Jimtown, Willowcreek, Stringtown, Amethyst and Creede

It's day all day, in the day-time,
And there is no night in Creede

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com 

Creede was originally located on East Willow Creek just above its junction with West Willow Creek, however, it was originally named Willow. The post office opened on May 12, 1891, and it was renamed Creede on July 1, 1891.
Below Creede were Stringtown, Jimtown, and Amethyst. The Amethyst, Colorado, post office opened on January 25, 1892. The Town of Creede was incorporated on May 19, 1892. Ranching and tourism are well-established traditions in the Upper Rio Grande Valley, says the town of Creede's web site.

Kit Carson’s brother-in-law, Tom Boggs, and several other settlers began farming at Wagon Wheel Gap as early as 1840. M.V.B. Wason homesteaded the Wason Ranch in 1871. Hay became a major commodity for the mining camps at Summitville and Lake City. Prospectors and other travelers, lured by the wealth of the San Juan’s mineral fields, coursed toll roads linking Lake City with supply towns in the San Luis Valley. Barlow and Sanderson stages made several runs daily. 

"By the mid–1870s, tourist activities also began to thrive along the Rio Grande. Books such as Crofutt’s Gripsack Guide or Ingersoll’s Crest of the Continent enticed Easterners and Europeans to experience the American West. The pioneering name of Soward became associated with the Upper Rio Grande Valley in 1876 with the purchase of the Antelope Springs Stage Station and Halfway House. James Workman bought the Texas Club, now the location of Freemon’s Ranch, at the stage-stop settlement of San Juan. Nearly 15 years before there was a town called Creede, a hotel opened at Wagon Wheel Gap," says information from the town of Creede. 

"The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad began transporting eager tourists into the area as early as 1883 with the opening of the depot at Wagon Wheel Gap. Fishermen would ride the train to a favorite “hole,” disembark to fish for the day, and then catch a ride on a returning train. The Utes’ favored hot springs soon became a popular spa with tourists coming in droves to “take the waters.” Praise for the curative and restorative benefits, both by drinking from the bubbling hot springs as well as bathing in the soothing flow, spread through publications promoted by the railroad. A lavish bathhouse sheltered guests as they luxuriated in the therapeutic springs. The historic bathhouse still stands at the 4UR Ranch as a poignant reminder of those early tourism heydays."



 

Nicholas Creede & Nephew Harvey Lester, 1870 - Creede Historical Society Archive #3069

Jimtown's great fire of 1892

 
Jimtown was the historic, bustling, lower section of Creede, Colorado, during its famous silver boom in the early 1890s. While the original tent city and stilt-supported wooden buildings no longer exist, the area's explosive mining past is preserved through local museums, underground tours, and scenic drives.The Silver Boom (1890-1893): Following Nicholas C. Creed's discovery of the Holy Moses mine, Willow Creek Canyon swelled from a remote wilderness to a wild-west boomtown of 10,000 residents. Creede Camp (Upper Creede) and "Jimtown" (Lower Creede) eventually merged into the incorporated city of Creede.Wild West Outlaws: Jimtown and early Creede attracted notorious frontier figures. 

Infamous characters like Bat Masterson and Bob Ford (the man who killed Jesse James) briefly set up shop or operated saloons in the area before the silver crash of 1893.




Burn district, Jimtown, Colo.,
great fire of June 5th, 1892
Creator: Goodman, Charles, d. 1912.
Summary: Smoke rises from the smoldering ashes of the fire that burned a portion of Creede (Jimtown/Upper Creede), Colorado, in Mineral County. Men walk through ashes and debris that litter the center of town. Buildings, shanties, cabins, and tents that escaped the fire are on the hillside in the background.
Date: 1892, June 5
Notes: Formerly F44688.; Formerly X-7462.; Inked title reproduced in photographic print with: "no. 3."; R7110015375
Physical Description: 1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm. (4 x 5 in.); 1 photographic print on card mount : albumen ; 13 x 21 cm. (5 x 8 in.); 1 photoprint ; 11 x 17 cm. (4 x 6 1/2 in.)
Source: Mrs. L. P. Thompson.
Western History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.




Here's a land where all are equal -
Of high or lowly birth.
A land where men make millions,
Dug from the dreary earth.
Here the meek and mild-eyed burro
On mineral mountains feed -
It's day all day, in the day-time,
And there is no night in Creede.

 Creede, by Cy Warman

Creede was originally known as Jimtown.
Title: Jimtown (Colo.) Great Fire of June 5th, 1892
Year/era: 1892-06-05
Photographer: Sanborn (Denver, Colo.)
Publisher: Sanborn Souvenir Co., Inc.
Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College, Nina Heald Webber Southwest Colorado Collection




Main Street, Jimtown, Colo.
Creator: Goodman, Charles, d. 1912.
Pedestrians walk down the unpaved street of Creede (Jimtown), Colorado in Mineral County; many people stand on the wood-plank sidewalks in front of the building. Horse-drawn wagons are parked at the sides of the street. Architectural elements of the one and two-story wood-frame buildings include clapboard siding, bay windows, cornices, false fronts, flat roofs, and gables. The narrow, steep, rocky canyon that surrounds the town is in the background. Signs: "Thomas & Thomas Law Office" "Theatre Comique" "Stoves Hardware" "White and Mitchell" and "Thomas Charpe Staple Fancy Grocers."
Date: [between 1892 and 1899]
Notes: Formerly F44689.; Formerly X-7915; Inked on back of photographic print: "Creede is about a mile North of Jimtown. Principle street of Jimtown.; Inked title reproduced in photographic print.
Physical Description: 1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm. (4 x 5 in.); 1 photographic print on card mount : albumen ; 13 x 20 cm. (5 x 8 in.); 1 photoprint ; 10 x 17 cm. (4 x 6 3/4 in.)
Is Part Of Views of Creede and vicinity.
Source: Mrs. LP Thompson.
From the Western History/Genealogy Dept., Denver Public Library.
 

Creede, Colorado Date: [1890?]




Two men stand in the open doorway of the Holy Moses Saloon, which is next to the narrow, rocky, canyon walls that surround the town of Creede, Colorado, in Mineral County. The building is a one-story, clapboard storefront with a broken cornice and a transom over the front door. A step leads from the narrow, wood-plank sidewalk in front of part of the building to the entrance of the building. A barrel lies on its side near the entrance.
Format of Original Material 1 copy photonegative ; 20 x 25 cm (8 x 10 in.); 1 photo print on cabinet card : cabinet card ; 9 x 9 cm (3 3 1/2 x 3 1/4 in.)
Notes: Formerly F3941. Hand-written on back of photo print: Saloon was located at the mine named Holy Moses. It is 2 1/2 miles N.E. of Creede. The man standing in his shirt sleeves in the doorway was the owner of the saloon and he is now Sheriff of Creede. Mr. William Orthen. This saloon was the first liquor shop above Creede. Photoprint has yellowed and faded, and the card to which it is attached is dirty. Title hand-written on back of photo print.
Denver Public Library Special Collections.

I'm here with all the beer

 

Train load full of beer

By Rob Carrigan,  robcarrigan1@gmail.com

 I always expect to back a beer truck into the party, but yesterday was sort of next level. 

Looking in the mirror outside the locomotive switcher, they trusted me at the levers to back the Coors train car load 'refer' into position in the yard. 

The bright-red Coors Diesel Switcher No. C988 is a permanent historical fixture at the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, Colorado. 

Built originally in 1938, this EMD SW8 locomotive worked the tracks of the nearby Coors plant from 1981 to 2004 before being donated to the museum. 

It was a pleasure to hit the horn to clear the way.

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William Henry Jackson style

Conductor on the platform of the "Rico" Business Car at Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden during Colorado Crossings 2026. Rob Carigan photo

 What's it like riding the "Rico," taking photos?

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

This weekend, I had just a taste of what it might have been like to ride the rails and shoot photos in the 1890s with William Henry Jackson in his traveling dark room in Colorado. I had a seat, regular class, on the next car ahead in the train. But when it stopped for de-boarding, I asked the conductor if I could drift on back through what was once Jackson's business car "Rico" at the end of the excursion train. 

The famed Western photographer William Henry Jackson used the Rio Grande Southern business car "Rico" (originally D&RG car
B-21) as his mobile home and darkroom during his iconic 1890s photography excursions through the rugged San Juan Mountains of Colorado. 

History of the "Rico" 

Construction & Rebuilding: 

The car was originally built as a standard passenger coach by Billmeyer & Small in 1880 for the Denver & Rio Grande (D&RG) railroad. In 1892, it was rebuilt into a business car and named "Rico".

William Henry Jackson Special: 

 Jackson utilized this narrow-gauge luxury car as a traveling office and photo studio, famously attaching it to RGS trains (like Engine No. 9) to capture breathtaking views of Lizard Head Pass and the surrounding mining country.
Renaming: In 1909, the car was briefly renamed "Montezuma," and later designated as B-21 in 1921.

Preservation:  

Following the abandonment of the Rio Grande Southern in 1951, the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club purchased and rescued the historic car.  Today, the meticulously restored RGS Business Car No. B-21 "Rico" has been beautifully preserved and is proudly exhibited as part of the permanent collection at the Colorado Railroad Museum located in Golden.

From History Colorado and Colorado Encyclopedia :

William Henry Jackson (1843–1942) was one of the best-known photographers of the American West. He is renowned for his photographs of Colorado’s mountain scenery, many of which show now-famous landmarks such as Mount of the Holy Cross, Garden of the Gods, Mesa Verde, and Royal Gorge. His photographs captured the vastness of Colorado’s beauty and helped lure many people to the state from the late nineteenth century onward.

Today, Jackson’s images provide Americans with a glimpse of the American West on the cusp of great change, helping them see what familiar landscapes looked like as humanity ushered in the age of industrial mining, timber harvesting, large-scale irrigation projects, and other modern developments.
 

Early Life :

William Henry Jackson was born to George Hallock Jackson and Harriet Maria Allen on April 4, 1843, in Keeseville, New York. Jackson learned to paint from his mother, a hobbyist. He worked as a colorist at photography studios in Troy, New York, and Rutland, Vermont, where he learned photographic technique. At the age of nineteen Jackson enlisted in the Civil War, serving for nine months in Company K of the Twelfth Vermont Infantry. While en route to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Jackson’s regiment was diverted to Westminster, Maryland, to guard trains—missing one of the war’s bloodiest affairs. After the war, Jackson returned home, where he enjoyed landscape painting. A disagreement with his sweetheart precipitated Jackson’s move West.

In 1868 Jackson relocated to Omaha, Nebraska, and opened a photography studio with his brother Ed. A year later William married Mollie Greer. She and their baby died during childbirth in 1872. In 1873 Jackson married Emilie Painter. Their union produced three children: Clarence, Louise, and Hallie.
 

Hayden Survey :

A chance meeting with Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, director of the United States Geological Survey of the Territories, changed the course of Jackson’s career. In early 1870, Jackson became the official photographer of the “Hayden Survey.” For nine seasons, Jackson worked with Hayden to document the landscape in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. In 1871 Jackson photographed the Yellowstone area, and his photographs helped convince members of Congress to designate Yellowstone as the nation’s first national park on March 1, 1872.

Over the next five years of the survey, Jackson photographed Colorado from its southwest corner across the Rocky Mountains. His photographic equipment consisted of bulky cameras supported by sturdy tripods, fragile glass plate negatives, and a portable darkroom, including bottles of chemicals. Jackson processed the negatives in the field, allowing him to see his results immediately. If he was dissatisfied, Jackson could wipe off the photographic emulsion and reuse the negative.

During the Colorado years of the survey, Jackson perfected his mountain views, photographed small towns, and took images of Native American life. He used a wide variety of photographic formats, from stereographs to spectacular, multiplate panoramas. His most popular subjects included several of Colorado’s Fourteeners, especially Mount of the Holy Cross. While Jackson made the first photographs of the Native American sites near Mesa Verde, the survey did not find the Cliff Palace, the most famous cliff dwelling in the area.
 

Photography Business: 

In 1879 Jackson, now a famous photographer, chose to open a studio in Denver. Jackson knew the state well, and with duplicate negatives from his survey work, he already had a strong inventory of Colorado views.

Commissions from the railroad industry supported Jackson for many years. He worked for the Baltimore & Ohio, Denver & Rio Grande, Mexican Central Railway, New York Central, Philadelphia & Reading, and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. Some provided private cars, allowing Jackson and his traveling companions the freedom to stop at any location. His photographs of beautiful scenery along the railroad routes were displayed in railroad offices, sold to tourists, and used as the basis for engravings published in brochures and advertisements. Even those unable to leave home could purchase Jackson’s photographs.

The economic downturn of 1893 devastated Colorado’s economy, including Jackson’s business. At the same time, photographic printing technology and publishing methods were rapidly evolving, making it easier to mass produce half-tones and gravures. The original photographic print held less value. In addition, amateur photography gained popularity with the introduction of Kodak cameras.

Jackson desperately needed to change his business model and increase cash flow. An offer to join the World’s Transportation Commission, a three-year project to document railways and other types of transportation around the world, fit the bill. Harper’s Weekly magazine agreed to publish illustrated articles about the trip, based on Jackson’s photographs. Jackson photographed scenes in Egypt, Ceylon, India, New Zealand, Siberia, and several other locations. Beset by budget problems, the trip lasted only eighteenth months.
 

Leaving Colorado: 

In 1897 Jackson joined the Detroit Publishing Company, a major photography firm. A year later, the Jacksons left Denver and moved to Detroit. Jackson, a partner with the firm, contributed 20,000 negatives to the business. The company specialized in converting black-and-white photographs to color lithographs called Photochroms. Jackson’s images, now mass-produced in a range of sizes that included newly popular postcards, were sold in stores, in hotels, and through mail-order catalogs. Jackson made photographs for the Detroit Publishing Company until 1903, when he took over the role of plant manager. The company thrived until after World War I, going bankrupt in 1924.

In 1924 Jackson moved to Washington, DC. He lived with his daughter and resumed his interest in landscape painting. In 1936 Jackson painted four murals, based on the four major nineteenth-century geologic expeditions, for display at the Interior Department building in Washington. Jackson’s ghost-written autobiography, Time Exposure, was published in 1940.

On June 30, 1942, at the age of ninety-nine, William Henry Jackson died in New York City. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, DC.

 

Fix locomotives, cars for passengers, business, liquid, gas, stock, freight

 The Cornelius W. Hauck Roundhouse at the Colorado Railroad Museum

 Round and round we go

 "I could go back to the railroad. I liked that job. "_ Sturgill Simpson

"Turntables have been a 'round' since the 1830s – and they're still in rotation." — BNSF Rail Talk: A reflection on the remarkable longevity of the railroad turntable. 

Getting aligned in the right direction 

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

 In the old days, you had to take your locomotive and all the rolling stock to railroad roundhouse to have those knuckleheads fix it, usually.

While some have been replaced by reversing loops (wyes), dozens of these vintage structures are still maintained for historical preservation and scenic train operations.

Railroad roundhouses are the garages and workshops for locomotives and cars. The Cornelius W. Hauck Roundhouse at the Colorado Railroad Museum was completed in 2000 and is named after one of the Museum’s founders. It has five stalls and houses the tools and equipment needed to restore and repair rolling stock. 

Roundhouse workers must have many skills to keep equipment in working order. Volunteer machinists, pipe fitters, carpenters, electricians, painters and upholsterers contribute more than 1,200 hours a month restoring and maintaining rolling stock at the Museum.

There are nine railroad roundhouses that still physically exist in Colorado in varying states — ranging from fully operational historic sites to abandoned foundations.

The remaining roundhouses across the state include:
• Colorado Railroad Museum Roundhouse (Golden): Built in 2000, this five-stall roundhouse features inspection pits and a machine shop used for restoring historic trains.
• Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad Roundhouse (Durango): A fully functioning, historic roundhouse originally built in 1881 that serves the famous narrow-gauge steam trains.
• Como Roundhouse (Como): Built by Italian stonemasons in 1881, this former Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad facility is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is undergoing active preservation.
• Hugo Union Pacific Railroad Roundhouse (Hugo): Constructed in 1909, this is the only surviving brick roundhouse in the state associated with the pre-merger Union Pacific Railroad.
• Leadville Roundhouse (Leadville): Originally a narrow-gauge facility built by the Denver & Rio Grande, the building still stands and is used for storage.
• Tiny Town Railroad Roundhouse (Morrison): A miniature roundhouse built for the 15-inch gauge railway.
• Midland Terminal Railroad Roundhouse (Colorado Springs): The physical structure still exists but has been repurposed into commercial retail and mail space.
• Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Roundhouse (Colorado Springs): The structure survives but has also been repurposed for non-railroad use.
• Burlington Route (Denver): Two stalls remain of the old Chicago, Burlington & Quincy roundhouse and are integrated into a current shop building.
Additionally, there are several locations where faint visual remains or foundation outlines can still be seen—such as in La Junta and La Salle. 

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We still need to turn a profit — or do we?

 

From Dec. 2007 issue of Newspapers & Technology

‘Still eating’ good advice for newspapers confronting challenges
By Rob Carrigan
 

---

His answer was always the same: “Still eating.”

Rain or shine, good times or bad, my grandfather always answered that way when anybody asked him, “How is it going?” or “How are you?” or “How do you do?”

He had other little endearing comments and sayings of course (for example, calling black table pepper the Sioux word for fly poop).

But “Still eating,” was his trademark and it reflected his hardscrabble existence as a homestead rancher on the Western Slope of Colorado.
After years in the community newspaper business, I have adopted a similar stance. Today, circulation is harder to keep up. Advertising is more difficult to find, and it often has to be shared with others. Nobody respects us. And the margins seem thinner than the air at 14,000 feet.

Still, it is a fun business. Something new every day, plenty of interaction in the thick of things and a newspaper knows what’s going on around town. These all are definite benefits. However, we need to turn a profit — or do we?

Another view

Maybe not. Consider media critic Mark Glaser of MediaShift, who makes a case for citizen ownership of the Los Angeles Times.

“Already, a handful of newspapers have survived and thrived owned by charitable trusts as non-profits. These include the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times (owned by the Poynter Institute) and the Union Leader in Manchester, N.H. (owned by the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications).

“They’re not setting the business world on fire, but that’s not the point. The idea is for the newspaper to make enough money to continue serving the public, without the pressures of more, more, more profits from Wall Street,” writes Glaser.

As readers take greater control in other ways like helping to create transparent and inclusive newsrooms and becoming more interested in the news gathering process as citizen journalists, it is only a wee leap to run the business-side of things, he contends.

At a smaller scale, it might even be more conceivable.

Serving a need

Jordan Moss, editor of the non-profit Norwood News in the Bronx, N.Y., says non-profit newspapers can be powerful tools that unite communities and shed light on issues overlooked by the mainstream press.

“As media companies continue to merge and grow, the news gets further and further away from ordinary people’s lives and concerns,” wrote Moss in 2002. “Neighborhoods without their own newspapers have little access to local news and information. At a time when urban issues have faded from state and national political agendas, the absence of a widely read record of the issues confronting urban communities is even more serious.”

Personally, I have competed against strong not-for-profit papers and it is an interesting exercise.

Volunteer workforces, inexpensive advertising and far-reaching circulation efforts that were never designed to make money can be tough competition in comparison to charging ad rates that need to keep up with industry norms.

In many cases, these “philanthropic” papers appear because a need exists and the private sector is not paying close enough attention or providing an adequate outlet.

Stymied by MSM

In short, organizers created the papers because they felt roadblocked by traditional media.

Market forces were ignored. The readers, or advertisers, or others, asked for something and when they didn’t get it, somebody figured out a way. Thus, non-profit becomes a viable option.

Maybe the non-profit model is not that far-fetched.

After all, circulation might not be as challenging to maintain. Advertising support might be less difficult to find. If our focus was “philanthropic,” readers could find it in their hearts to respect us. And we wouldn’t have to worry about thinner margins.

We would likely have to slim down a bit.

But as my grandfather was prone to say, we would be “Still eating.”

Rob Carrigan is in the sales and business development group of weekly newspaper publisher Colorado Publishing Co., a Dolan Media Co. unit based in Colorado Springs. He can be reached at robcarrigan1@gmail.com.
 

Like gardening, or gold mining, at one time

 

Six men are gathered on the front deck of the The Crusher, the first newspaper in Fremont (Cripple Creek, Teller County), Colorado. Oakley Spell, a young boy, holds a bundle of newspapers under his arm; a sign on the log building reads: "The Crusher." The Crusher was the Teller County ancestor of the following three papers I managed at the time: Ute Pass Courier in Woodland Park, the Gold Rush in Cripple Creek and the Extra in Teller County, all ASP Westward LP weeklies in Colorado.
 Date: 1891 W. H. Jackson sample album. Colorado Book IV. no. 33
Creator: Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942. 

Watching your garden,
and newspaper, grow

From September 2006 editon of Newspapers & Technology
By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com 

Managing newspapers is like managing a garden.
You really can’t make things grow; you can only try to establish and maintain conditions that help the various plants take off and hopefully produce.
You need to watch where you position specific varieties in your pre-planning or the pumpkins will cross with the squash, and the corn will block the sun that the beans need.
Likewise, with a newspaper, you don’t want your TMC shopper choking the main news product to death.
Not too long ago, a publisher could simply scratch a shallow hole in the dirt, drop some seed money into it, make sure it received plenty of water and maybe spread a little manure over it now and then.

With a little hard work and luck, that same publisher would be able to reap a substantial harvest. Today, with all the new fertilizers and other technology flying around, making the right choices to grow a newspaper is that much more complicated.

Free versus paid
Take, for example, the “free versus paid” discussion, which is somewhat akin to “volunteer” seeding versus planting.
Because of churn ratios and other factors relating to the cost of circulation sales, some metro dailies are now paying more to maintain paid circulation than it would cost them to give everyone in a market a free paper. And they are losing the war as paid circulation continues to lose ground.
At the same time, readers, and more importantly, advertisers, are becoming less impressed with paid circulation, especially when some of the best things in life now are free.
In the words of Craig McMullin, executive director for the Association of Free Community Papers, “Give people something they need free and create an audience and the advertisers will pay the freight.”
But that is not the complete answer for newspapers.
Our competitors have also figured that out. The business models of Craigslist, Google and to some extent, eBay, all are based on the same principle.

Redefining roles
Additionally, even as newspapers redefine their marketing, the role of journalism itself is being recrafted.
Dan Gillmor’s recent book, “We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People,” explores that possibility.
“Technology has given us the communications toolkit that allows anyone to become a journalist at little cost... Nothing like this has ever been remotely possible before.” Gillmor wrote.
To Gillmor, news is no longer a lecture in which the media tells you what the news is. Instead, it’s a conversation, with blurred lines between producers and consumers of that news.

Embracing change
Gillmor’s suggestion: Media needs to embrace those changes by encouraging readers to become a big part of the process. Facilitate event blogs that let readers contribute and become a part of the coverage, he says. Ask for and post readers’ information, pictures and audio so they become extensions of limited staffs and resources.
Today, a person with a cell phone or other digital device might be able to produce the photos or audio clips nearly as easy as the major players in the news business.
The bright spot? The news industry’s traditional weeding function will help it survive.
After all, with all the citizen reporting and info gathering taking place in the democratization of the news, it’s more necessary than ever for a good editor to take the hoe to those pesky mistakes, misinformation, hoaxes, spin doctoring and other weeds that can render the garden plot useless.

At the time of this writing, Rob Carrigan specialized in prepress systems for weekly newspapers. He was the publisher of the Ute Pass Courier in Woodland Park, the Gold Rush in Cripple Creek and the Extra in Teller County, all ASP Westward LP weeklies in Colorado. He can be reached by e-mail at robcarrigan1@gmail.com

Love paper business so much, couldn't make the change

Newspapers in the information business?

This post first appeared in Newspapers & Technology in January, 2007.

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

I don’t know how many times in the last year I’ve heard someone with their feet mired in the traditional ink-on-paper newspaper business try to argue that he is really in the information business.

Some of those characters even believe it. But the cement around their ankles and thought processes keeps them slogging away with the old models and methods while the world changes quickly around them.

Tim McGuire, editor and senior vice president of the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune, is quoted on the subject in “The Art of Leadership in News Organizations” by Shelby Coffey III.

“Many people have heard the old story about railroads and how they should have realized they were in the transportation business in the same way newspapers ought to realize they are in the information business,” according to McGuire. “I heard someone else say a few years ago that in fact the railroad people knew they needed to be in the transportation business. They just loved the railroads so much they couldn’t make the change. There is a lot of that in our business.” Indeed there is.

Under attack

From adapted news cycles, changing views in objective journalism, and generally trying to come up with new ways of paying the bills, traditional newspapers quite correctly feel like the business is under attack.

And what is the natural reaction when under attack? Usually, hunker down in a hole and keep your head down. But if it doesn’t look like that is going to work, maybe it is time to try a counter-attack, or, alternatively, come out of the hole with all guns blazing.

In a world of instant feedback and precise, automated ad targeting — a lot of us waited far too long before coming out of that hole with guns blazing.

It is a bit like the scene in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” where the whole Bolivian army is waiting.

“The losers are likely to be those companies that try to make money by pouring old-media wine into the new Web bottles,” notes Business 2.0 magazine in its March edition. “The winners will be the players that invent new ways to tap into what the Web brings to the party; instant feedback, instant analysis, and the collective wisdom of a billion users.”

Advertisers and the agencies that represent them have become much more savvy in finding out what works and what doesn’t — in a very short amount of time — and they vote with their wallets.

We have gone way past the days when someone could say, “Half of my advertising works like a charm and half does me absolutely no good, but the trouble is, I’m not sure which half is which.”

For example, ad agency Ogilvy & Mather now uses a software optimizer that runs 5,000 to 10,000 calculations every time it evaluates how well an ad campaign is working.

Dynamic results

With that data, the agency is able to pull non-performing ads right away or adapt the campaigns on the fly. And some advertising vendors on the Web have gone to a pay-for-performance program in which publishers only get paid for advertising if it sells product or creates verifiable results in the form of leads or an order.

Imagine if newspapers went to such a system.

The unfortunate truth of the matter is that newspapers, with a few exceptions, don’t even do a very good job of keeping track of their own vast stores of information, much less data tracking readers and how they use the information provided.

For that reason, I think a lot of the rhetoric about being in the information business is perhaps just wishful thinking.

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