The Evening dispatch. [volume] (Provo, City, Utah) 1891-1895, 1894-11-14
THE PIONEER PAPER.
STORY OF THE FIRST NEWSPAPER tS
SUED IN CALIFORNIA.

An Old Philadelphia Was the Mainsprfns
of Its Early Life-Riggins Up Plan,
Under Great DificuIties-A Member o,
the Original Staff Honored In Monterey,
The only living member of the origi,
nal staff of the first newspaper eve,
printed in California resides about five
miles from the city of Monterey, in the
Carmel valley. His name is Swan, and
every one calls him pioneer" Swan.
partly to please him and partly because
he deserves the title. Few men are in.
teresting at So, but Pioneer" is still
bright and clear in his memory and not
entirely without ambition If you ask
him, he will tell you, with evident rel.
ish, about some highly interesting inter
views of his reportorial days.
The small beginnings of this first
newspaper in California are quite curl.
GUS as related by Swan. The original
press was imported from Spain by Jose
Figueroa, the sixth governor of Califor
MIA under Maxican rule. Figueroa.
whose term of Office expired in 1885,
imported the press with the intention OF
printing his official reports. His guber-
material career, however, was brief and
stormy, and he never found time to col
lect his materials, much less print his
reports, so the machine was consigned
to storeroom in the old Quartet, which
was the Mexican soldiers barracks in
Monterey. There it lay, together with
d key of ink, covered with rubbish and
undisturbed, until 1S46.
This was the year when Cotton be-
came alcalde, and with the character
istic American restlessness commenced
to 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 proper.
ty was the Quartet, and here he found
the old press. Being a man of literary
tastes and some experience, he decided
to start a newspaper and utilize his dis
covery. First, he selected partner,
Robert Semple, and then began search
for the requisite materials. There were
ink and press, but the ingenuity of the
pair was taxed to restore the rules and
leads, which had become separated from
the press and lost during its years Of
idleness.
In Colton's diary there is descrip.
ton of the paper. Under the date of
Aug. 10, 1916, he writes: '"Today the
first newspaper ever published in Cali
fornia made its appearance. The hon,
Or, if such it may be, of writing the
prospectus falls to me. 1t is to be issued
every Saturday and is published by
Semple & Cotton.
Little did 1 think when I relin.
Quished the editorship of The North
American, in Philadelphia, that my
next feat in this line would be off here
in California.
''My partner, Semple, is an emigrant
from Kentucky, who stands 6 feet
inches in his stockings. He wears
buckslzin dress, a foxskin cap, is true
with his rife, ready with his pen and
quick at the type case.
t'He created the materials of our office
out of chaos of a small concern which
Jose Figueroa intended to use in print
ing official reports.
''The press is old enough to be pre-
served as 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 jackknifs
we cut a piece Of tin into leads and
rules. Luckily we found with the press
part of key of ink, and now came the
main scratch for paper. None could be
found, except what is used to enyelop
the tobacco used by the natives. A
coaster which was lying in tie bay had
small amount on board, which we pro-
cured, The sheets were a trife larger
than foolscap. A crowd was waiting
when the first sheet was thrown from
the press. There was good deal of ex-
citement. Never was bank run upon
harder, not, however, by people with
paper to get specie, but just the reverse.
The paper was first printed half in
English and half in Spanish to accom-.
modate 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 "W," as the Spanish
type did not contain it. A ''W" was
constructed by using two "V's." In
May, 1847, the paper was moved to San
Francisco, where it was published for
many years under the name of The Alta
California.
Since ending his newspaper career
Pioneer" Swan has been rancher in
u small way in Carmel valley. He has
many visitors, although his location is
somewhat remote, and be is very deaf.
On his quarterly visits to Monterey he
is invariably the recipient of considera-
BILE attention, and his rusty old hat.
with its staring inscription of "Pioneer.
1843," makes him known to fasteners
who, but for this, would see nothing in
him except healthy looking old man
San Francisco Call