Last letterpress paper keeps on ‘clicking and clacking’

 Living “over the shop” was never an option for Dean Coombs in Saguache, Colo. He owns and operates the local weekly newspaper, which is produced in a single-story building erected in 1874.

So, Coombs has done the next best thing. He converted a back room off the main office of The Saguache Crescent into his living quarters. The aroma of printing ink permeates every pore of his existence. 

The weathered newspaper building leans a little, but that’s “Saguache charm.”

The name of the town is easier to pronounce than it is to spell. Just say “suh-WATCH,” and you’ve got it. 

Coombs’ grandfather, Charlie Ogden, bought the newspaper in 1917, and after more than a century, not much has changed at The Crescent. 

It holds the distinction of being the one and only U.S. newspaper that still prints each edition on an old-timey letterpress. 

Coombs comments: “I’m in a small town that didn’t grow, but it didn’t die, either. So, I’m still here and so is the newspaper.”

His four-page broadsheet with a six-column format sells for 35 cents an issue. There’s not much advertising, but he gets paid for publishing all of Saguache County’s required legal notices. 

“You have to admire Dean Coombs whose ancient Linotype machine still chugs out lines of hot type spewed from a pot of molten lead, exactly as it did when it was first fired up,” wrote Lou Varricchio, editor of the weekly Vermont Eagle of Middlebury, Vt. 

The Crescent…keeps on clicking and clacking. The sound of its Linotype resembles “a slot machine that isn’t paying off.” 

“We often don’t appreciate things until they’re gone,” Varricchio wrote. “Then, we lament their passing and wonder how it all happened.” 

In 1970 – some 50 years ago – Canadian artist Joni Mitchell sang: 

Don’t it always seem to go

That you don’t know what you’ve got

Till it’s gone. 

Saugache, which has about 600 residents…in a good year…is developing a reputation as an arts enclave. Coombs, who is pushing 70, has no heirs and no “succession plan” for the newspaper. He jokes: “There’s nobody I dislike enough to give The Crescent to.” 

The newspaper has enormous tourism value to offer visitors an opportunity to experience what is “real and authentic.” The Crescent could be the hook upon which the Saguache Chamber of Commerce builds its hospitality initiative. 

Glenn Fleishman, creator of the “Letter Rip” blog, said: “With a new generation looking to counter all things digital, letterpress is poised for a resurrection” and “a new community of creative artists and designers.” 

Allison Sylte of KUSA-TV of Denver reported that the cost of living in Saguache is luring artisans from trendy (but expensive) locales such as Salida and Boulder. 

Saguache resident and art afficionado Stacey Amos Holden said: “Saguache County is one of the poorest counties in the state, so my hope is, maybe if we develop tourism more, that will be beneficial for the people of the town. We need some kind of economic boost.” 

Stacey Amos Holden is a quilter.

Heidi Wong is doing her part. She bought and refurbished the Ute Theater in town and has created a vibrant performing arts center to support the artists, crafters, potters, authors, photographers, quilters, weavers, basket makers and painters who now call Saguache home. 

Katrina Pratt is a children's storyteller and puppeteer.

The prize catch, though, might be the Saguache Hotel, built in 1910. It needs a lot of work to reclaim its glory years, but it has been purchased by singer/songwriter Andy Hackbarth.