The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1893-05-29
THE DAILY PAPER.
Brief Review of the "Herald's" mstor
In Shenandoah.

NlJal iOrCeS OF lne DOIOuBu VI oHthduuVhh
and with pardonable pride IL can say that it
has been instrumental Of helping to make the
largest town in Schuylkill county out Of a
nero mining hamlet. The first copy of the
HERALD was published on May 2Sth, 1870,
with T. j. Foster, now proprietor and editor
Of the Couiery Engineer at Scranton, and II
G. Boyer, present editor Of the paper, as its
editors Few people had the faith in the pros
poets Of Shenandoah that the HERALD had.
Many, though well-wishers of the paper,
thought the undertaking premature. In its
Introductory editorial the HERALD said,
"Knowing as VIC do, that Shenandoah is
located in one Of the best fields Of the coal
region, now being developed perhaps more
rapidly and extensively than any other, that
its business prospects are second to nolocality
in the county, and that in spite Of the de-
pressing influences Of the suspension, we see
signs of improvement all around us, we are
entirely confident of success"
This was when Shenandoah had popula-
tion Of about $780, about the size of the
Frackville Of to-day. The slow-thinkers
were here even at that early day and they
shook their heads in reply to the word
painted picture of future prosperity which
the paper placed before them.
True the paper had a hard struggle to get
upon its feet and the slow. thinkers and moss
backed settlers frequently relieved their
pent up sympathies with "I-told-you-so," but
the HERALD stuck to its ray of hope which,
in January, 1871 was frightened by the an
nouncement that the Shenandoah valley was
mining and sending to market more than
one.sixth of the entire coal product of the
county. There were 132 collieries in opera
ton in the county at that time and but
eleven of them were in the Shenandoah
valley. This Frightening of prospects made
the HERALD jubilant and about that time
the editors placed under the head line of the
/ paper this motto, ITO fear God, tell the truth
and make money"
The HERALD devoted all its energies to
/ mpressing upon the minds of the people that
the place was destined to become large,
substantial and mOney-mal1ing and many
| have frequently said that had it not been for
the enthusiastic predictions of the paper
they would have left the place in its infancy
and made investments in other sections Of
the country.
In pursuance Of this policy of encourage
ment, enterprise and building up the HER
AID devoted days and weeks to the collabor
alton and publication of industrial statistics
showing the four first collieries in the county
in point of amount of coal sent to the market
for the year ending January, 1871, were the
Colorado, Plank Ridge, Shenandoah and Keh-
ley Run. They shipped an aggregate of 35l
O52 tons for that year, more than one-eighth
of the entire product Of the county.
The croakers were beginning to weaken
on their first proclamations. The HERALD
was meeting with success and its predictions
about the town and region were being fully
verified. But croakers will kick and these
drones changed their line of argument to g
prediction that the town would live but {
short time; that the mineral deposits woulC
soon be exhausted by the rapid development
then in progress as shown by the statistics.
But the HERALD took stand directly t.
the contrary and said editorially in February
1871, eve may safely predict future of bus
mess prosperity, wealth and improvement fo
our valley and borough such as has never be
fore been equalled in the history Of Schuylllil
county" And in addition to this the pape
said, "Our borough is destined to be one of th
most important towns in schuylkill county
We make this statement with thorough un
derstanding of what we write and becaus
holt 10 Tee, &c c,u,daI fact
that nothing can gainsRy. 1t is located in tn
richest deposit of anthracite coal yet prove,
in this country" In conjunction with thi
p, the HERALD opened a campaign for genera
improvement of the town by urging the busi
ness men and property owners to petition 70
increased railroad facilities with a view t
bringing trade to Shenandoah from WH
= Penn (then Griscom's), Lost Creek, Colorado
- Connors, Mahanoy Plane and other patches
At the same time the HERALD urged the pee
pie to turn their attention to providing NOR
school room. At that time there were seve
public schools and seven teachers with a tota
enrolment of 724. To-day we have 43 school
and total enrolment of nearly 5000.
Throughout its existence the HERALD ha
tried to do everything which it believe
would be for the best interests of the tow
and its people. When times were hard an
the collieries were idle eight months out of
year, with business of all kinds practically q
: a standstill, which was the case in 1871, tn
j paper stood its ground and persisted i
directing the attention of its readers to tn
= bright side of the dark cloud. Its policy ha
. always been to arouse the people to realizs
ton of the truth that upon their enterpris
energy and public spirit depended their ow
welfare and that of the town. When nj
laying bare the true wealth and possibilitiC
of the mineral posits in and about tn
town, it detailed the % lvantages Of additions
highway and rail way facilities; and in l7s}
was the first TO direct the attention of tn
people to the fact that savings funds woul
bui'a up the borough and it was not nece
d, sary for people to wait tor riches before builC
ing their own homes.
. But the HERALD was also very useful
another sphere. In the conspicuous part
took to wipe from existence the infamou
blot that organization known as the "Molli
Maguires" placed upon society in the cot
region Ct Pennsylvania it established itse
firmly in the hearts of all law.abiding an
sound-minded citizens Its enterprise in th'
connection was so well appreciated that
acquired for the time circulation exceedin
that of any paper published in Pennsylvani
on side of Philadelphia.
During the past ten years the HERALD ha
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