Pictures, a Park, and a Pulitzer: Mel Ruder and the Hungry Horse News

by Tom Lawrence

A weekly newspaper filled with local photographs was unheard of when Mel Ruder founded the Hungry Horse News in 1946 in a small Montana town just west of Glacier National Park. In his first issue, Ruder announced that he would emphasize positive news and publish plenty of photographs. The thirty-one-year-old Navy veteran marveled at this ''promised land,'' reminding readers that ''More than 200,000 Americans from all of the 48 states save their money for eleven-and-a-half months of the year in order to live two weeks where we live all the year...'' When a vast flood filled the area in 1964, Ruder photographed, interviewed, thumbed rides on small planes to get aerial views, printed the photos, and wrote the stories. His and his staff's efforts won the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished General Local Reporting in 1965--the first Pulitzer given to a Montana newspaper. This volume brings together a generous sampling of Mel Ruder's photography, a taste of his editorials, and the biography of the man behind the Hungry Horse News during its first thirty-two years of operation.

200 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2000

Reviews

[Linda]

Perhaps the name Mel Ruder doesn't just slip off the tongue of every Montanan but it should. Named one of the 100 most influential Montanans of the century, Mel Ruder built a tiny small town newspaper into a Pulitzer prize winner. This book gives a sampling of Mr. Ruder's editorials, photographs and the biography of the man behind the scenes. It also captures a feel for Montana in the 1940's through the '60's.