The Enterprise started out as a regional booster, with financial backing from Major Leigh Hill (L. H.) French.
French, who had recently been promoting mining projects in the Klondike gold rush in Alaska and was related by marriage to the Studebaker automobile family, promoted mining, and prizefights.
With his backing, the paper envisioned oil wells and irrigation projects as driving a prosperous future for the region.
John Rigby, who became the paper's second manager in 1912, has been credited with rallying public opinion behind the Warm Springs Irrigation District.
George Huntington Currey purchased the paper in 1917, and then traded it in 1920 for the Baker City Herald.
The paper changed hands two more times in the 1920s, and played a role in the election of U.S. senator Robert Stanfield.
The Enterprise was sold in 1930.

A 1950 book covering the county's early days identified the Enterprise as "one of three newsy newspapers still published in Malheur county."
The Enterprise started out as a regional booster, with financial backing from Major Leigh Hill (L. H.) French. French, who had recently been promoting mining projects in the Klondike gold rush in Alaska and was related by marriage to the Studebaker automobile family, promoted mining, and prizefights. With his backing, the paper envisioned oil wells and irrigation projects as driving a prosperous future for the region. John Rigby, who became the paper's second manager in 1912, has been credited with rallying public opinion behind the Warm Springs Irrigation District. George Huntington Currey purchased the paper in 1917, and then traded it in 1920 for the Baker City Herald. The paper changed hands two more times in the 1920s, and played a role in the election of U.S. senator Robert Stanfield. The Enterprise was sold in 1930.
A 1950 book covering the county's early days identified the Enterprise as "one of three newsy newspapers still published in Malheur county."
Malheur Enterprise