The Silverton Standard and The Miner – a bastion of local news in San Juan County – has been sold.
DeAnne Gallegos, a third-generation Silvertonian, purchased the weekly periodical for an undisclosed sum from Jennifer Brill in a deal finalized Saturday.
The transfer demarcates another chapter in the paper’s storied history, which began in 1875 when the La Plata Miner was founded. The Silverton Standard began publishing in 1889, according to the San Juan County Historical Society (which owned the paper from 2009 until 2020), and the two papers merged into the The Silverton Standard and The Miner in 1922.
In 2011 the paper was named a historic site in journalism by the Society of Professional Journalists. It is the oldest continuously published paper on the Western Slope.
“It's almost kind of like acquiring a living, breathing museum,” Gallegos said. “But it is also our public record, and so we take that very seriously.”
The Standard has five employees, including its new owner and publisher, and a newly acquired office on Greene Street.
Like many in the town of 700, Gallegos wears multiple hats. In addition to writing for the Standard, she is the executive director of the Silverton Area Chamber of Commerce and the spokesperson for San Juan County.
In a news landscape often described in bleak terms, especially with respect to small, local publications, Gallegos is optimistic about the Standard’s future and has no illusions as to the importance of local news.
“When a community loses their local newspaper, there are so many ricocheting effects,” she said, citing government accountability and transparency chief among them.
The Standard is financially sustainable, but could not be described as profitable – something Gallegos hopes to change. Coin-operated newspaper racks in Silverton are stocked with 250 copies each Thursday, although online traffic makes up the bulk of the paper’s circulation. The Standard is printed in Montrose.
The founders of Silverton Mountain, Aaron and Jen Brill, bought the paper from the historical society in 2020 in an attempt to revive the languishing publication. The Brills sold the ski area in 2023. Jen, who now lives in Alaska, approached Gallegos in the summer of 2024 about taking over the paper.
“She understood the importance of the newspaper in our community,” Brill said. “She’s really community-minded, which I thought was very important.”
For Gallegos, to take over as publisher is to shoulder a great responsibility.
“It wasn't about selling the newspaper and the asset that she continued to build,” Gallegos said. “It was more about passing the torch – ‘How can this remain in the community? Who would I entrust this (to) with integrity and reliability to the community?’”
Gallegos said she intends to give complete editorial independence to the paper’s editor, Katey Fetch, avoiding any conflict of interest caused by her other jobs.
“This newspaper entity has outlived every single owner and will continue to outlive me,” Gallegos said. “And so honestly, it's just my turn to ensure that it has integrity, focuses on the community, (and) is the hub of all community information.”
rschafir@durangoherald.com