In the Colorado Desert journalism attains an unusual degree of uniqueness. Both papers published in that region are printed below the level of the sea.
The Submarine has the distinction of being the first paper in the world to be printed below the level of the sea. It is still unique in that it is the "lowest down" of any paper in the world. In order to hold this record the editor and proprietor, Randolph R. Freeman, was obliged to move to a new locality a few months after establishing his paper in the desert.
In 1900, the first paper to be printed below sea-level was issued by Freeman at Indio, a station in the desert on the line of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Indio has a depression of twenty-two feet below the level of the sea.
Later, the Imperial irrigation canal was started across the desert from the Colorado River, and the town of Imperial had its birth. Then the Press sprang into existence and was printed in an office situated sixty-five feet below the ocean's level. The Submarine thus lost double prestige, for it was no longer the only paper published below the level of the sea, neither was it the "most low down newspaper on earth," as the publisher announced in his prospectus.
The editor, in informing his readers of his move, did so in the following language:
"We have dropped from twenty-two feet below sea-level to seventy-six feet below sea-level. We hit Coachella with a dull yet raucous thud. The low, rumbling noise you heard last Tuesday was caused by our printing-office taking the drop. It may be truly said that the Submarine is the lowest down, or the lowdownest, or the most low down newspaper on earth. As nearly as we can compute the distance, Hades is about two hundred and twelve feet just below our new office. The paper will continue to advocate the interests of all the country below sea-level and we want you to fire in all the news you know."
The Submarine is nothing if not consistent. It is an eight-page weekly, printed upon paper of a "submarine blue" tint. Its local paragraphs are run under the caption of "Along the Coral Strand." It has a humorous department conducted by "McGinty," the man who fell to the bottom of the sea. There is still another department entitled, "The Undertow." The editor owns a span of fine horses, the names of which are "Sub" and "Marine." In fact there is a flavor of the locality in everything connected with the establishment.
The Imperial Press, owned, edited, and published by Edgar F. Howe, is conducted strictly on journalistic principles. The paper is somewhat larger than the Submarine. It is an eight-page weekly devoted to the interests of irrigation and of reclamation of the desert lands, and to general and local news.
Howe has been connected with various California newspapers, and has a wide reputation as a commercial editor and an oil expert. He confesses that the Imperial publishing business has introduced him to decidedly new experiences. One of the chief difficulties in printing a paper in so torrid a region is that it frequently occurs that the ink-rollers melt and the paper is delayed from issuing till other rollers can be obtained from Los Angeles, nearly three hundred miles away. Summer temperature in Imperial ranges from 100 to 120 degrees in the shade and from 20 to 30 degrees higher in the sun. A double set of rollers is kept on hand when possible, but it frequently happens that rollers collapse about as fast as they can be adjusted, and the paper is hung up till a new lot gets in, or till the weather cools off a bit.
Howe has a device of his own invention for the keeping of the rollers when not in actual use. It is a cupboard with a ventilator in the top and a box of sawdust in the bottom. The rollers are set in a rack midway. The sawdust is kept wet, and the rapid evaporation keeps the cupboard moderately cool.