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Joseph Alexander Osborne, founder of the Fort Frances Times and a newspaperman
for 66 of his 87 years, passed away at Newport News, V.A. on Sunday, July
25, 1948. At the time of his death he was editor emeritus of the Gazette
of Williamsburg, V.A., the oldest paper on the continent. It was established
in 1736.
Mr. Osborne, during his 20-year residence on the Border, took the lead in
promoting the Rainy River District and, being civic minded, he took an active
part in its development.
In 1905, he was elected Mayor of Fort Frances, succeeding W.J. Keating,
who was the first Mayor following incorporation of Fort Frances as a town
in 1903. He also served on town council from 1907-1910, and then again in
1912 and 1913.
He also took an active part in politics, helped elect the late James Coumee,
MP, and local members, the last being J.A. Mathieu. He was also offered
the nomination for the Dominion parliament and twice was tendered the Liberal
nomination for the Ontario legislature. All these honours he refused as
he felt that he could not do justice to the Times and be absent from home
on legislative duties.
Began Career in 1882
Mr. Osborne, born near Tyrone, Ontario, came west to Winnipeg in March,
1882, entering newspaper work on the Winnipeg Evening Times. Later he switched
to the Brandon Sun as manager. From Brandon, he went to Kenora to work with
the News and then later the Rat Portage Miner. Wishing to get into newspaper
business on his own, he purchased the Rainy Lake Journal, published at Rainy
Laker City (just south of Black Bay, 15 miles east of International Falls)
which he took over in January, 1896.
"To get to Rainy Lake City (a typical mining camp) I had to go to Winnipeg
on to St. Paul, thence to Duluth and Tower in Northern Minnesota, and from
Tower by team over ice and snow 150 miles to my destination. This was some
trip in those early days and I was tired, cold and hungry when I at last
reached my destination. I had a good dinner of venison and fish at a Swedish
boarding house, after which I viewed my newspaper property - the Rainy Lake
Journal.
"It was not so prepossessing or promising but I settled down to work
with one young man who combined that of printer's devil, printer and pressman.
I knew nothing about setting type (it was done by hand in those days) but
we managed to get along. We published numerous land office notices at $8
each and homestead notices at $5 each, and had as many as 20 or 30 come
in by mail with cheques attached."
Barrels of Beer
"I put in the balance of the winter there but as spring advanced the
little town ran short of provisions and we lived for three weeks on cornmeal
and jackfish. About this time the ice began to break up in the Rainy Lake,
so with a companion I took a canoe to Fort Frances, 14 miles distant, across
and down the lake to get food. Here we also found a scarcity of provisions,
so we waited for the boat from Rat Portage 150 miles away. The boat finally
did arrive and when they unloaded the freight consisted of one bag of flour
and a couple of hundred barrels of beer. With a little more cornmeal, a
dozen eggs and a few canned goods, my companion and I paddled our canoe
back to Rainy Lake City, there to get along best we could until more provisions
arrived and the lake was clear of ice.
"Towards the first of June, seeing that the little American Mine was
closed down and people going away, I moved the paper and plan by barge to
Koochiching (now International Falls) opposite to Fort Frances. This was
the first paper to be published in Northern Minnesota. I went back and forth
across the Rainy River each day by canoe and in the winter by canoe and
on ice.
"In the fall of the next year (1897) I learned there was some possibility
of the Canadian Northern building from Winnipeg to Port Arthur, coming through
Fort Frances. So as to be on the spot I arranged to move the paper and plant
across the river to Fort Frances where I built a printing office and founded
the Fort Frances Times."
In 1900, Mr. Osborne established the Gazette at Rainy River, while at the
same time he published the Brandon Daily Sun.
"On Christmas morning," he later wrote, "I had a Christmas
present handed to me in the form of a telegram from a friend of mine in
Rainy River stating that the Gazette office and plant burned the night before
and nothing was saved. There was also the news that my manager and printer
there had left town with another man's wife."
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