Notes

While James Evans established the first press, it was two young journalists from Toronto who established the first newspaper in the Northwest Territories. William Buckingham and William Coldwall made their way from Toronto to Fort Garry (now Winnipeg). They travelled first to St. Paul, Minnesota where they purchased a press, paper, ink, and type. Loaded with food and equipment, they started out for Fort Garry, but the terrain was so rough they could average no more than fifteen to twenty miles a day; on more than one occasion they were forced to stop and retrieve various parcels that had fallen off. The journey took from September to November 1858.

In December of 1859, the first edition of the Nor’Wester appeared. People in the area were not keen to subscribe to this new upstart newspaper, claiming they knew more about local events than the paper did, and they could get national and foreign news from papers shipped from London, Toronto, or Montréal.

Buckingham left the Nor’Wester in 1861 and went on to have a notable career in journalism and politics. He returned to eastern Canada, taking on editorial roles with various newspapers and serving as Deputy Minister of the Interior'.

Coldwell continued with the Nor’Wester, partnering with James Ross and later with Dr. John Schultz. In 1865, a fire destroyed the newspaper’s office and Coldwell’s bookstore. The Nor’Wester resumed publication shortly after but Coldwell eventually left the enterprise. He later attempted to start another newspaper, the Red River Pioneer, during the Red River Rebellion, but the project was thwarted by political unrest

The Nor’Wester continued to be printed until it was seized by Louis Riel in 1869.