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Thomas J. Dryer
Thomas J. Dryer - Oregon.png
United States Commissioner to Hawaii
In office
June 8, 1861 – June 18, 1863
President Abraham Lincoln
Preceded by James W. Borden
Succeeded by James McBride (as Minister)
Member of the Oregon Constitutional Convention
In office
1857
Constituency Washington and Multnomah counties
Member of the Oregon Territorial Legislature
In office
1856–1856
Constituency Washington and Multnomah counties
Personal details
Born (1808-01-08)January 8, 1808
Kingston, New York, United States
Died March 30, 1879(1879-03-30) (aged 71)
Oregon
Political party Whig Party
Republican Party
Occupation Newspaper publisher

Thomas Jefferson Dryer (January 8, 1808 – March 30, 1879) was a newspaper publisher and politician in the Western United States. A member of the Oregon Territorial Legislature in 1857, Dryer is best remembered as the founder of The Oregonian, an influential and enduring newspaper in the American state of Oregon.

Dryer was also a committed mountain climber and is credited with being among the first to summit Mount St. Helens and perhaps Mount Hood.

Biography

Early years

Thomas Jefferson Dryer was born on January 10, 1808, in Ulster County, New York.

Move to Portland

Thomas Jefferson Dryer
Dryer from Centennial History of Oregon

After working as a journalist in New York state, Dryer came to San Francisco in 1849 with a hand-operated printing press in tow, seeking a suitable location to establish a newspaper of his own.

Early Oregonian masthead
Dryer was the founding editor of the Portland Oregonian in Dec. 1850.

He initially launched a publication called the California Courier, but with limited success. While in San Francisco Dryer was recruited to relocate north to the town of Portland, Oregon by Stephen Coffin and William W. Chapman, founders and leading boosters of the fledgling enclave.

Coffin and Chapman provided a crude log cabin to Dryer to set up his press and establish his newspaper office. He was able to release the first issue of his publication, The Weekly Oregonian, on December 4, 1850 — about two weeks after the launch six miles to the south in Milwaukie, Oregon by Lot Whitcomb, The Western Star, a rival publication.

Political career

In 1856, Dryer served in the Territorial Legislature representing Multnomah and Washington Counties as a Whig. The following year, he was elected and served at the Oregon Constitutional Convention.

Dryer became a Republican and was an active supporter of Abraham Lincoln in the Presidential election of 1860, winning election as a presidential elector. Following Lincoln's victory, Dryer called in a political favor and was appointed U.S. Commissioner to the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Loss of the Oregonian

During Dryer's absence The Oregonian was published by Henry Lewis Pittock, a compositor and pressman who had been on the paper's staff since November 1853. Dryer was deeply in debt to Pittock for unpaid back wages and he mortgaged the publication to him as security on the unpaid debt. When Dryer made no further attempt at repayment, ownership of the Oregonian passed into Pittock's hands.

Pittock would later go into business partnership with longtime editorialist Harvey W. Scott and The Oregonian would come to see its place cemented as the state's de facto newspaper of record during the 20th century.

Mountain climber

Cartes-de-visite, Printer Thomas J. Dryer - editor of The Oregonian newspaper - born 1808 New York - unmarked grave in Lone Fir Cemetery beside wife, Nancy, who died 14 July 1868
Cartes-de-visite of Thomas J. Dryer

Dryer is credited with being part of the first documented ascent of Mount St. Helens on August 27, 1853, together with three companions. He has also been reported as among the first party to climb Mount Hood, on August 8, 1854. This latter report has been disputed, with most historians claiming the Dryer attempt fell several hundred feet of the summit of Mount Hood, while an 1857 climb by Henry Lewis Pittock and four others provided better documentation of the summit having been reached.

Death and legacy

Dryer died March 30, 1879. He was 71 years old at the time of his death. Dryer's body was buried at Lone Fir Cemetery in Portland.

See also

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