The Missoulian is a daily newspaper printed in Missoula, Montana, United States. The newspaper has been owned by Lee Enterprises since 1959. The Missoulian is the largest published newspaper in Western Montana, and is distributed throughout the city of Missoula, and most of Western Montana. History Early years The Missoulian was established as the Missoula and Cedar Creek Pioneer on September 15, 1870, by the Magee Brothers and I. H. Morrison, under the Montana Publishing Company. Though strictly conservative politically, the paper was never intended to advance any particular "clique or party". Slightly less than a year after removing "Cedar Creek" from the name, the paper's name was trimmed to simply The Pioneer in November 1871, with W. J. McCormick, a prominent Montana politician and father of future Congressman Washington J. McCormick, as publisher. It served as a Democratic paper that was devoted to reporting on the development of western Montana. A month later, Frank Woody, who would later become Missoula's first mayor, was named ad interim, and he would lengthen the name to the Montana Pioneer. On February 8, 1873, Woody and his partner T. M. Chisholm purchased the paper and changed its name to The Missoulian. W. R. Turk replaced Chisholm and Woody would sell out a year later, but the paper's name has more-or-less stayed the same until today. Turk died of tuberculosis in 1875, and the paper was published by Chauncey Barbour until August 15, 1879, when Duane J. Armstrong became editor and publisher. The newspaper would offer only a weekend edition until 1891, when new owner A.B. Hammond converted it to a daily newspaper with Harrison Spaulding from the Missoula County Times as editor and publisher. Republican era Hammond's purchase of The Missoulian brought the newspaper into the republican fold and on the battle lines of the William A. Clark and Marcus Daly Copper Kings feud. Hammond was a lumber baron and business partner of Daly in the Montana Improvement Company, who saw the Democratic president, Grover Cleveland's public land policies as a detriment to his business. Hammond had become very wealthy over-logging unsurveyed public timberland and supplying lumber to the railroad and Daly's Anaconda Company's smelter. Hammond and his associates in Missoula convinced Daly to thwart Clark's 1888 bid for the Montana Territory's At-large congressional district and support Republican Thomas H. Carter instead. Despite Clark crying foul, Carter would go on to win. Daly's