Phillips County Museum News for Wednesday, November 1, 2023

While researching a request for information about the Malta Enterprise Publishing Company I ran across some interesting history of early-day Malta newspapers. The first issue of the Malta version of The Enterprise was published on May 8, 1900. The paper had been started in Harlem the previous year by J. D. B. Grieg. The paper was moved to Malta because of “the increased amount of advertising offered by the businessmen of Malta”. According to some sources Mr. Grieg had also had some physical altercations with Harlem businessmen. On Jan. 1, 1901, the paper was sold to D. C. Kenyon, a Blaine County assessor. He leased the paper to C. H. Stevens on June 11, 1902. John Survant bought The Enterprise on July 1, 1903. Several different men were editors until Feb. 17, 1909, when Mattie T. Cramer took over as editor and manager. She served in those positions for several years. Henry A. Johnson bought The Enterprise in April 1913 and owned it until 1926, when Mr. Survant repurchased the paper and consolidated it with The Phillips County News, which was first published on May 1, 1924. Mr. Survant was one of the stockholders in the Phillips County Publishing Company.

There was a competing newspaper from 1914 until Dec. 15, 1920. It was named The Malta Call and was owned by Flint Newspaper Syndicate Inc. of Great Falls. The stock and subscription list of this newspaper were sold to The Enterprise.

Visit the Phillips County Museum to learn interesting facts about Phillips County. Museum hours are 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.