Publisher Thomas Muzzio Founded 1858 Headquarters Virginia City, Nevada | Editor Thomas Muzzio Language English | |
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Owner(s) Territorial Enterprise Historical and Educational Foundation, a Nonprofit Corporation | ||
The Territorial Enterprise, founded by William Jernegan and Alfred James on December 18, 1858, was a newspaper published in Virginia City, Nevada. The paper was published for its first two years in Genoa and moved to Virginia City in 1860.
Contents
Noted author Mark Twain worked for the paper during the 1860s along with writers William Wright and Dan DeQuille. The young Sam Clemens was hired to cover for DeQuille, who took time off to visit his family in Iowa. Later, Mark Twain and Dan DeQuille, lifelong friends, shared a room at 25 North B St. in Virginia City, steps from the Enterprise offices.
The paper went out of publication for a while and was revived by Helen Crawford Dorst in 1946 and was later purchased and revived by author, journalist, and railroad historian Lucius Beebe and his long-time companion and co-author Charles Clegg on May 2, 1952. Clegg and Beebe sold the Territorial Enterprise in 1961.
History
Joseph T. Goodman was owner and editor of the Territorial Enterprise in the 1860s. He was succeeded by William Sharon who hired Rollin Daggett as managing editor in 1874. Charles Carroll Goodwin joined the staff in 1873, and was chief editor from 1875–80, before moving on to The Salt Lake Tribune.
Film history
In 1959 the NBC western television series Bonanza, set in Nevada, aired the episode "Enter Mark Twain", with Howard Duff in the role of the young author who comes to work at the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. The Territorial Enterprise also was prominently mentioned in the series State Trooper, in an 1959 episode named "Silver Spiral".
Today
Thomas Muzzio is president of the Territorial Enterprise Historical and Educational Foundation, which maintains a Web site dedicated to preserving the legacy of the Territorial Enterprise and the history of journalism in the West.
Mark Twain Museum at the Territorial Enterprise
The Mark Twain Museum at the Territorial Enterprise, a separate entity from the above, operates a museum in the original Territorial Enterprise building in Virginia City, NV. The museum features the original desk used by Mark Twain when he was editor of the paper. Other exhibits include antique printing presses, an early Linotype machine, a proof press, stone composing tables (one of which Mark Twain and other employees of the paper used to sleep on), and various other antiques.