HISTORY Grande Prairie DHT
Research and feature page by Ken Connors of DiscoverThePeaceCountry.com who worked at the newspaper for 26 years.

History was yet to be made when Jim Bowes and his brothers Bill, Howie and Dave all had the same ambition, of owning their own weekly newspaper. They were the sons of a school principal from Moose Jaw Saskatchewan.

Jim and Bill Bowes got into the newspaper business in eastern Canada in 1948 when they bought their first weekly newspaper in Ontario. In 1950 the two brothers formed Bowes Publishers Limited and bought the Herald Tribune newspaper in Grande Prairie, Alberta, a newspaper that originally began as a weekly newspaper in 1913.

As the Herald Tribune became a semi-weekly, the Jim and Bill Bowes then purchased the weekly paper in Peace River, Alberta plus the Star in Dawson Creek BC in 1954. Photo of the Class of 1959 Staff members (Bill Bowes, Howard Bowes, Orm Schultz etc): View Photo

In 1964 the company began printing the Herald Tribune daily Monday through Friday and changed their name to the Daily Herald Tribune.

Some of the employees of that time were Orm Shultz who became sales manager of the Herald Tribune (later owner of Warrington's Jewellers). Ken Kirkpatrick became book-keeper for the Herald Tribune in 1956. Larry Balderston started working at the Herald Tribune in 1959 and later became the press operator. Joyce Loblaw began working in accounts payable in the early 1960's. In 1966 Bill Dempsey arrived in Grande Prairie who later became Advertising Manager in 1970 then left in 1973 to become publisher of the Kenora Miner and News in Ontario. He would return in the later 1970's as Publisher of the Herald Tribune. Don Sinclair sold advertising for the Herald Tribune in 1969-1970, later was publisher of the newspaper in Fort McMurray. Most of the early employees mentioned later were appointed positions at head office in Ontario/Alberta.

In the later 1960's the Bowes Publishing company decided to expand by purchasing many newspapers in eastern Canada including the Wallaceburg News in 1967 and Daily Miner and News in Kenora Ontario in 1973.

In 1979 acquisitions in the west included the Parklander in Hinton. In the 1980's acquisitions included: 1982- The Record in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. 1982- Sherwood Park News, Sherwood Park, Alberta. 1983- The Western News Advertiser, Pentincton, BC. 1984-The News, Wallaceburg, Ontario. 1985- The Canadian, Camrose, Alberta. 1985- The Times, Wetaskiwin, Alberta. 1985- Webco West, Pentincton BC. 1986- The News-Advertiser, Wetaskiwin, Alberta. 1987- The Shopper, Leamington, Ontario. 1988- The Daily Graphic, Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, 1988- The Herald, Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. From 1988 to 1998 Bowes Publishers grew from 22 publications to 121.

Jim Bowes retired in 1988 but remained as Director of the company until 1990. The Toronto Sun became major shareholder with 60% ownership in 1988 then 98% in 1990. Jim Bowes donated $500,000 towards building the Bowes Family Crystal Gardens in Grande Prairie, which opened in time for the Canada Winter Games. Jim Bowes passed away in March of 1997 of lung cancer. (1923-1997)

In 2001 Sun Media Corporation consolidated its Bowes Publishing division (190 weeks and community dailies) with those of its metropolitan dailies. Sun Media Corporation is a division of Quebecor Media Inc.

As years passed by so did the introduction to additional products that complimented the Daily Newspaper. Rural Route was a weekly product that made its way to many households outside the City of Grande Prairie. In the 1980's that name had changed to Countryside and its circulation increased to over 11,000 households. A few years later, the name of the weekly changed again, to the Peace Country Extra. The most recent name is the Peace Country Sun.

Some of the products no longer around today... TV Times. This product contained the television guide and was published Friday. For a time, Tele-View became a competitor for the TV Times. The Weekender published by the Daily Herald Tribune was a Saturday tabloid that featured more people stories than news but had a short life until it stopped publication.

More recently, the Encore (enlarge picture) featured weekly entertainment and television listings and came out every Thursday in the Daily Herald Tribune. Grande Prairie INK was another tabloid published by the Daily Herald Tribune that came out Mondays and included more Arts and Entertainment stories. Both publications stopped printing around 2010 because it lacked advertising support. Also the HOMES (enlarge picture) was a popular weekend edition that eventually stopped publication.

Ken's DHT NEWSPAPER SCRAPBOOK
DAILY HERALD TRIBUNE 1980's to 2000's
Just some of the Long and Short Term Employees that worked at the DHT. The majority of photos were taken by Ken Connors and the approximate year when each was taken is posted.


DHT on Fire 1981
On Monday November 16, 1981 a fire broke out in the early hours that caused $600,000 worth of damage. The fire started in the basement near the front of the building which had included the accounting department. The heat melted telephones, cameras and other office equipment in other parts of the building The Daily Herald Tribune had Tuesday's November 17th paper printed at Grande Prairie This Week, the weekly newspaper. The Daily Herald Tribune was only 4 pages that day. It was later determined that there had been a break-in and the fire was deliberately started.

April 9, 2018: Al Parsons passed away at the age of 70 years after a courageous battle with cancer. He was Sales manager at the Daily Herald Tribune until 1988 and later founded Parson Printing where he worked until his death. (enlarge photo)

February 2018: June Holler left us at the age of 92 years old. She worked in the accounting department of the DHT for 14 years before retiring to Vernon BC.

May 19, 2019: James Grasswick passed away in West Kelowna, BC. He worked in the newsaper business for 4 decades, mainly with Bowes Publishers.

July 8, 2019: Jane McRae passed away after a brief illness. She started at the DHT in 1978 and worked in the advertising department until she finally retired in 2017.

Aug 2020: Jeff McCoshen left us on Aug 9, 2020 at the age of 57. Jeff started at the DHT in 1989 as Sports Editor, then moved to City Desk in 1999. He became News Editor in 2004 and shortly after the Managing editor. He left the radio after 20 years at the Daily Herald Tribune.


Jan, 2021: Wayne Jobb passed away on January 4, 2021 in Edson at the age of 74 years. He spent 37 years in the newspaper business that included the Grande Prairie Daily Herald Tribune as publisher in the 1990’s. He also worked in a number of Bowes Publishing/ Sun Media newspapers that included Kenora Ontario, Hinton, Sherwood Park and Edmonton. He later became Executive Vice-President and retired in 2007.

August 6, 2022: William "Bill" Glen Currie passed away at the age of 80 years after a short battle with cancer. He spent 40 years as Head Pressman/Productin Manager at the Daily Herald Tribune in Grande Prairie.

February 6, 2024: Peter James Woolsey passed away at the age of 67 years. Peter joined the Daily Herald Tribune in 1988 as Sales Manager and then Publisher. After Grande Prairie he had lived in Kelowna BC and more recently in Calgary Alberta.

February 16, 2024: Sylvia Jean Hovdebo passed away at the age of 73 years. Sylvia worked in Distrubutiion at the DHT for many years.