Black Hills Pioneer

On June 8, 1876, A. W. Merrick and W. A. Laughlin first published the Black Hills Weekly Pioneer in Deadwood, South Dakota.^[3] After a month Laughlin sold out to C.V. Gardner.^[4] In April 1877, Porter Warner and W.P. Newhard started the Black Hills Daily Times.^[5] Newhard exited the firm after a month.^[6]

In December 1884, Merrick left the Pioneer to Dolph Edwards and H.W. Pinneo,^[7] who published it together until April 1885, when Willis H. Bonham succeeded Pinneo.^[8] That May, Edwards retired and was succeeded by Charles Maskrey and James C. Moody.^[9]

In 1897, the Pioneer and Times merged to form the Deadwood Pioneer Times, leaving Warner as editor and Bonham as business manager.^[10] Bonham published the paper until his death in 1927.^[11] His nephews Lee V. and Earl Morford continued to operated the business. In February 1944, O.A. Kelley bought the Pioneer Times from Lee V. Morford,^[12] and later that year purchased the Black Hills Weekly of Deadwood from Mrs. Elizabeth Howe Donaldson.^[13][14]

Fred A. Seaton, founder of Seaton Publishing, acquired the Lead Daily Call in October 1945.^[15] Later that year brothers Carl H. and Roy A. "Spud" Sundstrom acquired the Pioneer Times and Weekly,^[16] and in 1946 sold them to Seaton,^[17] who died in 1974.^[18] In 1983, Seaton Publishing, Co. launched the Spearfish Star as a competitor to the Spearfish Queen City Mail,^[19] which it acquired in 1985.^[20] At that time the Star was merged with the Weekly to form the Black Hills Weekly & Spearfish Star.^[21] The Weekly was consolidated at some point. In 1993, the Call, the Mail and Pioneer Times were merged under the name Black Hills Pioneer.^[22]

Publisher A.W. Merrick and the Black Hills Weekly Pioneer are portrayed in the HBO television series Deadwood.^[23]