The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 412

W. R. SPROULL.

W. R. Sproull, the proprietor and able editor of the Independent Record of
Prosser, is a newspaper man of long years of experience and in fact his business
career began in connection with papers, for he started as a newsboy. He was born
in Mount Carmel, Illinois, January 21, 1873, a son of John O. and Alice (Wilson)
Sproull, who took up their abode in Kansas in 1879, when the subject of this
review was but six years of age. The father was a successful railroad contractor
and was engaged in that line of work all over the central west, so continuing
until death claimed him in 1884, his demise occurring in Kansas. He is survived
by his widow, who now makes her home in Hutchinson, that state.

W. R. Sproull was reared under the parental roof amid refined surroundings and
in the achievement of his education attended the public schools. He began the
serious problem of earning a living as a news carrier and naturally drifted into
the printer's trade, which he later learned, following that occupation in Kansas
for a number of rears. Having more than ordinary ambition and ability, he soon
became manager and editor of several newspapers in different towns in Kansas, so
continuing until 1909, when he came to Washington and located in Prosser in the
fall of that year. Here he leased the Republican-Bulletin and was editor and
manager thereof until 1916, when he purchased the paper. The Independent-Record,
of which he is now editor, has the following history: On the 1st of May, 1913,
the Prosser Record, which was established December 29, 1893, and the Benton
Independent, established in November, 1909, were consolidated under the name of
the Independent-Record. The Independent was founded by H. A. Wells and L. L.
Lynn. George F. Boomer conducted the Record for many years. It was C. B.
Michener who consolidated the papers in 1913 and continued the Independent-
Record until 1915, when he failed. On April 1, 1916, W. R. Sproull, then already
the owner, editor and manager of the Republican-Bulletin, bought the plant and
has since published the Independent-Record. It is a live six column, eight page
weekly, filled with home print and full of interest to local readers. Its news
columns are not only entertaining but are well put together and so assembled
that anything may be easily followed. In fact the paper furnishes a chronology
of the week's happenings practically on any subject. From a typographical point
of view it is an example of good printing. The editorials are trenchant and to
the point, often helpful to the community and full of suggestions for
betterments and improvements, and in that way the paper has been of great
assistance to the city and county. The plant from which it is issued is modern
in every detail. The circulation is about one thousand and its value is fully
recognized by the many successful advertisers of the Independent-Record.

On the 9th of August, 1898, Mr. Sproull was united in marriage to Miss Mayme
Mullin, of Newton, Kansas, and they have two sons: Virgil, who has served two
years in the united States navy; and Noble, at home. Mr. Sproull has always
taken a most active and helpful part in public affairs and at present is serving
as one of the most efficient members of the city council. He is a republican and
while he expresses his political opinions through the medium of his paper he is
not a politician or office seeker in the commonly accepted sense of the word.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.