Dustin White
Editor

As the twin cities of Bismarck and Mandan began to grow, so did their need for relating the news. In Bismarck, that task was taken up by Col. Clement A. Lounsberry, who founded the Bismarck Tribune. For half a decade, the Tribune stood as the newspaper for the area, but in 1879, a man named Harry Robinson would shake that up a bit. The Mandan Criterion was formed.

Welcoming the new paper, the Tribune announced the Criterion with a simple greeting on May 24, 1879: “This wee bring forth the first number of the Mandan Criterion, which will be a spicy, newsy little paper.”

Both towns were now able to boast that they had one of the oldest papers on their respective sides of the Missouri. However, the honor for the first paper in North Dakota went to Fort Union, and later Fort Rice, with the printing of the Frontier Scout.



As the Criterion began publishing, the Tribune was impressed. On May 31, 1879, having reviewed the first issue, the Tribune wrote: “The Mandan Criterion is little but neat. Harry Robinson, the proprietor, has a good lot of material and does excellent work.”

While the relationship between the two papers began cordially, as often happens, a feud shortly began to rise. By July, the Criterion had begun to sing praises as to how Mandan, and the west side of the Missouri was superior to the east side.

Just the next month, Robinson would stir up a bit more trouble by denouncing the officials of Bismarck, Burleigh County and the U.S. Land Offices. The offense leveled at them was that those officials “have not seen fit to publish two or three notices in relations to the lands lying on the west side of the river in the columns of the Criterion …”

Wanting to serve as the official paper of Morton County, containing such legal ads was not only a sign of their status, but also served as an additional revenue for the tiny paper, one that they desperately needed. However, having just recently been created, the Criterion had yet proved that it was “regularly established and regularly published.”

The Criterion would soon rectify that matter, and in September of 1879, the paper was enlarged. Yet, with the increased size in the paper, an ever ballooning sense of importance was also growing.

Growth
The sense of importance that the Criterion felt was also being observed throughout Mandan, and for good reason.

By October of 1879, the city was beginning to experience rapid growth. Elevators in Mandan were being filled, and “groaning under the weight of their loads,” while another engine had been added to the division, as business was beginning to increase.

That same month, the city had completed nearly all of the bridges that crossed the Heart River, and plans had begun to formulate in regards to the railroad. Mandan had a bright future, and the Criterion was not going to allow that to be unnoticed.

The boasting did not go unnoticed. On Dec. 12, 1879, the Tribune printed a small column, that passively dealt with the claims of the Criterion.



“From the Mandan Criterion The Tribune learns that Mandan is still in existence …” opened the column. Detailing other points that the Tribune learned from the Criterion, the column read “that Mandan ‘lays’ over Bismarck in the way of a debating society;” and “that Mandan is the cause of the earth’s movement.”

Matters escalate
While 1879 left off with a few insults, 1880 began with theft.

Having grown the paper, the Mandan Criterion was in need of additional equipment. In particular, it was in need of a bellows.

In January of 1880, the Tribune had reported that its own bellows had been stolen. To their surprise, they found it after having read the Mandan Criterion, where the paper, on the first article of the first page, disclosed the “fact that it had taken editorial charge” of it.

Adding insult to injury, the Criterion continued with their boasting, “speaking of next year’s rise of Mandan and fall of Bismarck …”

The Tribune responded in jest. In the same Jan. 16, 1880, issue, where the Tribune reported that Mandan had proposed to build a railroad to the Black Hills, an enterprise that Bismarck held the charter for, the Bismarck paper wrote that “Bismarck has a kind of sisterly love for Mandan and will help her in any way that her virtuous inclinations may suggest.”

Responding to the accusations of theft, while acknowledging that they were in possession of the stolen piece of equipment, the Criterion was unapologetic, and in there next issue, stated that the “Tribune has been obliged to fall back on a squirt gun,” after having their wind instrument stolen.

Not allowing such statement to go without response, the Tribune continued with their jokes, at the expense of Mandan and their paper. In their Jan. 30, 1880 issue, under the section, did you know, the Tribune wrote: “That Mandan had a regularly published weakly newspaper?” and “That Mandan property is a safe investment, but it is best to sell it inside of ninety days?”

Going a bit further, the Tribune, made mention that the Mandan Criterion said that “if the editor of The Tribune could make the people believe he is not its editor it would improve his chances for Congress.”

In response, the Tribune said such a statement was correct, and continued by writing that no newspaper man could ever hope for political honors, regardless of how good they were. While the statement seemed quite innocent at first read, it was poking fun of Robinson, who was himself, active in politics.

The gloves were beginning to come off, and soon the final straw would be had. But before that, not allowing the Criterion to forget that they had stolen property, in introducing a story about C.S. Weaver and Co. having lengthened their fans on their wind-mill, took a jab at the Criterion



“This is the only private wind mill in Burleigh County, except the Mandan Criterion. The mill was erected near The Tribune office to supply the deficiency of the stolen bellows,” the Tribune wrote on Feb. 6, 1880.

Final straw
While the two papers had gone back and forth with their insults, the final straw for the Tribune occurred in mid-February of 1880, when the Mandan Criterion began publishing personal attacks against Robert Macnider.

The Tribune did not necessarily put the entire blame on Robinson, but did say that it was representative of his weakness.

The gloves were now off, and for the next few months, the Tribune looked over the Criterion with an ever critical eye, calling them out when they didn’t get their facts straight.

As the Criterion neared the end of its first year, it was beginning to feel the heat of the Tribune, but more importantly, they were feeling the effects of low circulation. The end was coming for the Mandan paper.

Foreshadowing this impending doom, Robinson, in December of 1880, wrote of the “terrible loss his sudden demise would be to the community.”

By the next year, the Criterion was being advertised for sale, in an eastern paper. Robinson had purposely concealed such information from his readers, but The Tribune, having found out about the want to sell, informed the citizens of North Dakota.

That sale didn’t come until later in the year. Announcing the news, the Jamestown Alert wrote that the Criterion would change hands around Jan. 1, 1882.

The sale would signal the final demise of the paper. On Jan. 1, 1882, the Mandan Pioneer replaced the Criterion as the official paper of Morton County.

For the Tribune, a bit of excitement was growing, as they warmly welcomed the new paper. However, that warmth wouldn’t last long.