The Blade and Chronicle was the name of an early-day newspaper of Letcher. W. R. Pooley was the first editor of the newspaper. He later sold it to M. H. Mayhew. We also have information that Robert Dowdell purchased The Blade sometime before 1900. By January 7, 1884, the Letcher Blade was declared to be the only newspaper in Sanborn County.
In 1902 C. F. DeGroff, who came to Letcher in 1896, took over The Chronicle. He published it for 42 years. In 1906 a yearly subscription to the paper cost $1.00
One records says that L. O. Larson was an editor in 1909. In 1912 Mr. Larson took over the Tri-County Journal at Storla.
Mr. DeGroff continued to publish the paper until 1944, when he sold it to L. B. Mayer of Parkston, who published the paper until 1952, when it was taken over by the Woonsocket News. The paper was published in Woonsocket with the heading, The Chronicle, on the first page. Eventually the Letcher name was dropped and the Woonsocket News carried Letcher news as well as the weekly news of the rest of Sanborn County.
After the 1931 fire, the Letcher paper was issued from the printing shop of the Aurora County Standard at White Lake. This shop was owned by Allen DeGrff, the son of C. F. DeGroff.
In 1952 the Chronicle cost $2.50 per year. Mrs. Albert Grabenstein was city editor and business manager.