Henry Lewis Pittock was an English-born American newspaper publisher and paper manufacturer.
Background
He was born on March 1, 1836 in London, England, United Kingdom, the son of Susanna (Bonner) and Frederick Pittock.
In 1825 his father and his grandfather had emigrated from England to Pittsburgh. His father returned to London, married, and went back to Pittsburgh in 1839, where he followed the printer's trade the rest of his life.
Education
He attended the public schools of Pittsburgh and the preparatory school of the Western University of Pennsylvania and learned to be a practical printer.
Career
Induced by newspaper narratives of Oregon in the early 1850's he and his brother Robert undertook the six months' journey to the Northwest. In the autumn of 1853 he began work as a compositor for the Weekly Oregonian and soon became a journeyman printer.
In 1860 he became proprietor of the paper at a time when outside news was obtained by pony express, stage, and steamship, printing methods were primitive and financial problems difficult. He exerted every effort to get news; he watched all night for the arrival of the stage bringing news and, after the telegraph was established in 1864, spent a large portion of his slender resources to pay for this service.
In 1861 he began to publish the Morning Oregonian. His undertakings prospered; he became state printer, in 1877 he added an afternoon edition, the Evening Telegram, and in 1881 a Sunday edition, the Sunday Oregonian, and he built two large buildings for the newspaper. All competitors of his newspapers in Portland failed before 1902.
Throughout his life he lent his interest and abilities to various enterprises in developing the new country. He was a principal owner in the Baldwin Sheep & Land Company that held 35, 000 acres in eastern Oregon, also an organizer of the Harkins Transportation Company that operated steamboats on the Columbia and Willamette rivers, and of the Clearwater Irrigation Power & Boom Company at Lewiston, Idaho. With his brother, Thomas R. Pittock, he held extensive interests in Pittsburgh.
Beginning in 1866 at Oregon City he was one of the first to engage in paper manufacture in the Pacific Northwest. In 1868 he built another new plant near Oregon City, and in 1883-85 a third at Camas, Washington. He was an organizer and stock-holder in the Columbia Paper Company, later a part of the Crown Zellerbach Corporation.
He died at his home in Portland.
Achievements
Politics
He supported Lincoln, the Union cause, and Reconstruction, and for the twenty years before 1896 he advocated "sound money" and the gold standard.
Membership
He was a thirty-third degree Scottish Rite Mason and held high places in other Masonic organizations.
Personality
He was an avid outdoorsman and adventurer.
Connections
In June 1860 he was married to Georgiana Martin Burton, the daughter of E. M. Burton, who died in 1918. The couple had five children.