With the writing on the wall for several years now, Marc Jackson, editor of Snow Lake’s only newspaper, the Underground Press admitted that the time had finally come. “It is with a heavy heart and some apprehension that I advise you that the Underground Press will cease publication with the Christmas issue on Dec. 14 of this year,” Jackson stated in a Nov. 16 editorial in the publication. “I love to write, and I have enjoyed doing the layout and seeing everything transition from my computer to the tabloid; but it would be impossible to put out a paper without the ads to pay the bills. With a 16 per cent drop in readership over the past two years and a gradual yearly drop in paid advertisements, it seems pointless to continue in a venture that will ultimately be printed at a loss.” Notwithstanding, the paper had a good run … from September 1996 to September 2007 as a free monthly and from October 2007 to December 2017 as a biweekly paid publication.
The Underground Press was conceptualized as a monthly in the summer of 1996 and first appeared around the community in September that year. The paper’s founding editor was Janet Hilliard. She and three others started the paper following a discussion about the lack of real news coverage in the community. Jackson began writing for the paper after penning a letter to the editor expressing support for the venture. Hilliard worked as editor for four editions before leaving Snow Lake. Jackson took over at that time and has run and written the tabloid ever since.
In October of 2007 the town’s weekly, the Snow Lake News closed their doors. “The community was now without this long-time weekly and people were yearning for local news on a timelier basis than the Underground Press could offer,” Jackson said. “So I went biweekly with it and in the process made it a paying proposition."
“The Underground Press name had dual meaning,” added Jackson. “Although the founders did not intend to compete with the Snow Lake News, they did fear resentment from supporters of this well-established business; hence, they went ‘underground’ and published their first edition quietly. In addition, they felt that ‘underground’ was the perfect title for a newssheet in a mining town.
In respect to his background and education, “I have absolutely no background in writing,” Jackson said. “I hated English growing up and dropped out of school in Grade 8. However, I have always had an opinion and don't mind sharing it. Some might say that I'm a little too quick to express that opinion, but hey, that’s the type of guy I am! In 1995 at the age of 38, I decided that I would take a number of correspondence courses with the goal in mind of eventually getting my Grade 12 diploma. In August of 2000 at the age of 44, I received that diploma. In the process I realized that I loved English and took a real shine to a journalism component while doing my Grade 11. I soon realized that things might have been different in my life had I used my mind for good instead of evil!”
Over a period of 20 years there are stories and issues that stand out and the editor noted a few. “I think the things that stand out the most are high times and low times in Snow Lake's ever changing history,” he said. “I recall writing with a broken heart as the New Britannia Mine was shuttered and as the community’s Northern Store closed for good. But also with a pen scratching out some very enthusiastic prose when news of the Lalor Mine hit the coffee shop.”
Jackson says that he will continue to write his column "My take on Snow Lake" which appears Fridays in the Nickel Belt News and Opasquia Times. “As well, I will begin writing another book shortly into the New Year,” he advised. “Unlike the last two I had a hand in (with Jim Parres), this one won’t be on mining. It will be a non-fiction novel that will tell the story of a girl who grew up in Northern Manitoba and courageously put her life back together after being misdiagnosed with a mental illness.”
As for the Underground Press archives, Jackson says that he has been in touch with the Snow Lake Mining Museum (SLMM) and The Flin Flon Heritage Website (FFHW). “I will supply them with digital copies of all issues dating back to 1997 and I will pass on hardcopies of the same back issues to the SLMM,” he said. “The FFHW will begin featuring old issues of the paper on their website in the New Year. I am unsure of the SLMM’s plans, but imagine issues will be archived there and those who are interested could visit the museum to read them.”
In closing he stated, “I’d like to thank those many folks who read what I had to write and made it all worthwhile. Thanks for the memories...”
