When the United States were yet very young, in fact, before the Federal Constitution was even proposed, before Washington was elected president, when the small cluster of log huts, protected by a stockade called Fort Pitt, was all that constituted Pittsburgh, is the time this old newspaper began its long and honorable career.
Early in the year 1786, John Scull and Joseph Hall rode into that western frontier post on the backs of heavy pack horses, over a long and rough trail, all the way from Philadelphia. They brought with them a small printing press, some type and a small supply of paper.
The pioneer printers established a printing office in a log cabin, along the bank of the Monongahela River, at the end of Chancery Lane. This primitive office soon attracted the attention of the more progressive citizens, among whom was Hugh H. Brackenridge, a lawyer, and an acknowledged leader of the Federal party in that section of Pennsylvania. Through his earnest solicitation and promise of patronage, Scull and Hall determined to establish a weekly newspaper. Brackenridge had agreed to edit the publication; and the first issue of the Pittsburgh Gazette appeared July 29.
The original subscription price was seventeen shillings and six pence per year. Advertising was paid for at the rate of four shillings a square. In lieu of cash, the publishers made known the fact that they would accept furs and skins and various kinds of country produce.
There was no postoffice in Pittsburgh at this time, nor for twenty years after the Gazette was established. The paper found its way east by means of the weekly mail service between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. When Pittsburgh was considered a place of sufficient importance to have a postoffice, John Scull, one of the publishers of the Gazette, was appointed Postmaster.
It is rather fortunate that the duties of the government position were not too exacting, for Postmaster Scull was the practical printer and performed the principal part of the actual publication. He even acted as carrier and tramped about town each week with the paper.
The story is told of Scull that when the pack trains from Philadelphia failed to arrive on time, or no white paper came when expected, that he used his close friendship for the commandant at Fort Pitt to his advantage by borrowing sufficient quantity of cartridge paper on which to print that week’s issue of the Gazette.
On November 10, 1786, the Gazette, in three lines announced the death of Joseph Hall, aged 22 years. Hall’s interest was acquired by John Boyd, but Scull as before, continued to be the real spirit behind the enterprise.
In June, 1789, a paper mill was built on Redstone Creek, in what is now Fayette County, by Jackson and Sharpless. This mill supplied the Gazette with cheaper paper, which enabled the owners to increase its size and reduce the subscription price to $2 a year.
Lawyer Brackenridge[Brackenridge], in 1799, left the Federal party and threw all his influence with the Antifederalists, but Scull refused to go along with his editor, and Morgan Neville became the editorial writer.