Thurber Through the Eyes of the Paper

 By Mary Adams

From The Texas Miner, Portal To Texas History

              The newness of the town and the paper combine to give this edition a very positive and encouraging tone. On the front page the paper carried stories from other areas, such as labor unrest in Ohio, unemployment numbers and a grim outlook for winter out of Pittsburg, financial uncertainty of coal mining in France, and a harsh commentary on the idea of Tariff reform. Though over half the page was taken up with these political and world news issues, the remainder was a bit more social and mostly positive. They share the news of the death of Peter Haulenbeck, “kind-hearted, whole-souled, friend to the masses” who died in New York at the age of 65. It also talks about, a World Boxing Championship held in Florida where an American defeated the English title holder, the success of a benefit ball that had been held locally, the visit of one of “Stephenville’s popular young ladies”, and the injury of a miner who worked at Shaft #5. The remainder of the paper carries on in a similar mixture of personal notes of interest, political views, and advertisements for the local stores. However, there was one article on page 2 that caught my attention, and I feel highlights the youth of the town and use of the paper to promote Thurber by glorifying life in the town.

In the age of computers, cell phones, and social media most people have almost instant access to the everyday happenings of friends or family as well as history making news from around the world. This was not the case in the days of Thurber. People worldwide relied on the local newspapers for their news and information.  Thurber, Texas had several different newspapers over the years some of which were The Texas Miner, Texas Mining and Trade Journal, The Thurber Journal, and later The Thurber Tiny Journal. Over the next 12 months we are going to look at some of the newspapers from Thurber, Texas. We will start today with the Volume 1, No. 2 edition of The Texas Miner dated January 27, 1894.

From The Texas Miner Courtesy of The Portal to Texas History 

This is the earliest edition of the Thurber papers that I have been able to locate, and is possibly the first paper published in Thurber. Therefore, the paper is very early in the existence of the The Texas Miner. It is also early in the existence of the town. Though there had been mines in the area of Thurber since 1886, it was not until 1889 that R. D. Hunter acquired them and started the Texas Pacific Coal Company and began building Thurber.

From The Texas Miner Courtesy of The Portal to Texas History

The article titled “Our Town” starts with a question, “Where the deuce is Thurber?”, that was said to have been overheard on a railway train. The remainder of the article extolls the virtues of Thurber, starting with the statement that “there are hacks to meet every train to convey the passengers to this town.”  The article goes on to discuss the “pile of goods” to be had at the stores and that it was a cash only town, no credit, which meant prices were lower. By mentioning that “every farmer in the county can come to Thurber and sell cattle, hogs, sheep, chickens, or any products on his farm, and get the ‘cold cash’ for them” and then goes on to say he can buy anything from “a needle to an anchor” for “25 to 33 1-3 cheaper” than anywhere else. The author continues to exclaim all the things that make Thurber a desirable place to visit or live with comments about the stores and the clerks that work there, and the men that gather in town, going so far as to claim “a more intelligent looking set of men it would be difficult to find in any town of Thurber’s size in the state.” According to the author the clerks of the store are of the highest quality and the women “are particularly noticeable -- fine looking, as a rule, and neatly, and modestly dressed.

One might ask why this author would go to such extremes to glorify the town and paint such a positive portrait of life in there. Key to understanding this is to know the town was company owned, and thus the company also owned the paper. R. D. Hunter purchased the Johnson mines in 1889 and at the time of purchase he reported that the town that had grown up around them was little more than a shanty town and rough by nature. He set out to construct a town that people would want to come live and work in. He realized that a stable work force was one of the keys to success so he wanted them to be able to bring their families to live there. He built schools, churches, made sure the stores were well appointed and even built an Opera House. This paper began production just 5 years after the change in ownership and Hunter was still growing the town. Therefore, it makes sense that he would use the paper to spread the propaganda to promote his town.

 You can view this edition of The Texas Miner here.