From the moment Robert G. Bailey begain printing the Hartford Pioneer in 1895, he and the Lump City Miner’s publisher disagreed with each other.
Perhaps the dislike for one another stemmed from them publishing their first editions just four days apart, with the Hartford Pioneer claiming the title of North Jefferson County’s first newspaper.
“The Hartford Townsite company have issued a handbill sort of an affair, which it would be stretching a point to call a newspaper, for the purpose of booming their townsite location,” read a not from Williams & Sons, the publishers of the Lump City Miner, on Jan. 5, 1895.
The two papers continued to “duke it out” in their respective columns each week.
When the Hartford Pioneer transitioned to the Wickes Pioneer, Bailey continued the fight.
“Not satisfied with berating Hartford, the Miner announces with diabolical glee that the Pioneer, ‘a two by four sheet,’ has suspended publication,” read the Aug. 10, 1895 edition of The Wickes Pioneer. “We think it is time to put a check on the babbling of this nondescript.”
The publisher of the Boulder Age joined in on matter.
“Considering the age of the town and the freshness of the publisher the name Pioneer is a misnomer,” wrote the Boulder Age on Aug. 7 1895. It was the first issue of The Age that published under F. E. Cornish.
Bailey responded to the comments in the first edition of the Wickes Pioneer: “No, Mr. Cornish, we can’t see the point where the word Pioneer is a misnomer. Wickes is an old settled town, but has never had a newspaper — hence the appropriateness of the title. For further reasons, see Webster.”
Following that paper, The Lump City Miner made several jabs at the paper.
“Jefferson county has six newspapers published within her borders; the Miner, Lump City; Age and Sentinel, Boulder; Times, Basin; Zephyr, Whitehall, and the Pioneer, Wickes all weekly — some of them very weakly,” read the Aug. 17, 1895 Lump City Miner.
The feud was furthered the following week with the description of a dance hosted in the town.
“The boys [who attended that dance] all report an enjoyable time from a social standpoint but say that the concert, having been arranged by Editor Bailey, of the Pioneer, was a long drawn out and equally as wearisome as some of his labored editorials,” read the paper, adding that Bailey himself had eaten all the refreshments before guests became aware of their presence. “The good people of Wickes have not as yet been able to satisfy the cravings of his appetite.”
At some point during the Wickes Pioneer’s reign, the feud ended and the publishers made amends; or so is to be assumed by a note seen in the Clancy Miner — the successor of the Lump City Miner — on March 7, 1896.
“We are informed that the Wickes Pioneer will cease publication at Wickes … The Pioneer is a fairly good country newspaper outfit, and we hope it may ultimately settle in some profitable and appreciative field,” read the note.
When Bailey notified The Miner, that he had since began publishing the Rock Creek Record near Missoula, the editor wished him success in the endeavor.
The Rock Creek Record published its first issue on May 16, 1896, under the ownership of L. Molinelli and Bailey.
By June 27 of that year, Bailey had sold his portion of the paper to a “young gentleman” by the name of Fred Pearson, according to the Record.
After several attempts at publishing, the Record said Bailey hung up his pen, and retired with “regrets.” The Record itself did not express regrets at the loss Bailey:
“We hasten to congratulate the new management and celebrate the occasion by opening a small bottle — of ink and tapping a new keg — of nails, and we invite our friends to the christening.”
