The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-07-18
THE FIRST PAPER
IN CALIFORNIA
History of the Californian,
Established at Monterey a
Month After the Ameri- :
can Occupation
From The Ne1r YORK. Sun

first newspaper, the Monterey Cali
fornian. 1t was dated December 10,
1916, was crudely printed. had four
Spanish and half in English
The paper owed it's start to Commo-
dore Stockton. who succeeded Commo-
dore Sloat in command of the Pacific
squadron after Sloat had hoisted the
United States flag at Monterey on July
I. 1916. Upon looking over the property
of the defunct Mexican government
there was discovered an old font of
long primer type and a Ramage press
which had been used since 1884 to do
the official printing of the Mexican gov
eminent In California
Commodore Stockton had appointed
as one of the alcaldes of Monterey the
Rev. Walter Cotton. chaplain of one of
the vessels of the squadron, and he sug
gested that Cotton should issue an
American newspaper. This suggestion
Cotton promptly adopted, and with DR.
Robert semple he began the publication
of the Monterey Californian on August
Is, 1916, a little more than a month
after the occupation of the country by
the American forces.
Doctor SempIe, afterward one of the
most prominent of California's citi-
zens, was a man of unusual personality.
He was a dentist by occupation, feet
s inches in height, and possessed of
tremendous strength. He came origi-
nally from Kentucky and was a mem
Der of Fremont's party when the Path
finder first went to Monterey to join
forces with Sloat. A young English
lieutenant on one of the vessels of
Admiral Seymours squadron recorded
his impressions of the Americans ac-
companying Fremont, and referred par
ticularly to Semple. saying: "One man,
doctor 6 feet high, was an odd look
ing fellow. May I never come under
his hands,
When Cotton and Semple began the
issue of the Californian they found one
important deficiency-the font of type
did not contain w. This deficiency
was supplied to a degree by the use
of two VS. wherever w occurred. The
editor apologized for the lack of VS.
in an editorial which read:
Our Alphabet-Our type is a Spanish
font picked up here in a cloister, and
has no WIS in 1t, as there is none in
the Spanish alphabet. I have sent to
the Sandwich islands for this letter;
in the meantime we must use two
VS.. Our paper at present is that used
for wrapping segars; our object Is TO
establish press in California, and
this we shall in all probability be able
to accomplish, The absence of my
partner for the last three months and
my duties as Alcalde here have deprived
our little paper of some of those at
tentions (which I hope it will here
after receive.
WALTER COTTON.
Cotton described the press as being
old enough to warrant Its preservation
as a curiosity. The type was dirty and
pied, and it was only by securing that
the letters could be made to show their
faces. There being neither rules nor
leads, some sheets of tin were cut up
iAlO pttCcS tHdI WOuiU dlSWCL LHc re-
quirements.
The only paper available was in
sheets little longer than ordinary
foolscap. This was the paper on which
most of the archives of California and
other Spanish American provinces were
written. the thicker quality being pre-
pared for writing purposes, while the
thinner grades were used for cigarette
paper. The Office of the Californian
was in an upper rooin of the Monterey
barracks. and the first number created
a sensation. a crowd waiting for the
first sheets to come from the press.
1t appears from reading the apollo
getic editorial that the font also lacked
capital SIS. 1t may seen odd, that the
Sandwich islands should be referred to
as the source of the necessary supply
Of VS.. but as matter of fact Honolulu
was the nearest supply center in those
days of the whole Pacific coast.
The needed supply of type had ap-
parentIy not reached the Californian
up to December 10. 1916, for in that
issue the same expedient of using two
WIS for a w was used.
In May. 1s47. the Californian was re-
moved from Monterey to San Francisco,
the last number to be issued at Mon
terey bearing the date May s. 1s47 On
June 1, 1S47. appeared the first number
of the second volume. which ran to
April, 1s4S.
The second newspaper published in
California, the Yerba Buena California
Star, appeared first on January 8, 1S47,
under the ownership of Samuel Bran
nan, native of Maine and a Mormon
elder. Brannan chartered a ship in
this city in ISIS. and on February
sailed with a party of Mormon converts
numbering about $40 for the purpose
of establishing a colony in California
at the time that the main body, of the
Mormons were leaving Nauvoo, ILL.,, for
their long trip to the heart of the west
ern wilderness. So many of Brannan's
party settled in Yerba Buena that for
a time it was known as a Mormon
town.