The Howard City Censorial, published by Wesley E. Doud, started publication in January 1875. It was Howard's first newspaper since the Howard City Messenger left for Boston to become the Howard County Messenger a year and a half earlier.
In June 1875, Abe B. Steinbarger started the Howard City Beacon. In only two months, Steinbarger had far outstripped the Censorial by having 500 subscribers compared to only 100 for the Censorial. The Beacon took anything in the form of farm produce in exchange for a subscription.
Doud and his Censorial left Howard City in late August 1875 for Eureka, where he published for a few years. He left (probably sold) his 100 subscriber list to the Beacon.
The August 28, 1875, issue of the Howard City Beacon states:
"600 copies of THE BEACON are issued this week, 500 of which are circulated in our own county. Advertisers will make a note of this, and remember that an average of three persons read each copy, making the paper read by at least 1,800 persons each week."
The Beacon went to twice per week publication soon after and then went out of business toward the end of 1875 when Steinbarger brought his Courant in from Longton.