Editor's Notebook

 

A longtime subscriber to this newspaper, Ken Torring, drove over from Deshler on Friday. He stopped at the newspaper office to ask if I might be related to Charles Blauvelt, the former editor of the Arapahoe Public Mirror.

One of grandfather's older brothers was named Charles but he was a harness maker not a newspaper editor. Prior to suffering a stroke and retiring to Colorado, he was employed by the Dutton-Lainson Company at Hastings. Harness was one of many things the company has made and sold since it was established in the 19th century.

I never met him but occasionally his daughter, Velma, would come to Superior and visit my grandparents. I have been with my father when he stopped to visit his cousin in Denver.

When I first started attending Nebraska Press Association meetings, some of the older members asked if I was related the Editor Blauvelt. Most likely I was for it appears all Blauvelts can trace their family history to a European who immigrated to the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam prior to the establishment of the United States.

I never met Editor Blauvelt but my father did. Charles Blauvelt, the editor of the Crete News, stopped at grandfather's gasoline station to inquire about my father. My father had gained some notoriety while playing football for Superior High School and the elder Blauvelt wanted to meet the young football player.

According to the history of Furnas County published in 1987 Charles Blauvelt served from 1908 to 1915 as the owner and editor of the Arapahoe Public Mirror. He left Arapahoe in 1915 to become the editor of the Crete News.

The picture printed with these notes is reproduced from that history book. It shows Mr. and Mrs. Blauvelt and their dog riding in an open touring car parked in front of the newspaper office. The picture shows the dirt street and board walk in front of the newspaper. Signs on the window indicate the office also sold postcards, novelties, school books and other supplies. The newspaper served as the community news stand and job printer.

The little automobile, if it exists today, would be a crowd pleaser.

As I read about the history of the Arapahoe Public Mirror, I was surprised how many ties it had to this area.

Charles Blauvelt, sold the paper to Walter Cox. Like this editor Charles Blauvelt had not been in a rush to update the paper's equipment. The paper was still being produced with handset type. This means every letter had to be taken by hand out of a typecase and placed in the newspaper form. After the paper was printed, each letter was removed from the form and returned to the typecase before work started on the next edition.

Among the improvements made by Cox was the installation of a typesetting machine known as a Linotype. The machine gave the newspaper an almost unlimited amount of type and eliminated the need to pick each letter out of a case. Thomas Edison said the invention of the Linotype was one of man's seven greatest inventions. It allowed an operator working at a keyboard to select the desired letters. The letters in the form of brass molds were lined up by the machine and used to cast each line of type in molten lead. Those lines were called slugs. After the slug was made, the brass molds were returned to the magazine and reused over and over.

Prior to the addition of phototypsetting in 1970, The Express used three Linotypes, One of those machines and one of the first phototypesetting computers installed at The Express, are now on display at the Nuckolls County Museum. And for comparison sake, the museum also displays drawers filled with handset type.

Cox had two sons. Milton left Arapahoe to become the editor of the Clay Center Sun. When Carl Curtis was elected to represent western Nebraska in the U.S. House of Representatives, Milton went to Washington, where he was a member of the representative's staff.

The Cox family operated the Arapahoe newspaper until 1969 when it was sold to Allan Gaskill. He was one of two owners with ties to Beloit. After selling his newspaper holdings, Gaskill moved to Superior. He died earlier this year on his 85th birthday.

After Gaskill owned the paper, it was purchased by Ted Gill, also a former resident of Beloit. Gill is no longer associated with the Arapahoe paper, however, he is now the publisher of the Clay County News, the only paper serving nearby Clay County, Nebraska.

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Sunday afternoon the annual meeting of the Nuckolls County Historical Society was held at the museum located in Superior's City Park. A former resident of the community and regular contributor to this newspaper, Richard Schmeling was the guest speaker. He spoke on the role railroads played in the development of Nuckolls County,

Sixty years ago this week, my family was involved in the removal of the Hardy depot. The Burlington railroad had closed the Hardy station about three years earlier.

When the depot came up for sale, my father submitted the winning bid.

I considered it an honor to help with the moving process. On the way to its new home on Blauvelt's Hill, the depot travelled through Superior and was pictured in this newspaper as it went up Commercial Avenue past Alexander Buick.

 

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