Tucked away amid the dry and dusty hills of sage and sand, The Ashcroft-Cache Creek Journal is one of the oldest weekly community newspapers in the province.
The Journal's first publication, May 9, 1895, was put out by a man from Wisconsin, Dr. Frank Stewart Reynolds and his partner, A.H.S. Sroufe, who named their paper, The British Columbia Mining Journal.
The Mining Journal carried mining news from all over the province to international destinations for the next five years.
By 1899 mining operations had slowed considerably and in that year the Mining Journal was re-named The Ashcroft Journal.
Reynolds and Sroufe continued to operate the newspaper until 1902. Between 1902-1912 The Journal had several editors, two of whom were owners, and its offices moved from temporary quarters to its present site built in 1897.
From 1902-1908 J.E. Knight owned the newspaper. He sold it to D.W. Rowlands, who published it from 1908-1912.
In 1912 R.D. Cumming sold his general store and bought The Ashcroft Journal. For 66 years, The Journal was owned by three generations of the Cumming family.
R.D. Cumming passed the paper on to his son T.A. Cumming, who passed it to brother L.W. "Lew" Cumming, who passed it to his son L.E. "Llew" Cumming.
The Cumming family sold The Ashcroft Journal to Cariboo Press in 1978.
Black Press Ltd, owned by David Black, is one of Canada's largest publishers of community newspapers. It was started in 1969 when Black's father Alan bought a newspaper in Williams Lake.
David took over the paper in 1975 and with the purchase of The Ashcroft Journal in 1980 began building a chain.
By 2003, the company owned 93 papers, mainly in B.C. but also in Alberta and the U.S.
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