This is the last edition of Silver Creek Herald as the news coverage will become part of The Tribune, a regional newspaper that will include not only the local news of Snowflake and Taylor but also county news and the news of Holbrook and Winslow. The publication will also be included in website, www.tribunenewsnow.com.
The Silver Creek Herald had its start over a hundred years ago when it was first published on July 27, 1913. It was then called the Snowflake Herald with R.C. Smith as the publisher, and H.B. Thompson as the editor and manager. In the first edition they stated their purpose for starting the paper by saying, “The Herald was not conceived alone with the object in view of filling a long felt want, but rather with the idea of up-building Snowflake and Navajo County and publishing the unlimited and little known resources and opportunities of this section of Arizona.”
In 1920, Smith died, so his wife Sarah T. Smith and their son Rick ran the back shop. He set the type and ran the press. Mrs. Smith was publisher for 21 years until the Feb. 9, 1934, edition, at which time the publisher was listed as Herald Publishing Co. There are no stories in the paper suggesting who the new owners were. It would appear that the Giragi brothers purchased the paper along with the Holbrook Tribune.
According to the Snowflake Historical Society’s book, Centennial Memories, the Herald moved its offices to Holbrook in December of 1941, and in June of 1942, the Snowflake Herald ceased publication.
On May 25, 1945, V.P. and Ethel Richards, with the help of the First National Bank of Holbrook, purchased the Holbrook Tribune-News, The Winslow Mail and, it would appear, the rights to publish the Snowflake Herald, from the Giragi brothers.
Two years later, his brother, J. Morris, joined them and became editor of The Winslow Mail. In September of 1963, when the brothers resurrected the Snowflake Herald, V.P. and J. Morris shared the work of publishing the Herald.
V.P. Richards shared his first experience with the newspaper business in an article during the 10-year anniversary of his purchase of the paper. While living in Joseph City, Richards and his parents headed to Snowflake for the dedication of the Snowflake Stake Academy, and to listen to President Joseph F. Smith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints speak. While there he went to visit his Uncle Franz Westover, who worked in the Herald’s backshop.
Richards wrote, “I saw Albert Smith ‘kicking’ a jobber printing these programs and I was fascinated. The manager of the plant was John Tinker, one of the old-school and to see that I was properly entertained and occupied, he perched me on a high stool, handed me a ‘stick’ and showed me how to hand-set type. I managed one paragraph or so during the afternoon.” Richards went on to say, “The bug had bitten, although I didn’t realize it at the time.”
Within a year and a half of starting the Snowflake Herald and another paper called the White Mountain Pioneer, the Richards sold all four publications to Four Corners Development Co.
J.M. Richards, who was a stockholder in the new company and had been editor of The Winslow Mail for 18 years, became editor of the Snowflake Herald and the White Mountain Pioneer. A few months later, the Pioneer ceased publication.
Almost three years to the day of the papers’ purchase, the Four Corners Development Company sold the Holbrook Tribune-News, The Winslow Mail and the Snowflake Herald to Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Wright. Wright was the publisher from Feb. 1, 1968, until Aug. 21, 1969, when Paul and June Barger of Carpinteria, Calif., purchased the newspapers in 1969. Paul and June ran the papers together until June passed in 1994. Paul continued to publish the paper until his passing in 2013, when his son Matthew took over and continues to publish both the Silver Creek Herald and The Tribune News.
But times have changed in newspaper publishing. What once required hot lead typesetting and long hours of film processing, sorting through negatives and pencil corrections on copy is now easily dealt with on a computer. What has never changed is the importance of the news that is part of the communities served by the Silver Creek Herald and now The Tribune.
The Barger family will continue a long tradition of serving and informing the communities of Snowflake and Taylor regarding those things that are important to them. As always, the Barger family is grateful to the residents of these towns for their continued support.
To subscribe to The Tribune call (928) 524-6203 or email Debbie Barger at debbie@yourtrib.com.
