| The Territorial Enterprise | |
| Type: | Daily newspaper |
| Owners: | Territorial Enterprise Historical and Educational Foundation |
| Founder: | William Jernegan and Alfred James |
| Foundation: | December 18, 1858 |
| Language: | English |
| Ceased Publication: | January 16, 1893 |
| Headquarters: | Virginia City, Nevada |
| Website: | www.territorial- enterprise.com |
| Image Alt: | border |
| Publishing Country: | United States |
The Territorial Enterprise, founded by William Jernegan and Alfred James on 18 December 1858, was a newspaper published in Virginia City, Nevada. Published for its first two years in Genoa in what was then Utah Territory, new owners Jonathan Williams and J. B. Woolard moved the paper to Carson City, the capital of the territory, in 1859.[1] The paper changed hands again the next year; Joseph T. Goodman and Denis E. McCarthy moved it again, this time to Virginia City, in 1860.[2]
Noted author Mark Twain wrote for the paper during the 1860s along with writer Dan DeQuille. To cover for DeQuille, who took time off to visit his family in Iowa, the young Sam Clemens was hired. Located steps from the Enterprise offices, Mark Twain and Dan DeQuille, lifelong friends, shared a room at 25 North B St. in Virginia City.
The paper was owned and operated by the Blake family in the 1890s through the 1920s.
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 2 May 1952.[3] Clegg and Beebe sold the Territorial Enterprise in 1961.[4]
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.[5] Charles Carroll Goodwin joined the staff in 1873, and was chief editor from 1875–1880, before moving on to The Salt Lake Tribune.
As of 2016, Thomas and Deborah Hayward are now the current owners of the Territorial Enterprise buildings and Mark Twain Museum at the Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City, Nevada.
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.[6]
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.[7] [8]
On 16 April 2019, an edition of the Territorial Enterprise was found in a time capsule from 1872 in the cornerstone of a demolished Masonic lodge in Reno.[9] [10]