[3] The paper was established January 6, 1897 as a weekly publication in Vale, Oregon called the District Silver Advocate.
The paper's name was in reference to the Free Silver Movement, which the publication supported along with politician William Jennings Bryan.
Don Carlos Boyd purchased the paper on November 28, 1900, changed its allegiance to Republican and assumed the name Argus.
That same year In August they bought the Eastern Oregon Observer,[6] a paper founded in Ontario by Elmo Smith in 1936.
[9] About a year later the Argus Observer announced it will cease it's Saturday print edition and moving forward will only publish once a week on Wednesdays.