Once, the people of Millinocket faced a golden future.

The paper mill in Millinocket could lay claim to being the world's largest. To be among the thousands of papermakers in that northern Maine town was about as good as it got. The work was hard, but the rewards -- good pay, low cost of living, almost- guaranteed work and life in the middle of a sylvan paradise -- were many.

But over the last few decades the fortunes of Millinocket's papermakers declined as the mill was sold from one owner to the other and the economics of the paper industry tightened dramatically because of global competition. There were strikes and increasing mechanization in the industry drove down the number of jobs. In 2003, mill owner Great Northern Paper announced it had filed for bankruptcy on the very day John Baldacci was inaugurated governor. By later that year, the mill was operating under new owners but with dramatically fewer employees.

Last week, things got very grim for the 208 workers remaining at the Millinocket mill.

Owner Katahdin Paper Company said the doubling of oil prices was crippling the mill and would force its closure in two months. Without a $50 million investment to install a biomass boiler to power the mill and cover costs until the boiler could go into service in two years, they said, the shutdown would be permanent. That announcement also sent shock waves through the Millinocket mill's sister mill in East Millinocket which, though experiencing healthy sales, is subject to similar cost pressures from the price of energy.

Gov. John Baldacci quickly journeyed to Millinocket after the announcement and promised to do everything he could to keep the mill open. It's good to have the governor on your side, but workers at the mill weren't sanguine about the possibility of keeping it open.

The world is changing -- and changing with it is life in Millinocket, Maine. The town has half the number of residents it had in its heydey (from approximately 10,000 down to 5,000), the area's high schools are bleeding students and the wages for non-mill work in Millinocket can't compete with wages once offered by the mill. There will be an economic future for Millinocket's residents, but what industry -- or industries -- will supply it, and how prosperous it will be, is very much an open question.