This feature gave the paper an unique appearance, and was really one of its attractions. The first issue of this paper was in March, 1848. It contained four pages, seven and one half by fifteen inches, two columns to the page. During this month Mr. Curry was married to Miss Chloe Boone, daughter of Col. Alphonso Boone, a great grandson of Daniel Boone. In October, 1848, the paper stopped, mainly because of the rush of people to the mines. In 1853 Mr. Curry was appointed secretary of the territory by President Pierce, and soon became acting governor. He was appointed governor in November, 1854, and held that office until 1859, when the state government was formed. It was during his administration that the Yakima Indian war of 1855-56 was fought. On January 1, 1861, he became a partner and coeditor with S. J. McCormick in the Portland Daily Advertiser, and continued that relation until the paper suspended about two years later. The Advertiser was the second daily in Portland and was issued by S. J. McCormick on May 31, 1859.[1] After the Advertiser died Mr. Curry remained in private life until he died on July 28, 1878, aged fifty-eight years.
The earliest perfect copy of the Oregon Free Press that is known bears the date of August 26, 1848. Its contents are as follows:
Page one: Comparisons between the London and Paris daily press. This shows the largest circulation of a newspaper in London to be twenty-nine thousand and in Paris, thirty -three thousand. The price of the Paris dailies runs from $7.25 to $21; the London Times is nearly $32 per annum; California exports and imports; an article on "Poverty;' general news items.
- ↑ The first daily newspaper in Oregon was the Portland Daily News, issued April 18, 1859, by S. A. English and Win. B. Taylor. Its first editor was Alonzo Leland, but his services were soon dispensed with and E. D. Shattuck became the editor. The paper in the beginning had four pages, each ten and one half by fifteen inches, with four columns.
