Local history time now, and this week, we dispel the notion that when the Timmins Press began in the 1930s, it was the first newspaper in the mining camp.
The Porcupine Advance was started in 1912 by the Cobalt Nugget, which later became the North Bay Nugget.
Timmins Museum director-curator Karen Bachmann says the Advance soon fell apart, only to re-merge in 1915.
“George Lake takes over the Advance at that time” she recounts, “and becomes the editor, the reporter and makes sure that those newspapers get out every day.”
Actually, the Advance began as a weekly paper, and eventually twice-weekly.
“And you will notice on Algonquin that the Porcupine Advance printers are still there,” Bachmann adds, “and that’s been there since probably 1915.”
We’ll have more about the Porcupine Advance next week.