Missoula’s First Printing Press
This article appeared in the Missoulian Centennial issue.
Missoulian’s First Printing Press
The Washington hand press was the first used by the Weekly Missoulian when it started in 1873, succeeding the Missoula and Cedar Creek Pioneer, which likely used the same press brought by mule train from Helena. This press usually was operated by a man and boy, the man pulling the lever and the boy inking the form. With a tremendous amount of labor, about 200 papers could be printed per hour. Today’s Missoulian rotary press can run about 20,000 papers per hour.