1868 – The City Journal, which later became the Grant County News, was the first newspaper published in Grant County.

1889 – Long Creek Eagle, in north Grant County, started publication.

1898 – Long Creek Eagle moved to Canyon City and was renamed Blue Mountain Eagle.

1908 – Grant County News and Blue Mountain Eagle merge, Clinton P. Haigt and P.F. Chandler, co-publishers.

1937 – The Canyon City fire wiped out plant, which moved to John Day.

1944 – John Day Valley Ranger and Blue Mountain Eagle merged.

1948 – Purchased by Dorothy and Elmo Smith from Chester and Vera Ashton.

1968 – Purchased by Donna and John Moreau from Blue Mountain Eagle, Inc. (owned by Smith family).

1979 – Blue Mountain Eagle merged into East Oregonian Publishing Co.

1997 – Moved into new building on Canyon Boulevard.

2000 – Newspaper goes online at www.bluemountaineagle.com.

2013 – Parent company changes name from East Oregonian Publishing to EO Media Group.

2024 – Blue Mountain Eagle ceases print publication in June and becomes part of the East Oregonian; parent company is purchased by Carpenter Media Group in November.

The present Blue Mountain Eagle is the result of a long line of mergers of early newspapers founded in Grant County. The City Journal was the first newspaper published in the county, with its first edition issued in October 1868. The newspaper’s name changed in the 1870s to the Canyon City Express, Grant County Express, Grant County Times, and finally the Grant County News.

A separate branch in Grant County newspaper history brought the Eagle name to the present-day news site. The Long Creek Eagle was founded by C.E. Dustin and Peter Connolly in November 1886.

The original name, Blue Mountain Eagle, came into existence in 1889, when the late Orin L. Patterson of Canyon City bought the Long Creek Eagle and changed the name. He moved the plant to Canyon City in 1900. In 1908, the Grant County News, published by P. F. Chandler, was merged with the Blue Mountain Eagle, and Patterson sold his interest in the publishing business to Chandler and Clint Haight, who acted as co-publishers. Chandler’s other partners during the 44 years he was engaged in the newspaper business were Robert Glen, C.J. McIntosh and his son, W. Glen Chandler.

P.F. Chandler’s son, W. Glen Chandler, entered the business at an early age. He served as editor-publisher for the Grant County Journal, a newspaper founded in Prairie City in 1899, from 1925 until 1937. Chandler bought the John Day Valley Ranger from Arthur R. Jones in May of 1937.

At that time, the John Day Valley Ranger was a continuation of the Long Creek Ranger, established in 1900. The Ranger office was moved to John Day in March of 1930, and the name of the paper was changed to the East Oregon Ranger. The paper became known as the John Day Valley Ranger in March of 1931 and was published in offices in John Day. On April 19, 1937, a disastrous fire wiped out the town of Canyon City and destroyed the office of the Blue Mountain Eagle. Plans were then outlined to have the Eagle published in the Ranger plant in John Day. W. Glen Chandler and Clinton Haight were at the helm of the Eagle. Chandler and Haight severed their partnership in October of 1941.

Following the death of P.F. Chandler in April of 1942, the son, W. Glen, took over management of the Blue Mountain Eagle and served as editor and publisher of both the Eagle and the John Day Valley Ranger, merging the two newspapers in April of 1944. This marked the beginning of the printing firm, the Eagle Ranger Publishing Company. At that time, Chandler and Chester A. Ashton formed a partnership.

Chandler retired from the publishing business in Grant County in June 1947 after being engaged in the business for nearly 23 years. He sold his interest to Ashton and moved to the Willamette Valley. Ashton and his wife, Vera, published the Blue Mountain Eagle, a consolidation of the Grant County News, the Prairie City Journal, and the John Day Valley Ranger, until June 1948, when they sold to Elmo and Dorothy Smith. Miss Viola M. Puntney served as publisher of the Blue Mountain Eagle starting in 1956, when the Smiths established their home in the Willamette Valley.

In 1968, Donna and John Moreau purchased the Blue Mountain Eagle from the Smith family. In 1979, the Blue Mountain Eagle merged into the East Oregonian Publishing Company (now EO Media Group). In 1997, they moved the Eagle building from Highway 26 to its current address of 195 N. Canyon Blvd., in John Day.

The Blue Mountain Eagle went online in 2000, at www.bluemountaineagle.com, but continued to publish a print edition every Wednesday. It was known as Oregon’s oldest weekly newspaper.

In mid-2024, the owners of EO Media Group began making cutbacks to their publications and put the company up for sale. Among the changes was the end of print publication for five Northeastern Oregon newspapers, including the Blue Mountain Eagle, which published its final print edition on June 26.

The Eagle continued to publish Grant County news on its website and contribute articles, photographs, and advertising to the print edition of the East Oregonian, along with the Baker City Herald, Wallowa County Chieftain, Hermiston Heral,d and The (La Grande) Observer.