The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1893-05-30
THE DAILY PAPER.



and with pardonable pride it can say that it
has been instrumental Of helping TO make the
largest town in Schuyl1ill county out Of a
mere mining hamlet. The first copy Of the
HERALD was published on May 2Sth, 1870,
with T. j. Foster, now proprietor and editor
Of the Colliery Engineer at Scranton and II.
c. 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 we 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 no locality
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 $500, about the size of the
Frackville of to-day. The slow-thnkers
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 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 jubiant 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
impressing upon the minds of the people that
the place was destined to become large
substantial and money making and many
have frequently said that had it not been foI
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 HERALI
was meeting with success and its prediction
about the town and region were being fully
verified But croakers will kick and thes'
drones changed their line of argument to
prediction that the town would live but
short time; that the mineral deposits woul
soon be exhausted by the rapid development
then in progress as shown by the statistics.
, But the HERALD took a stand directly t
the contrary and said editorially in February
1871, 1--WE may safely predict a future of bus
mess prosperity, wealth and improvement 70
our valley and borough such as has never be
fore been equalled in the history of Schuylki
county" And in addition to this the pape
said, "Our borough is destined to be one of tn
most important towns in schuylkill county
We make this statement with thorough III
derstanding of what we write and becaus
u our belief in its truth is founded upon fact
' that nothing can gainsAy. 1t is located in th
richest deposit of anthracite coal yet prove
, in this country" In conjunction with tn
, y, the HERALD opened a campaign for generi
improvement of the town by urging the bus
ness men and property owners to petition fC
10 increased railroad facilities with a view
i bringing trade to Shenandoah from Wn
= Penn then Griscom'sl, Lost Creek, Colorad
u Connors, Mahanoy Plane and other patche
% At the same time the HERALD urged the pc
g pie to turn their attention to providing mo-
. school room. At that time there were seve
i public schools and seven teachers, with tot
enrolment of 724. To-day we have 43 schoo
and a total enrolment of nearly 5000.
Throughout its existence the HERALD h
tried to do everything which it believe
would be for the best interests of the tow
and its people. When times were hard al
i the collieries were idle eight months out of
year, with business of all kinds practically
: a standstill, which was the case in 1871, Il
Il paper stood its ground and persisted
directing the attention of its readers to Il
+ bright side of the dark cloud. Its policy h
: always been to arouse the people to a realiz
ton of the truth that upon their enterpris
e energy and public spirit depended their ov
IS welfare and that of the town. When n
laying bare the true wealth and possibiliti
n of the mineral deposits in and about Il
II town, it detailed the 20 lvantages Of addition
highway and railway facilities; and in 1852
was the first to direct the attention of Il
people TO the fact that savings funds wOu
build up the borough and it was not necC
sary for people to wait for riches before bull
ing their own homes
But the HERALD was also very useful
another sphere. In the conspicuous part
Z took to wipe from existence the infamo
8 blot that organization known as the "Moll
Maguires" placed upon society in the &C
region Of Pennsylvania it established its
firmly in the hearts of all aw.abiding al
g sound-ninded citizens. It's enterprise in tn
connection was so well appreciated that
acquired for the time a circulation exceedil
that of any paper published in Pennsylvan
on side Of Philadelphia.
During the past ten years the HERALD h