The Black Hills Pioneer turns 150

The Black Hills Pioneer is celebrating 150 years of journalism this week. The newspaper was founded in June of 1876 and says it’s the oldest continuously operating business in the West River Dakota Territory.

Mark Watson is the editor of the Black Hills Pioneer. He’s been at the paper for 21 years and believes its focus on hyperlocal news has been key to its success over all this time.

“There are a ton of different media outlets, from radio to TV to different newspapers, who can tell stories around the state, the region and the country,” said Watson. “But what they cannot do is tell the story of the northern Black Hills. And that’s where we really focus the vast majority of our efforts. Nobody can tell the story of the northern Black Hills better than we can.”

The black and white photo shows early Black Hills Pioneer staff posing with their press machine. — Early Black Hills Pioneer staff pictured with their press.

The first edition of the Black Hills Pioneer was published by A.W. Merrick and W.A. Laughlin in Deadwood shortly after the Lead gold strike. Merrick and Laughlin traveled nearly 400 miles from Denver with a press and printing supplies, following word of the Black Hills Gold Rush.

“[They] were coming up from Colorado to start a paper in the southern hills,” said Letitia Lister, publisher of the Black Hills Pioneer. “One of them got very ill, and so they weren’t able to set everything up for the presses. And while he was convalescing, they had the strike for Homestake in the Lead Deadwood area. And they decided, ‘You know what? That’s where all the action is going to happen.’ So they had everything still packed up by wagon and just moved it on up to Deadwood and started the paper on June 8.”

The Black Hills Pioneer is now one of the largest newsrooms in the state. It operates a press that prints weekly publications for 10 other regional publishers in South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana, as well as numerous magazines and specialty publications.

“One of the things that’s transitioned throughout our industry is it’s harder and harder to find qualified people to run presses. It’s harder to keep supplies in and expensive to keep newsprint on hand, things like that,” said Lister. “And so what we were seeing as a trend is that a lot of press rooms were shutting down, and we decided we did not want to do that. We wanted to become a print hub, and we wanted to help other publishers make sure that they had a reliable printing source that was close, that was affordable and of high quality.”

1 of 2
— Black Hills Pioneer Courtesy Photos-3.png

Pressman Bruce Oberlander and Dick Schmidt set new press into action in Lead, SD in 1972.

Courtesy of Black Hills Pioneer

2 of 2
— Black Hills PIoneer Press (2).png

The Black Hills Pioneer press in 2026.

Delainey LaHood-Burns / SDPB

Becoming a regional print hub has not only been a good business strategy for the Black Hills Pioneer, it’s also helped keep other communities from losing their local paper. For example, Lister said there are two Montana papers they print that would otherwise need to drive over five hours one way to get their papers.

“That is not feasible for them. You can’t sustain that. That’s valuable time for a very small staff. But their paper is still critically important to their community,” said Lister. “There’s over 200 news deserts throughout the US right now, and a news desert is described as an area or region that has no local news source. It doesn’t have radio, TV or newspaper. And so anything we can do to help with that, to help prevent that from happening, we want to do that.”

Lister said the Black Hills Pioneer is unique in that it’s big enough to invest in new technology, but small enough to stay nimble and adaptive.

“The fact that we’ve been able to keep a daily paper here in this community is no small feat. We’ve lost over 3,500 newspapers in the United States since 2005. In South Dakota alone, we’ve lost 33 newspapers across the state. We are determined that we won’t be one of those statistics.”

1 of 5
— Black Hills Pioneer Office in Deadwood Circa 1877.jpg

The Black Hills Pioneer office circa 1877.

Courtesy Black Hills Pioneer

2 of 5
— Deadwood Pioneer Times.png

The Deadwood Pioneer Times, an early iteration of the Black Hills Pioneer that resulted from the merger of the Black Hills Daily Pioneer and the Black Hills Daily Times.

Courtesy of Black Hills Pioneer

3 of 5
— Black Hills Pioneer Office 2026.png

The Black Hills Pioneer office today.

Delainey LaHood-Burns / SDPB

4 of 5
— Lead Daily Call Pressroom.png

The pressroom of the Lead Daily Call, which eventually merged into the Black Hills Pioneer.

Courtesy of Black Hills Pioneer

5 of 5
— Black Hills Pioneer Pressroom Today-1.png

The Black Hills Pioneer in 2026.

Delainey LaHood-Burns / SDPB

Most importantly, Lister believes the reason the paper has reached its 150-year milestone is because of the engagement and support of its readers.

“It’s not so much an accomplishment on our end as it really tells us how important we are to the community,” said Lister. “Because without the community support, we’re not here. So, the stories that we write are important to them. They realize that it helps keep them active and engaged in their community. They know what’s happening at school board, at city council, at county commission.”

For Watson, one of the most remarkable aspects of the Black Hills Pioneer’s 150th anniversary is looking back at the history the paper has documented throughout its many years.

“The stories that I grew up hearing about that happened in this region, we produced those stories. Those stories were taught in our history classes,” said Watson. “And what’s it going to look like in 150 years when the kids in fifth grade are reading the 2026 Black Hills Pioneer?”

Source link