Mineral Independent and Valley Press get new building

The offices for the Clark Fork Valley Press and Mineral Independent in Plains have been torn down. The building was built in 1895 and moved to its current location at 105 West Lynch Street, in 1903.

“A lot of repairs needed to be made on the building,” said Lisa Larson, advertising representative for the papers.

Originally the building was used to house the paper called the “Plainsman,” which was the first weekly newspaper in Montana, owned by John Rhone.  Currently, the building is home to The Clark Fork Valley Press, and its counterpart, the Mineral Independent. Both are the local newspapers for Sanders and Mineral counties respectively. The Clark Fork Valley Press has been in existence since 1902, and the Mineral Independent since 1915. Both are published weekly on Wednesdays.  

In an article published earlier in the Mineral Independent, it was noted that the paper was actually printed in the building until 1978. Then, according to Randy Garrison, historian of Plains, the printing site was changed largely for financial reasons. 

During the late 1970s, the cost of printing on site rose and many companies moved their operations to another location, usually at a bigger paper’s office.  

From 1978, the paper was printed in St. Ignatius before going to its current printing site in Kalispell where it’s printed at the Daily Inter Lake offices. Both the Mineral Independent and the Clark Fork Valley Press are owned by Hagadone Montana Publishing, which owns several papers in Western Montana. The new building is scheduled to be open by January 2016.