Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-09-27
TGE PIONEER PAPER.
sf9sY Of The FIRST NEWSPAPER IS
SUED IN CALIFORNIA

An old Phiiadeiphian was thc aIainsprinr
Of Its Early Life-RigEing Up a Plant
Under Great DImeuitIes-A Member o,
the Original stan Honore.i In Monterey.
The only living member Of tho origi.
nal staff of the first Newspaper even
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 S6, but Pioneer is still
bright and clear in his memory and not
entirely without ambition. If you ask
him, he viii tell you, with evident rel
ish, about some highly interesting inter
views Of bis reportorial days.
The small beginnings of this first
newspaper in California arc quite Curl
GUS as relGted 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 10 col
lect his materials, much less print his
reports, so tho machine was consigned
to a storeroom in the old Quartet, which
was the Mexican soldiers barracks in
Monterey. There it lay, together with
keg of ink. covered with rubbish and
undisturbed, until lS46.
This was the year when Cotton be.
came alcalde, and with the character.
istic American Festlessness commenced
to stir things up in the sleepy old town.
The first thing that ho did was to com.
mence an investigation of all the gov
ernment property. Among this proper
ty was the cuartcl, 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 O partner,
Robert Semple, and then began a search
for the requisite materials. There were
ink and press, but the ingenuity of the
pair was taxed to restore the rules and
MulCh lldu OCOOlnO cCHdEabCu
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 Is, 1846, he writes; "Today the
first newspaper ever published i'll Cali
fornia made its appearances. Tho bon,
or, if such it may be, of writing the
prospectus falls to me. 1t is to be issued
every Saturday and is publishes by
Semple & Cotton.
Little did 1 think when l relin-
quished the editorship of The North
American, in Philadelphia, that my
next feat in this line would Le off here
in California
my partner, Semple, is an cmigrant
from Kentucky, who stands Q feet 8
inches in his stockings. He wears q
buckskin dress, foxskin cap. is true
with his rife, ready with his pen and
quick at the type case.
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 a jackknife
we cut a piece of tin into leads and
rules Luckily we found with the press
part of a keg of ink, and now came the
main scratch for paper. None could be
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 hoard, which we pro-
cured. The sheets were a trifie larger
than foolscap. A crowd was waiting
when the first sheet was thrown from
the press. There was a 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 wv, as the Spanish
type did not contain it. A ''W.' was
constructed by using two 'V's." In
May, lS47. 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 a rancher in
a small way in Carmel valley. He has
many visitors. although his location is
somewhat remote, and he is very deaf.
On his quarterly visits 10 Monterey he
Is invariably the recipient of oonsidera-
BILE attention, and his rusty old hat.
with It's staring inscription Of Pioneer,
1s48. makes him known to easterners
who, but for this, would see nothing in
him except healthy looking old man.
San Francisco Call.