Joseph Webb started the first newspaper in what is now Nevada, the Gold-Canyon Switch during the year 1854. It was hand written and distributed in John Town.
Three years later, S.A. Kinsey started the second-hand written newspaper, the Scorpion, in Genoa. No copies of either paper still exist; knowledge of them comes from Dan DeQuille having written about them.
W.L. Jemegan and Alfred James hauled a printing press and rolls of paper over the Sierra Nevada on the backs of mules in 1858. The name of their paper was the Territorial Enterprise, following the practice of using the name of the place where the paper was published.
Instead of Genoa being used, however, the phrase ‘Utah Territory’ was shortened to one word. James sold out to Jonathan Williams before the newspaper was moved to Carson City in November 1859. Jemegan sold out to Williams in May 1860.
Williams moved the newspaper to A and Taylor Streets in Virginia City in October 1860. Today. the Territorial Enterprise Building is located at 23 South C Street, and is home to the Mark Twain Museum.
The Old Blog in the Desert 
Leave a comment