Stout Print Shop

In 1804, Gov. Harrison brought Elihu Stout to Vincennes. Stout had been a journeyman printer with the Kentucky Gazette in Lexington, Kentucky. Harrison asked Stout to come to Vincennes to print the laws of the Territory. One can hardly have a government if the laws are not printed.

When the paper was first published in 1804, it was called the Indiana Gazette. A fire destroyed the shop in 1806 and when Stout started the paper up again the following year he renamed it the Western Sun.

The newspaper came out once a week. It was printed on both sides of single sheet of paper and was folded into four pages. The price of a subscription was $2.50 a year.

Unlike newspapers of today, there were no headlines and only a few illustrations. The first two pages were given over to advertising from the territorial government which largely subsidized the paper.

The kind of press Stout used is like the one preserved in the print shop. It is an original Ramage Press, named for Adam Ramage who made presses like this in Philadelphia, Pa. The press is an outstanding example of sturdiness. Ramage presses were made of solid mahogany and contained several improvements on earlier wooden presses. These presses were sought after by small publishers because they were portable and were easier to repair.

To print the paper, Stout would first go over to the type case and put the type on a stick-- -one word, one letter at a time. Next he would arrange the type into columns in a form laid on the imposing stone. Then he would put the news to bed on the flat bed of the press.

Next, Stout would make his own ink using powdered ink and linseed oil and spread it on the ink block. He would daub it up onto beaters which were made of lamb skin and stuffed with human hair and wool. Holding the beaters by the wooden handles, Stout would beat the ink into the type in the bed of the press. Then he would put a piece of paper into the rectangular tympan, lower the frisket on top of it and lower the paper into the bed. Next he would crank the bed under the platen and pull the lever. After that, he would crank the bed out again, lift the tympan and frisket and there was one side of the paper printed. He would repeat this about 50 times an hour. After he had printed about 500 copies of the one side, he would wash his type and put it back in its proper boxes. Then he would start the process all over again so he could print 500 copies of the other side.

With so many steps you can see why the paper came out only once a week!