William C. Foresman began publishing the Clearwater Republican March 28, 1912, as an alternative to the Democratic Orofino Tribune. In the first issue Foresman thanked citizens for supporting the new paper and began taking digs at the Tribune. The 8-page, 5-column weekly appeared Thursday and included news from Clearwater County and surrounding areas of Northern Idaho. At the beginning of 1913, the Republican was sold to William M. Chandler, a local businessman prominent in insurance, real estate and bonds. He changed the publishing day to Fridays, but continued the rivalry with the Tribune.

In December 1913, Peter LaDow Orcutt, former editor of the Troy Weekly News and Daily Star-Mirror of Moscow, purchased the Republican. Its equipment reportedly sold for $1,000. He had a fiery personality and stood for trial in 1912 for fist-fighting with a Republican state senate candidate and faced civil action for alleged defamation. He carried his lively temper into his work and the feud with the Tribune became more pronounced while under his ownership.

Five years later when his health began to decline, Orcutt sold the newspaper and subscription list to William H. Gillespie. The latter made his daughter, Agnes E. Gillespie, business editor and employed Lauren L. Johnson as managing editor. These three ran the paper until February 1922 when the paper was sold to Johnson and Richard A. Hamilton, a Wyoming man who had been the supervisor of the Clearwater National Forest. The two men continued the Clearwater Republican for two months and then purchased the rival Orofino Tribune from Isaac R. Crow, who had owned it for 10 years, and combined the two papers to form the independent, Clearwater Tribune on May 5, 1922.

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