1825, by H. Chipman and Joseph Seymour.
RUSH FOR ALABAMA
The first paper in what is now Alabama was unquestionably The Mobile Sentinel, published by Samuel Miller and John B. Hood at Fort Stoddert, May 23, 1811. These men were so de- termined to be the first in Mobile journalism that they started south before the city was annexed, but were compelled to stop
