The Yellowstone journal., 1894-09-10
THE PIONEER PAPER.
STORY OF THE FIRST NEWSPAPER is
SUED IN CALIFORNIA.

An Old Phiiadelphian Was the handspring
Of Hts Early Life-Rigging Up a Plant
Under Great Dinicuities-A Member of
sss Original STAFF Honored In Monterey.
The only living member of the origi-
nai staff of the first newspaper ever
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
eesesting at So, but Pioneer" is still
hglght and clear in his memory and not
entirely without ambition. If you ask
hhn. he will tell you, with evident rel
-. about some highly interesting inter
views of his reportorial days.
The small beginnings of this first
newspaper in California are quite curl
ous 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-
untorial career, however. was brief and
stormy, and he never found time 10 col
lect his materials, much less print his
eeports. so the machine was consigned
to "a storeroom III the old cuartel, which
was the Mexican soldiers barracks in
Monterey There il lay, together with
. keg of ink, covered with rubbish and
undisturbed, until 1916.
ho -.
came alcalde, and with the character
istic American restlessneSs commenced
10 stir things up in the sic py old town.
The first thing that he diI was 70 com
aence an investigation o. all the gov
srnment property. Amo 2 this proper
u was the cuartel, and lere he found
the old press. Being a nan of literary
eastes and sonSe exper nee, he decided
% start a newspaper utilize his dis
Dvery. First, he Sc acted a partner,
Robert Semple, and en- began "a search
Cor the requisite mat rials. There We're
ink and press, but the ingenuity of the
pair was taxed 10 restore the rules and
heads, which had become separated from
the press and lost during its years of
idleness.
In Colton's diary there is descrip-
tion of the paper. Under the date of
Aug Is, 1916, he writes: To-day the
6rst newspaper ever published in Cali
6Drnia 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
6emple d Cotton.
Little did | think when I relin-
Suished the editorship of The North
American, in Philadelphia, that my
next feat in this line would be off here
6n California
My partner, Semple, is an emigrant
from Kentucky, who stands feet :
iBches in his stockings. He wears a
6uckskin 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
eut of chaos of a small concern which
Jose Figueroa intended to use in print
eng official reports.
1.-The press is old enough TO be pre-
served as a curiosity. The mice had
turrowed in the balls, there were no
rules nor leads, and the types We're
rusty and all in pi. 1t was only by
securing that the letters could be made
60 show their faces. With a jac hkuiie
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 scratch for paper None could be
found, except what Is used TO cnvelop
the tobacco used by the natives. A
coaster which was lying in the bay had
. small amount on hoard, which we pro-
cured. The sheets were q triilc 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 i'll Spanish to accom-
modate the Monterey public. Another
difficulty the original proprietors had to
overcome in setting ths-type for the
English portion of the paper was the
lack of the letter W." As the Snanish
type did not contain it. A "W''-was
constructed by using two VS." In
May, 1S47, the paper was moved to San
Francisco. where 1T was published for
many years under the name of The Alta
California
Since ending his newspaper career
"Pioneer" Swan has been a rancher in
. small way in Carmel valley. He has
many visitors, although his location Is
somewhat remote, and he is very deaf.
On his quarterly visits to Monterey he
il invariably the recipient of considera-
BILE attention, and his rusty Old hat,
with its staring inscription Of ''Pioneer,
iS43," makes him known to easterners
who, but for this, would see nothing in
him except healthy looking old man.
San Francisco Call.
Embarrassing.
There are rnnnN little ON lhlrra..ments