The ''Wallowa County Chieftain'' is a weekly newspaper in

Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterprise ...

Wallowa County Wallowa County () is the northeastern most county in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,391, making it Oregon's fifth-least populous county. Its county seat is Enterprise. According to ''Oregon Geographic Name ...

in the U.S. state of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

History

Founded in

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

in 1884 by S. A. Heckethorn, the newspaper preceded the establishment of the county itself. wikisource:en:History of Oregon Newspapers/Wallowa County A few years after Enterprise was selected as the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

, the paper relocated there. Though the newspaper was named after Chief Joseph, it was not particularly friendly to Native American issues, and opposed a Joseph's request to resettle

Wallowa Valley Wallowa may refer to: Places *Wallowa, Oregon *Wallowa County, Oregon *Wallowa Lake *Wallowa Lake State Park *Wallowa Mountains *Wallowa River Other *''Acacia calamifolia'', a shrub or tree *''Acacia euthycarpa'', a shrub or tree * ''The Wallo ...

in 1900. George Cheney became the owner, editor, and publisher in 1911, on the wave of an economic boom experienced in Enterprise upon the completion of a railroad and sawmill, as well as a booming agricultural business. Cheney built a new

building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and fun ...

, designed to meet the needs of the paper, which it occupied beginning in 1916. Cheney sold the newspaper in 1941, and the building in 1943, to Gwen Coffin. Coffin, who brought a more controversial approach to the paper, owned it until 1972. In a 2006 article about

, the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' cited the ''Chieftain's'' coverage of a new grocery store. The building used by the paper from 1916 to 2007 has been on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

since 2012.

References

1884 establishments in Oregon Enterprise, Oregon Newspapers published in Oregon Publications established in 1884 Native American history of Oregon {{oregon-newspaper-stub