St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-08-13
CALiFORNIA'S FIRST NEWS
PAPER.
One of the Staff Still Living-The
Paper n Curiosity.

One of the Staff Still Liviug-The
Paper n Curiosity.
San Francisco Call.
The only living member of the orig
inal staff of the 6rst newspaper ever
printed in California resides about five
miles from the city OF Monterey, in the
Carmel valley. His name is Swan, ard
every one calls him pioneer" Swan,
partly to please him and partly because
he deserves the title. Few men are
interesting at eighty-siX, but pioneer"
is still bright and clear in his memory
aud not entirely without ambition. IT
you ask him. he will tell you with evl-
dent relish about some highly interest
ing interviews of his reportorial days.
The small beginnings of this first
newspaper in California are quite curl
Gus rs related by Swan. The original
press WAS imported from Spain by Jose
Figueroa. the sixth governor of Cali
fornia under Mexican rule. Figueroa,
whose term OF office expired in 1855,
Imported the press with the intention
OF printing his official reports. His
gubernaiOrial career. however, was
time to collect his materials, much less
print his reports; SO the machine was
consigned 10 StOrerOOm III the old
Quartet, which was the Mexican soldiers
barracks in Monterey. There it lay, to-
gether with keg of Ink. covered with
rubbish and undisturbed until 1916.
This was the year when Cotton be-
came aicalde, and. with the character
lStlc American reStleSSneSS, commenced
10 stir things up in The sleepy old town.
The first thing that he did was to COM
mence an Investigation OF all the gov
eminent property. Among this prop
erty was the curatel, and here he found
the old press. Beng man of literary
taste and some experience. he decided
to start a newspaper and utilize his dis
cOyery. First, he selected Il partner
Robert Sempie, and then began search
for tie requisite materials. There
were ink and press, but the ingenuity
OF the pair was taxed 10 restore the
rules and leads. which had become sep
arated from the press and lost during
its years of idlenesS.
In ColtOn's diary there is deScup-
tloa of the paper. Under the date of
Aug. Is, 1916. he writes: To-day the
first newspaper ever published in Cali
il such it may be, Of writing the pros
pectus falls 10 me. 1t is published by
Semple IL Cotton"
Little did l think when | relin-
pushed the editorShlp of the North
American in Philadelphia that my next
feat III The line would be off here in
California.
My partner. Semple, is an emigrant
from Kentucky WHO stands SIX feet
eight inches in his stockings. he
wears buckslin dress, foXskin cap
is true with his rife, ready with his pen
and quick at the type case"
Tie created the materials of our Of
ice Out 0f a chaos OF a small concern
which Jose Figueroa intended to use I'M
printing official reports.
The press is old enough to be pre-
served as a curiosity. The mice had
burrowed in the balls, there were no
rules nor leads. and the types were
rusty and all in pi. 1t was only by
securing that the letters could be
made to show their faces. With a
Jackknife we cut a piece of tin into
leads and rules. Luckily, we found
with the press part of keg
OF ink, and now came the main
found except what is used to envelop
the tobacco used by the natives. A
| coaster which was lying in the bay had
a small amount on board. which we
procured. The sheets were a trifle
larger than fOolscap. A crowd was
waiting when the first sheet Vas thrown
from the press. There was a good deal
| Of excitement. Never was a bank run
| upon harder-not, however, by people
with paper to get specie, but just the
reverse"
The paper at first was printed half in
| English and half in Spanish to accom-
mediate the Monterey public. Another
difficulty the original prOprietOrS had to
overcome in setting the type for the
| English portion of the paper was the
| lack of The letter wv" as the Spanish
type did not contain it. A w" was
| constructed by using two VS." In
| May, 1847, the paper was moved 10 San
| francisco, where il was published tor
many years under the name of the
ALTA Californian"
Since ending his newspaper career
! "Pioneer" Swan has been rancher in
small Way in the Carmel alley. He
has many visitors, although his location
is somewhat remote and he is very deaf
On his quarterly visits to Monterey he
is invariably the recipient of consider
able attention, and his rusty old hat.
with its staring inscription of Pioneer,
1643," makes him Known 10 Easlernere.
who, but for this, would see nothing in
him but healthy looking old man.
|