[4] Founded in 1913 as an independent newspaper by resident William McCoy,[5][6] by 1921 it had a circulation of 1,715.
The operator, rather than wait for the engine to cool, put the gasoline into the tank hot, causing it to burst into flames.
[10] The rapid spread of the conflagration combined with inadequate water supply protection resulted in a blaze fierce enough that the town was reduced to using dynamite to check its advance.
[11] Bill McCoy died in 2008, at 87, after a long tenure as the paper's publisher.
The paper was operated by Bill's son, John McCoy, until 2022, when it was sold to Mountain Media, LLC.