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REVIEWS
FRONTIER PUBLISHER: A ROMANTIC REVIEW OF GEORGE PALMER PUTNAM'S CAREER AT THE BEND BULLETIN, 1910–1914, WITH AN EXTENDED EPILOGUE
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by James L. Crowell
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| Deschutes County Historical Society, Bend, Oregon, 2008. Notes, bibliography, photographs. 256 pages. $18.00 paper. |
| James Crowell's Frontier Publisher is an unusual book. Originally written in 1966 as a master's thesis in Journalism at the University of Oregon, it has now been published by the Deschutes County Historical Society without significant revision. In spite of the time lag and the limited purposes for which it was initially prepared, its publication is welcome. |
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Twenty-one-year-old George Palmer Putnam, grandson of the founder of the family's New York publishing house, arrived in Bend, Oregon, in 1909. The community was a tiny outpost at one of America's last frontiers, but residents eagerly anticipated growth from irrigation projects, the arrival of rail connections to the outside, and the large sawmills that railroads would make possible. Caught up in the enthusiasm, Putnam purchased the local weekly, the Bend Bulletin, and quickly made it a significant force, boosting community development and attacking malfeasance by politicians, irrigation company officials, and authorities in Crook County (of which the area around Bend was then a part). His involvement in public affairs and outspoken championing of the people's interests led to his being named mayor in 1912 and, no doubt, to his selection as private secretary to Governor James Withycombe in 1914. After military service during World War I, Putnam decided not to return to Bend, so he sold the paper to Robert W. Sawyer (who had served as managing editor in Putnam's absence) and two partners. |
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As if uncertain whether he was writing a history focused on Putnam's career in central Oregon or a full biography, Crowell appends a sixty-page epilogue tracing Putnam's later career (including his marriage to Amelia Earhart). This rather diffuse section dangles uncomfortably at the end of the work. A brief epilogue focused on subsequent developments in central Oregon and how they were shaped by the legacy of Putnam's activities in Bend would have resulted in a more focused and satisfying study. Those desiring to know about Putnam's disjointed later career could always resort to his autobiography, Wide Margins (Harcourt Brace, 1942). |
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Crowell's account is based largely on evidence provided in the pages of the Bulletin and in Putnam's various other writings. This results in fascinating reading, for Putnam was forthright in his assessments and, like other central Oregon journalists of the period, scathing — and often personal — in his attacks. Community rivalries were strong, and editors in neighboring towns gave as well as they got from the Bulletin, although Crowell uses their papers sparingly. |
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If the work were being written today, one would expect Crowell to use a wider range of sources, including the Withycombe papers and Keith and Donna Clark's detailed essay in High and Mighty (Oregon Historical Society, 1981). Yet the remarkable thing is how well his study has met the test of time. Crowell does not claim his account is a thorough history of Bend, let alone of central Oregon, but the issues and developments he delineates continue to be important for understanding the time and place — as well as what developed there later. Struggles over irrigation, especially Carey Act projects; efforts to bring a railroad to central Oregon; the campaign to separate Deschutes from Crook County; rivalries among Bend, Redmond, and Prineville; the role of boosterism in frontier community development; and attempts to bring order to sometimes wide-open Bend are all deserving of additional attention. Crowell pointed the way; one would hope that, after over forty years, others would follow his lead and help us gain a better understanding of this too-little-studied area of Oregon. |
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| Thomas R. Cox
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| Emeritus, San Diego State University |
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