Montpelier Examiner Archive

Members of the Mormon Church from Salt Lake City settled Montpelier, Idaho, in April 1864. It existed primarily as a trading post for a number of years, and in 1892 the Oregon Short Line Railroad built a railroad terminal in the town. Charles E. Harris first published the Montpelier Examiner in 1895. He remained the primary editor and publisher for nine years, even after he sold the business to the Examiner Publishing Company in September 1902. Harris devoted the Democratic Examiner to "the up building of Montpelier and Bear Lake in particular and Idaho in general." The 1902 Holiday Edition of the paper provided insightful information and statistics about life in Bear Lake County. It compared the 1900 Census showing the population of Montpelier to be 1,440, with the updated 1902 estimate of nearly 2,000 residents. In 1902, Bear Lake County boasted 8,000 people, compared with 7,000 in 1900. The Examiner Publishing Company expressed its wish for 1,000 subscribers by the end of 1903.

The Examiner, a weekly paper, changed the day of publication numerous times between Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. For a short spell in January and February of 1900, the paper became the Montpelier "Twice a Week" Examiner. At its origin, the paper consisted of four pages with seven columns; it grew to eight pages after ceasing the twice-a-week printing in 1900. In most issues, two or three columns were dedicated to a fictional story or installment. In the early years of the paper there appeared a column entitled "Woman Suffrage," which included a disclaimer from the editor, stating it was "paid for and edited by members of this [suffrage] club. The Examiner, therefore, has nothing to say concerning the articles appearing under the above head."

Montpelier's primary industries included farming, stock-raising, ranching, and mining. The issue of road maintenance consistently appeared in the Examiner. In 1902 it covered a "campaign for good roads," and in 1920 Montpelier voted to pave the roads. The town, "booming in every other way," implemented electric lighting in 1903.

The Examiner had an ongoing rivalry with the Paris Post, published in the seat of Bear Lake County. The Examiner often re-published quotes from the Post in order to discredit them, and said of the Post, "all it ever appeals to is prejudice and to carry this out any argument is used."

Charles E. Wright bought the Examiner in September 1904. He came from a newspaper background, having worked as the foreman of the Pocatello Advance for seven years. Under Wright, who also served as a Republican House member in the state legislature, the paper became Republican in alignment with his personal views. Ownership passed to H.M. Nelson in 1920, who changed the Examiner to a "progressive, independent newspaper." In 1937, the Examiner combined with the Bear Lake County News to become the News-Examiner, which continues publication to the present day.