As a correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and the New York Herald, he covered the 1877 flight of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce to Montana and their final battle with the US Army.

However, when Cornell University opened in 1868, he was attracted by "its promise of liberality in education" and moved there to complete his final year, along with two fellow students at Ohio Wesleyan, Morris Buchwalter and Joseph Foraker.

[7] In late 1889, Rea moved to Washington state where he became the editor-in-chief of The Olympian, which had recently changed from a weekly to a daily newspaper.

During his time in Olympia, he became an advisor and close friend of Elisha P. Ferry, Washington's first governor when it achieved statehood in 1889.

Described as one of Tacoma's most colorful characters and an astute Republican politician, US Presidents from Grover Cleveland to Franklin Delano Roosevelt referred to him as "Mr.