Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1894-08-27
qaE PIONEER PAPER.
.a.vof THE FIRST NEWSPAPER ls- titEo IN CALIFORNIA.

p,,iladelphian Was the Kidnapping
 ,t. Early Rigging Up Plant
 Great pimculties-A Member of
 .'ss ','.''', orisinal staff Honored Iii Monterey.
 olv living member of the origl-
 ' sfaff of the first newspaper ever n's in California resides about five P1al'.s 5,ss ffoin the city of Monterey, ln the ls'lss 1esl yalley. His name is Swan, and easl1a ,a calls him "Pioneer Swan. sss.5 .3. so nlease him and partly because pss',S 'sssrvos the title. Few men are III. .ss,;,,g s at 86, but Pioneer" IS still s'.l't 'Tssa' md clear in his memory and not gs1sAs TIL without ambition. If you ask eass's @ b, will tell you, with evident rel K '''s' about some highly interesting inter- .s' s. .rf his reportorial days.
 f1sas a''a small beginnings of this first
 asaner Apa in California arc quite curi- " M .,s Telated by Swan The original " ~ vas imported from Spain by Jose s;ssaroa, the sixth governor of Califor- .:s % nnder Maxican rule. Figueroa, 'as a's..se term of office expired ill 1885, sss.ted gs the press with the intention of s.;ns3no .A, his official reports. His guber- Fs,' ast1riaI career. however, was brief and 's's, 'ss,,,,F and he never fonnd time to col sss4 l,;s materials, much less print his sssosts. so the machine was consigned s,,s sa'..s, storeroom ill the old cuartel, which ,Fas fbo Mexican soldiers barracks ill s,anterev There it lay, together with { Eee of ink covered with rubbish and apaistnrbed, until 1916.
 Tins was the year when Colton be- ,.ame alcalde, and with the character ;sfie American restlessness commenced sal stir things up i'll the sleepy old town. srba first thing that he did was to com ,asnce an investigation of all the gov e,5,lsent property. Among this proper x w.ls the cuartcl, and here he found fbe old press Being man of literary 4astes and some experience, he decided ta.st;.rt a newspaper and utilize his dis sarerv. First, he selected a partner, pebert Semple, and then began a search g.r fbe requisite materials. There were Ink and press, but the ingenuity of the nair was taxed to restore the rules and leads, which had become separated from 8be press and lost during its years of idIeness
 a Colton's diary there is q descrip- t|en of the paper. Under the date of Aug 10, 184B, he writes: Today the fist newspaper ever published in Cali foFaia made it's appearance. The hon 0r. ii such it may be, of writing the prospectus falls to me. It is to be issued every Saturday and is published by senple &s Cotton.
 Little did I think when 1 relin- dnished the editorship of The North American, in Philadelphia, that my next feat in this line would be off here in California
 Ny partner, semple, is an emigrant from Kentucky, who stands 6 feet inches in his stockings. He wears a huekskin dress, a foxskin cap, is true with his rife, ready with his pen and quick at the type case.
 sHe created the materials of our office out of a chaos of a small concern whick Jose Figueroa intended to use in print ing official reports.
 The press is old enough to be pre- served as a curiosity The mice had bunowed in the balls, there were no rules nor leads, and the types were fusty and all in pi It was only by geonring that the letters could be made 10 shoy their faces. With 6 iackknife we cat 8 piece of tin into leads ama rules. Luckily we found with the press paft of a keg of ink, ana BOW came tSa main scratch for paper. None could be found, except what is used to envelop | tho tobacco used by the natives. A coaster which was lying in the bay had asmall amount on board, which we pro- cmed. The sheets were a trihe larger tan foolscap. A crowd was waiting when the first sheet was thrown from the press There was | good deal Of ex- eltement Never was a bank run upon harder not, however, by people with paper to get specie, but just the reverse. ; 
 he paper was first printed half i'll English and half in Spanish to accom- ulpdate the Monterey public. Another al'hcuIty the original proprietors had to overcome ill setting the type for the Angllsh portion of the paper was the iaek of the letter aW, ' as the Spanish tFpe did not contain it. A 'eW" was by using two s'V's. In aiay' lS4f, the paper was moved to San nfanelseo, where it was published for many years under the name of The Alta California.
 Since ending his newspaper career sfloneer" Swan has been rancher in asmall way in Carmel valley He has many visitors, although his location is < somewhat remote, and he is very deaf. Non N hls quarterly visits to Monterey he 2 T invariably the recipient of considera- ple attention, and his rusty old hat, Wlth se Its staring inscription of Pioneer, EFF, makes him known to customers NFho' but for this, would see nothing in nl@ except a healthy looking old man. San Francisco Call.
 Embarrassing.
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