The Final Edition of the Snohomish Sun
After three years of chronicling the growth of Puget Sound, the publisher of the Snohomish Sun shutters his paper, citing bankruptcy, personal heartbreak, and the 'paralyzed' logging industry of 1879.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
It is said that all things have their appointed time and work to do, and when that work is done, it is fit that they should cease to exist; therefore the time has come. Those who have sustained the Star for the past three years and upwards, it is proper to bring its publication to a close. Should nothing unexpected take place, this is probably the last number of the Snohomish Sun that will be issued. When it was started in January 1876, it was carried on in such a manner that I thought it would continue in a prosperous condition until the great mineral, lumber, agricultural, and other resources of this section would be developed. However, for the past two and one-half years the logging business has been so paralyzed here, that nearly all those connected with it have lost money, and most of those engaged at it have become bankrupt and financially ruined. Great as these difficulties were, they were all met and surmounted, were it not for a second sundering of all domestic ties, which caused a great decrease in advertising patronage. While the necessary conditions to ensure the future publication of the paper could be met, the advantages offered in other fields of usefulness are so much greater that after mature deliberation the publisher has decided to sell the outfit and permanently cease its publication.
“For the past two and one-half years the logging business has been so paralyzed here, that nearly all those connected with it have lost money, and most of those engaged at it have become bankrupt and financially ruined.”
The collapse of the Snohomish Sun captures the volatile nature of 19th-century boom-and-bust resource towns. The publisher's lament over a 'paralyzed' logging industry and the struggle to maintain local media echoes the modern challenges of regional news deserts and the fragility of local business economies dependent on single-industry cycles.
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