1869 - Salt Lake Herald started as a rival to the Deseret News, but it remains friendly to the church.
1870 - The Mormon Tribune is started by dissident Mormons Edward Tullidge, E.L.T. Harrison and William S. Godbe, all part of the "New Movement" opposed to church economic policies.
1871 - The Mormon Tribune becomes the Salt Lake Tribune, edited by Oscar G. Sawyer. The Tribune helps start an opposition political party, called the Liberal Party.
1873 - Tribune is sold to Fred Lockley, George F. Prescott and A.M. Hamilton, all Kansas newspapermen, and James R. Schupbach and W.H. Taylor - collectively referred to as "the Border Ruffians." The newspaper wars with the Deseret News heat up over issues of polygamy, mining and federal intervention in the "Utah problem."
1880 - C.C. Goodwin is hired as Tribune editor and engages in legendary battles with Deseret News editor Charles Penrose.
1881 - Schupbach sells his one-fifth share of the Tribune to O.J. Hollister.
1883 - Lockley, Prescott, Hamilton and Taylor sell their four-fifths share to Tribune editor C.C. Goodwin and Patrick H. Lannan (Hollister kept his share). The deal is financed by mining magnate John W. Mackay.
1889 - Tribune owners lobby Congress against granting Utah statehood. Goodwin is later nominated as the Liberal Party candidate to Congress (he lost).
1900 - Despite becoming the official voice of the Republican Party in Utah, the Tribune unleashes attacks on Republican U.S. Senate candidate Thomas Kearns. The attacks continue after Kearns is elected.
1901 - Indiana newspaperman and Republican Party wag Perry S. Heath purchases the Tribune secretly on behalf of U.S. Sen. Thomas Kearns and his mining partner David Keith. The purchase silences the Tribune's withering criticism of Kearns.
1902 - Kearns and Keith start the Salt Lake Telegram to compete with the afternoon Deseret News.
1905 - Kearns retires after one term in the Senate after a falling out with the LDS Chruch. Kearns also breaks with the Republican Party in Utah, helping to start the American Party in opposition to the church and its control of the GOP.
1911 - Veteran newsman Ambrose McKay is hired as editor of the Salt Lake Tribune; he promptly steers the Tribune away from anti-Mormon rhetoric and political partisanship.
1913 - Kearns hires John F. Fitzpatrick as a personal secretary. Fitzpatrick soon becomes a trusted confidant and manager of Kearns' business interests.
1914 - Kearns and Keith sell the Telegram to Salt Lake businessmen.
1918 - Kearns is fatally injured by a car and Keith dies. When Keith's widow also dies, the Keith family turns to the Kearns family to purchase the Keiths' 50 percent share of the Salt Lake Tribune. Fitzpatrick continues to manage Kearns family business interests, including the Salt Lake Tribune.
1920 - The senator's son, Thomas F. Kearns, becomes president of the family corporation, but Fitzpatrick is the real power behind the businesses. Five-year-old Jack Gallivan comes to live with his aunt, Jennie Judge Kearns, after his own mother dies.
1924 - Fitzpatrick becomes publisher of the Tribune upon the death of Ambrose McKay, but he leaves news operations to another seasoned journalist, G.B. Heal.
1930 - The Tribune reacquires the Salt Lake Telegram to compete with the Deseret News in the afternoons.
1936 - Edmond Kearns dies, requiring the family corporation to sell off assets to pay death taxes and to buy out his widow's shares.
1943 - The senator's widow, Jenny Judge Kearns, and a daughter, Helen Kearns McCarthey, both die, forcing the company to sell off more assets to pay estate taxes.
1947 - The Deseret News launches a five-year newspaper war for circulation supremacy.
1951 - The Kearns Corp. divests itself of all mining interests in Park City and withdraws form natural resource development.
1952 - Faced with dwindling profits, the Deseret News and Tribute enter into a joint operating agreement to share the costs of printing, circulation and advertising through a third entity, Newspaper Agency Corp. As part of the deal, the Deseret News purchases and closes down the Telegram.
1960 - Fitzpatrick dies. His protege, Jack Gallivan, is named publisher.
1970 - Thomas Kearns McCarthey, a grandson of the senator, becomes the largest shareholder of Kearns-Trbune with 40 percent; he blocks a sale of the Tribune by other family members.
1983 - Gallivan retires as Tribune publisher, assuming "emeritus" status, but he is widely regarded as the real power at the Tribune, Jerry O'Brien, his protege, is named publisher, and Dominic Welch, an accountant, is named president of NAC.
1994 - O'Brien's death leads to a struggle for control of the Salt Lake Tribune. Gallivan wants his son Mickey to be publisher, and the McCartheys want Thomas Kearns McCarthey Jr. Dominic Welch is selected as a compromise candidate.
1997 - Through Gallivan's prodding, the Salt Lake Tribune is sold to cable giant TCI for $731 million in stock. The McCartheys insist upon an option to buy the paper back in 2002 and to manage it in the interim. Dozens of extended family members and Tribune staff members with stock become wealthy.
2000 - TCI merges with AT&T, giving the communications giant control of the Tribune, in which it has no interest. AT&T sells the Tribune for $200 million to Media-News Group of Denver, effective Jan. 2, 2001.
2001 - Despite changing ownership, the local managers, including the McCarthey family, continue to operate the Salt Lake Tribune. Control of the paper, and disputes with the Deseret News, spark high-profile court cases. The McCartheys acquire 80 percent of the Tribune's management company, consolidating their control of any efforts to purchase the Tribune.