The Ravalli Republican Archive

On August 22, 1894, Editor James E. Stevens, published the first issue of the seven-column, four- page weekly, the Ravalli Republican in Stevensville, Montana. The inaugural issue of the newspaper included a lengthy diatribe against Democrats, accusing them of stealing the last election from the Republican Party by “Democratic election judges driving legal voters from the polls.” Partisan politics directly affected the editorial stance of the Ravalli Republican during the battle over the location of the new state capital in the 1894 election. The Butte “Copper Kings”--Marcus Daly and William A. Clark--waged a costly battle over the new capital, Daly supporting his smelter town of Anaconda and Clark advocating for Helena. The Ravalli Republican advocated for Anaconda, due in part to the huge economic influence of Daly in the neighboring town of Hamilton. The newspaper ran large advertisements for both the Missoula Mercantile and the Bitterroot Development Company (a Daly enterprise in Hamilton). During the final months of 1894, the Stevensville newspaper closely followed both the county and state Republican conventions and issues. The Ravalli Republican ceased publication in 1899.