Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1894-11-15
sTER. DAY COUNTY. SOUTH DAKOTA. NOVEMBER Is. 1894.
PIONEER PAPER,
STORY OF THE FIRST NEWSPAPER IS
SUED IN CALIFORNIA.

An tid Ihiladelphian Was the handspring
of Its Early Life-RigSing Up a Plant
Under Great DificuIties-A Member of
the Original STAFF Honored In Monterey.
The only living member of the origi-
nal 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 II 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 found time to col
lect his materials, much less print his
reports, so the machine was consigned
to a storeroom in the old Quartet, which
was the Mexican soldiers barracks in
Monterey. There it lay, together with
a keg of ink, covered with rubbish and
undisturbed, until 1916.
This vas 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 ONE experience, he decided
to start a newspaper and utilize his dis
covery. First, he selected a 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
leads, which had become separated from
the press and lost during its years of
idleness.
In Colton's diary there is a descrip-
ton of the paper. Under the date of
Aug. 10, 1916, he writes: To-day the
first newspaper eve 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 l think when 1 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 s
inches in his stockings. He wears a
buckskin dress, a 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 a chaos of a small concern which
Jose Figueroa intended to use in print
ing official reports.
1.-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 a keg of ink, and nov 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 OF board, which we pro-
cured. The sheets were a trifle larger
than foolscap. A crowd was waiting
when the first sheet was thrown from
| the press. There was n good deal OF OK
element. Never was a bank u 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, 1S47, 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 TO Monterey he
is invariably the recipient of considera-
bic attention, and his rusty old hat,
with its staring inscription of "Pioneer,
IS43, makes him known to fasteners
who, but for this, would see nothing in
him except a healthy looking old man.
SAN Francisco Call.