The News-Herald

In July 1901, two newspapers debuted in the span of a few weeks in the small mining town of Wickenburg, Arizona, situated northwest of Phoenix, Arizona. The News was published by brothers DeForest Hall and Ernest R. Hall, and the Herald by the Dunbar Brothers. The Halls’ Wickenburg Publishing Company purchased the Herald in August 1901, and the weekly News-Herald was born. The Williams News [LCCN: sn 82015761], reported on the purchase: “It is with Wickenburg, as with many of the towns of Arizona, there is room for but one newspaper, but that one must be a hustler.” Until 1902, D.F. Hall and later Dick Hall, other names used by DeForest Hall, was listed as editor and manager. In May 1902, Dick Hall, described by the Arizona Republican as a “coming mining magnate,” had legally changed his name to Dick Wick Hall (for “Dick Wickenburg” Hall). The editorial page now also listed his brother Ernest as Associate.

The News-Herald focused on mining news of the region, as noted in a December 1901 issue: “It will be our aim during the coming year, as it has been since starting, to publish a paper containing all the live mining news…with the idea of drawing the attention of capitalists and investors to the many opportunities for lucrative investments in the richest mineralized section of the richest territory in the United States.” The News-Herald encouraged readers to vote for candidates who would support Arizona statehood, in part because it would benefit the development of mining by attracting investors.

The paper also carried local news and small news items from around Arizona. Pages were filled with advertisements for local businesses and establishments in Prescott and Phoenix. The newspaper courted additional advertisers with its own ad: “The Only Newspaper Published in the Rich Mineral District lying between Prescott and Phoenix…An Ad Here Will Reach the Mining Trade.”

Eli S. Perkins, editor and proprietor of the Snips and the St. Johns Herald [LCCN: sn 95060581], purchased the newspaper in May 1903. Dick Wick Hall, who went on to become a well-known humorist, wrote in his parting column: “Mr. Perkins has asked us to write our obituary, and for the benefit of Mr. Perkins and some of the Wickenburgers who may think otherwise, we will state that we are not dead but sleeping.”

In August 1903, Perkins moved the paper to the nearby town of Martinez, Arizona, which he described as “a little burg…situated near the Congress and Octave mines.” Perkins said “the News-Herald is only trying to widen its field and extend its usefulness.” He published there until July 1906, when he sold the newspaper to pioneer newspaperwoman Angela Hutchinson Hammer, who had purchased the Wickenburg Miner [LCCN: sn 95060855] in 1904. Under Hammer, the News-Herald was a Democratic paper. According to Newspapers and Periodicals of Arizona, 1859-1911 (Estelle Lutrell, 1950), Hammer moved the News-Herald back to Wickenburg and consolidated the paper with the Miner in 1907. Hammer owned the Miner through 1913, and a year later started the Casa Grande Valley Dispatch [LCCN: sn 94050537].

Essay provided by University of Arizona Libraries.