Joseph Goodman (1838-1917) was the owner and editor who transformed the Territorial Enterprise into a cutting-edge and fearless newspaper. Under his leadership, it became known for its bold investigative journalism, exposing corruption in mining, politics, and law. Unafraid to challenge powerful figures, Goodman famously uncovered corruption within the Nevada Territorial Supreme Court, forcing the entire bench to resign. He also took on fraudulent diamond mining operations, further cementing his reputation for integrity.

Goodman had a key eye for literary talent and encouraged his writers with remarkable creative freedom. Among those he hired were some of the West's most memorable voices, including Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), Dan DeQuille (William Wright), and Denis E. McCarthy.

In the 1897, Joseph Goodman, a true jack of all trades, proposed a method for correlating the Maya Long Count calendar with the Gregorian calendar. This method was later confirmed by Juan Martínez Hernández and J. Eric S. Thompson, and formally published in 1935 as the Goodman-Martinez-Thompson Correlation or the G.M.T. Correlation. Today, the G.M.T. Correlation remains the most widely accepted system for aligning the May and Gregorian Calendars.

Mark Twain Journal: “An Irregular Correspondent”: The European Travel Letters of Mark Twain’s Editor and Friend Joe Goodman. Edited by Lawrence I. Berkove. Volume 35, Number 2, Fall, 1997