they could not bother to remove the stumps from the streets. people hoped it would turn into something big. he had some experience in printing, so he went to work for the local oregonian newspaper. he worked there for a number of years, and proved himself invaluable. he was the one that kept it going. the owner was distracted with politics to the point where he owed henry a lot of back wages. his employer decided to to give the paper to him in return for the back wages. he turned it into success, invested in a lot of real estate, was eventually to build a house. the mansion is 16,000 square sets ofer 23 major rooms inside of it, for different stories. despite a classic exterior, it is a modern looking building. was interested in a new technology. it was centrally heated, full plumbing, a house elevator, telephone, whatever he could think of. he would embrace the latest technology. he has been eyeing this location for a number of years and eventually acquired 46 acres on the hilltop. it had a wonderful view of the city of portland atop mt. hood, times.he climbed four he spent time of your building trails. right now we are in the library of pittockhe spent time of yourg mansion, one of the 23 rooms in the 16,000 square foot mansion. this room was meant to look like a classic library with wood paneling. it has an interesting feature of the top where it looks like it is wood carved into elaborate patterns, but that is plaster painted to look like wood. they were concerned about fire safety, and it saved a bit of money. this was typical of henry pittock. he madeot cheap, but his fortune by watching costs. the mantelpiece features the pittock family crest. that is something the family did not have originally or historically. when you made a fortune like henry pittock did, you could commission your own coat of arms. the oregonian newspaper printed its first edition in 1850. henry came to work there in 1853, by 1860 he was the owner of the paper. he decided to turn it into a daily newspaper. and he was extended in becoming the first paper in the area to receive the latest news of the battles of the civil war. at that time the telegraph only reached as far as san francisco. he had to pay extra money to get riders on horseback or stagecoach to get the news to him first. the allowed them to be more successful than his rivals in town. newspapers in the 1960's are very different from today. they were viewed as entertainment and political instrument. page one represented -- each one represented a different party. when henry took over the oregonian, it was notorious for what was called the oregon style of journalism. each paper would print all sorts of insults at the other newspapers and wouldn't care about what the other facts might be. when henry ran the newspaper, he worked toward turning it into more of what we consider newspapers today, a source of fact, rather than shouting angry opinions at each other. all of the newspapers at the time had a political agenda. each one was affiliated with a different political party. affiliated aswas well, it was the republican newspaper at the time. the republicans had different views from today. the time they were known as socially liberal and economically conservative. that matched henry's views. he was interested in carefully managing business and making sure that cities like portland could grow and thrive. we are now at the grand staircase of pittock mansion. when henry pittock built this house he meant to impress the people that came to visit. the staircase is the most impressive feature of the house with its marble and custom-designed brass railing. landing is also the location of two portraits. this shows them in 1912 while they were constructing this house. when henry pittock first arrived in portland in the 1850's, by his own admission, he was barefoot and without a cent. through the course of his lifetime he was interested in building a fortune to care for his family. he started diversifying beyond just building a newspaper. when portland was a small town, he thought it was a great opportunity to invest in real estate. he purchased a lot of blocks downtown in portland and was able to sell them off during the years. basicested in any business opportunity that came anking tothinking -- b a sheep ranch. henry pittock was interested in impressing visitors, but at his heart he was a frugal man. he was happy to spend on his newspaper, but not necessarily on his furnishings. here we have henry pittock's original bed and some of his original furnishings. but heot a grand bed, thought it was perfectly functional. we also have an inventory that shows what furnishings were in the house when henry died. knowstess -- it helps us how he furnished it. us what is in the grand ballroom in the basement. he was using that as a spare room, storing old unneeded and occasionally broken furniture. henry was always very happy and interested to invest the money he made back into the paper. he thought it was important to get the latest technology. in the early 1860's he took a trip to san francisco to buy the latest press. when they later invented the line of type, they spent the equivalent of over a half $1 million to install those. the nature of news is that you want to be the one that gets it first. as part of the oregonian was interested in getting the latest news, and spending extra money to bring the latest news of the civil war to his readers. the oregonian paper today is struggling with the nature of being a print newspaper at its heart battling against the internet. it is who gets the news first. fighting select -- fighting against an electronic medium is difficult. it is challenging for papers to compete today, a challenge i am sure henry would have loved to have taken on. >> our cities tour staff recently traveled to portland oregon to learn about its rich history. learn more about portland and other stops on our tour at c-span.org/citiestour. you are watching american history tv on c-span3. >> unfoldan, where history daily. in 1979 he spent was created a america's television cable company and is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. american history tv was at the organization of american historians annual meeting in new orleans where we spoke with professor leslie harris about the legacy of slavery in colleges and universities. she discusses higher education in the 20th century. this interview is about 10 minutes. leslie harris, what was the relationship between early colleges in america and the in addition of slavery? leslie: slavery was fundamental to early colleges. money that went into founding early colleges as craig while there has discussed in his book, came from people who were participants in the slave trade or who were merchants of slave producers. the american economy. it is not surprising that those funds were part of the basic funds for colleges and university. in slaved

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