The buildings that housed the presses were frequently nothing more than tents. Others were rickety wood frame structures. They were frequently handicapped by extreme cold weather, which froze the ink and made it difficult to set type. Some places were burned down multiple times.
Papers were a variety of sizes depending on what type of press they had and what paper was available. Some were as small as 5 x 7. Larger ones were 24 x 36. Most papers were initially just four pages. For the most part they were solid type with no headlines. Ads did not go over one column. They were very few illustrations except in the bigger papers.
There weren't always enough men to produce the newspaper. Many of them were out in the gold fields. Some used their family members, including the women, to stick type when there was a labor shortage. About 7% of all employees were women. A Bellingham Bay Mail newspaper was housed in the old courthouse so used prisoners from the jail to print the paper. Soldiers ran the press for some papers. A typical weekly paper needed three full-time staff and a gofer. Many did not have any formal training. Much was learned on the job. Some young men worked under an apprenticeship that could last several years. Wages for printers were double to five times what similar workers in the east made. They typically worked 9 to 10 hours a day.
They relied greatly on the mails for the news. They subscribed to eastern newspapers to get stories. They were freely reprinted in their own papers. Readers were initially more interested in hearing what was going on back home. In 1860, the Pony Express greatly speeded up some of the news though it was very expensive. The transcontinental telegraph came on line in 1861, which made communication even faster. Most major western cities hooked up to it in the 1860s. More remote locations used express riders to go to the nearest telegraph office.
