Hall sold his half to Wilson in 1914 and left to take over the Haywood Enterprise, a competing paper.

The Courier soon felt the crunch of poor economic times and was sold at public auction two years later to previous owner Jesse Daniel Boone for $1,400.

Band sold the Waynesville Mountaineer to Wilbur T. Betts and Thomas M. Seawell later that year.

Two employees, W. Curtis Russ, the business manager and ad salesman, and Paul D. Deaton, a linotype operator, leased the paper from Betts for one year to see if they could make it profitable.

“Waynesville” was dropped from the name to coincide with the opening of an office in Canton and to reflect more countywide news coverage.

The Mountaineer converted to offset printing in the 1960s when they purchased a Goss press and installed it in the basement.

The word Enterprise was dropped from the masthead of the newspaper because The Mountaineer had become the dominant name the paper was referred to across the county.