The first edition of what is now called The Tribune hit the streets on April 15, 1871. It was called “The Tribune & Utah Mining Gazette.”
For the next 30 years, The Tribune passed through a series of salty owners who engaged the publication in raucous duels with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1901, the newspaper was acquired by U.S. Sen. Thomas Kearns and David Keith, prominent Utah mining figures.
Upon Kearns’ death in 1918, sole ownership was acquired by the Kearns family. The circulation at the time was 10,000 on weekdays and 15,000 on Sundays. In 1924, John F. Fitzpatrick became the publisher. Under his direction, the afternoon Salt Lake Telegram was merged into the morning Salt Lake Tribune in 1952. It was also under the Fitzpatrick tenure that The Tribune won a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for its reporting of a 1956 air disaster over the Grand Canyon.
