Los Angeles herald., 1891-05-29
FRIDAY, MAY go, 1891.
A NOTABLE NEWSPAPER ON THE POINT
OF DEATH.

The Alta California will suspend pub
lication as soon as it has carried out GER
tain advertising contracts that will ex-
pire early in June. The history of the
Alta is one of exceeding interest. In
1916 small weekly paper called the
Californian was started at Monterey.
1t was transferred to San Francisco in
1847, and in 1S48 it was consolidated
with another small paper called the Cal
ifornia Star, and in January, 1S49, the
Alta California emerged into newspaper
life out of this consolidation.
The Alta was soon enlarged, and
became daily paper. Edward Gilbert
and Edward Kemble were its editors,
and with John A. Durivage, they made
it newspaper of great power and in
fiuence. Gilbert was killed in duel by
General ]. w. Denver in 1858, and from
that time until 1856 it met with COM
petition which left it behind in the race
for business. Its fortunes were alta very
low ebb when the vigilance committee
formed in the latter year consequent upon
the shooting of James King of William
by James P. Casey. The Herald was the
leading paper, but curious incident
again placed the Alta on its feet and at
the head of the morning press of San
Francisco. 1t had fallen into the pos
session of joint-stock company COM
posed of printers. The city was in the
throes of a great uprising. The busi-
ness men had with very few exceptions
Joined the committee. Many of them
were friends of the Herald, and begged
its owner, John Nugent, to throw the
weight of his journal in favor of the
popular organization. He sternly re-
fused.
The printer proprietors of the Alta
were equally divided on the question.
Two editorials had been written, one
favoring the committee, the other de-
nouncing it. 1t was O'Clock in the
morning, and a decision must be reached
at once. 1t was proposed to decide
which leader should go in by "jeffing'
for it.. The squads" were thrown and
the article favoring the committee was
successful. Next morning the Herald
came out savagely against the committee,
with the result that nearly every adver-
tisement it had carried the day before
was taken out and transferred to the
Alta.
From that time on, up to
the death of Fred. A. MacCrellish,
who, with his brother-in-law, succeeded
the printers in the ownership of the
paper, the Alta was a thriving and in
fuential newspaper. But since his
death it has been gradually losing
ground, and has been anything but
paying institution.
A newspaper existence of 45 years
would be respectable lifetime for
journal anywhere. But to have
passed all those years in California
is to cover a period of the most
remarkable historical interest the
world has ever seen. The Alta was read
by the few Americans who had reached
the coast before the discovery of gold.
1t was the chronicler of that wonderful
discovery, and its files are continuous
record of all the subsequent develop
ments of the argonautic period. 1t wit
messed and noted all the changes that
have come over the state since that time,
and has lived long enough to see Califor-
mia the foremost state in the union for
it's various and manifold productions.
1t has seen San Francisco changed from
city of tents to city of palaces, and
its population grow from few hundred
souls to three hundred thousand.