Charles Sprague was born in Ohio in 1865, the son of W. P. Sprague, a United States Congressman. After graduating from college, he bought and edited a local newspaper. In 1890 he moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado where he founded the Colorado Springs Evening Telegraph, and the Mining Investor, and served in the state legislature. In 1904 he was the editor of the Denver Rocky Mountain News. He came to Goldfield, Nevada in 1905 and leased the Goldfield News in 1906 from its then owner, J. P.