Our Viewpoint: Celebrating a Ledger milestone

I love going back and looking at past Ledgers, but this week was a special adventure. This edition you're reading begins the 120th volume (or year) of our weekly publication.

That first edition was published February 24, 1905. The Ledger back in 1905 focused on what was happening throughout the nation and the world. Bakers in New York City were on strike, causing a bread shortage. Russia was dominating the world news. There were proceedings over oil leases on the Osage Nation. This topic is back in the forefront with last year's "Killers of a Flower Moon," for which Montanan Lily Gladstone received the first Oscar nomination of a Native American woman. Americans gathered in Rome to celebrate Washington's birthday.

There wasn't much for local news in that first edition 120 years ago. There were two train collisions in the county. Percy Harris, wanted for murder in West Virginia, was arrested in Thompson Falls and awaiting transport back to West Virginia. Prospector Herman Hildebrandt wrote a letter detailing his travels to Nevada. Chief Charlot from the Flathead Indian Reservation was in Washington, D.C., and expected to be part of President Roosevelt's inauguration parade.

In 1905 there were no televisions, and few homes had telephones. There was no internet or social media. People got their information from the newspaper and from letters. It was the year Albert Einstein established the theory of relativity. It would be almost two decades before the first world war.

A lot has changed since The Sanders County Ledger's first edition hit the streets, but our committment to our communities and telling the truth remains. We don't have paper boys hitting the streets anymore, but we do have a great network of vendors. Thank you to Buck's Grocery, Town Pump in Plains and Thompson Falls, Plains Drug, Plains Travel Plaza, McGowan's, Harvest Foods, Thompson Falls Family Pharmacy, Doug's True Value, Feed & Fuel The Local Store, Trout Creek Quik Stop, Noxon Quik Stop, American Legion in Paradise, Heron Siding General Store, Angry Beaver General Store and Sixgun Pizza for offering The Ledger at your businesses, as well as our many subscribers who get the newspaper in the mail each week.

On pages 6 and 7 you'll find that first edition of The Sanders County Ledger. Enjoy the look back at 1905. Our hope is that in 120 years, someone will be reading this Ledger to understand what life was like in 2024.

Thanks for supporting local news.

— Annie Wooden