USA > California > A history of the new California, its resources and people; Vol I > Part 13
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Following the early years of the great Civil war California's progress became one of the great commercial facts of the age. The building of the transcontinental road that scaled the high Sierras and was the engineering feat of the age assured the future of the Golden State. That marvelous moument of human industry and foresight united the far-away west with the civilization of the world. Its influence on the Pacific coast cannot be cal- culated for the results have not yet borne their complete harvest. The story of the railroad is told elsewhere in this volume in an eloquent chapter con- tributed by one of the most charming writers on the coast.
It should be said that there was a second gold excitement in California following the building of the transcontinental railroad.
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In 1875, during Pacheco's administration, reports of fabulous wealth in the Consolidated Virginia mine, on the Comstock lode, produced a frenzy of speculation that made California famous again, led to quick and vast fortunes, followed often by pauperism and distress. The speculations of 1875 and 1876 were even more intense than those of previous years. The new bonanza was expected to yield $1,500,000,000 to $2,000,000,000 a year, and popular excitement ran so high that credence would have been given to far more fabulous figures.
A writer who knew much of the distress as well as much of the success of the times-Mr. Horace Hudson-thus describes the situation :
"The chief organizers of the Consolidated Virginia were Flood, O'Brien, Mackay and Fair, and their manipulations raised the speculative mania to a point where it became uncontrollable. Crimes were committed to obtain the money necessary for gambling in shares, and a fresh chapter was added to the record of brutality which has so often constituted the story of min- ing. General ruin followed the inevitable crash. The stocks fell like lead, and only the manipulators escaped and those few who had been sufficiently astute to foresee the end. The fiasco was not, however, without its re- deeming features, nor entirely calamitous to California. Capital and energy were attracted in no small measure, of which San Francisco was ultimately to feel the benefit, both in its financial and in its commercial life."
An account of the times would be incomplete without some mention of the social discontent that culminated in the labor movement of 1877, when the dissatisfaction of the laboring classes, led by Dennis Kearney, culminated in the so-called Sand Lot riots. In July, 1877, William T. Coleman, leader of the famous second Vigilance Committee was once more called to the lead- ership of the friends of good order. On the 25th of the month there was a sharp conflict between the rioters and the citizens. In an attempt to pre- vent the destruction of property a number of men were killed and wounded. The turbulent element was driven off and the Committee of Safety retired from its labors. The weapons used by the members of the committee were borrowed from the government, an incident that shows the confidence that existed in the character of the opponents of the rioters.
Dennis Kearney, a working man of brains, force, and native eloquence became the leader of the dissatisfied. He had been in the state ever since
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1868 and he became the orator of the Workingman's party, which became known as the Sand Lot party, however, and was seldom called by its real name.
Kearney was fierce in the denunciation of existing conditions. His campaign was, in truth, a forerunner of such socialist movements as now characterize many industrial centers. At a meeting on September 21, 1877, he declared that every workingman should bear a musket and use it in the assertion of his rights. Kearney is still living, having been up and down in finances since those years. He does not interfere actively in poli- tics, and the years have made him conservative. He has little faith in the stability of workingmen's views.
Despite these troubles and some earlier ones, the prosperity of San Fran- cisco and the state were for the most part uninterrupted after the comple- tion of the great railroad connecting the two oceans. Barring a slight real estate panic and a set back here and there progress was the order of the age. By glancing at the following from the San Francisco Chronicle's his- tory one will see how matters fared with the wonderful state in early days :
"Governor Low's message to the legislature of 1867-68 shows the financial condition of the state to be highly favorable. While the total debt was over $5,000,000, there was every prospect that it would be wiped off within ten years. The governor signalized his speech by a courageous recommendation that Mongolian and Indian testimony be received in courts of justice, and that juries be allowed to exercise their own discretion in esti- mating its value. He congratulated the people of California on the marked advance in the moral and intellectual life of the state, which had so strik- ingly accommpanied its commercial and agricultural progress. Steam com- munication was now established with Hawaii, as well as with China and Ja- pan, and California had become an important link in the traffic chain of the world.
"The real estate market, which had been becoming more and more ex- cited with the approach of the railway, showed symptoms of delirium in 1868. The sales in San Francisco increased to $27,000,000, and speculation became irresponsible and unrestrained. The railway would certainly be fin- ished before 1870, and the impetus to immigration was so strong that the gain to the state within the year was no less than 35.000. The railway was
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already completed between Vallejo and Sacramento, from Adelaide to Sus- col, and from Sacramento to Marysville, and this rapid work and the pros- pect of many further extensions added materially to the real estate boom.
"Agriculture was now becoming an ever more vital factor in the prog- ress of the state. A succession of abundant rains had not only produced phenomenal crops upon the lands already under cultivation, but the area of tillage had enormously increased, as the permanent wealth of the land be- came continually better understood. The arid lands in the San Joaquin val- ley, which had hitherto been accounted nearly worthless, were now found to be extraordinarily prolific, and ground which had hitherto failed to find a pur- chaser at $1.25 per acre could now hardly be bought at $20 per acre. With- in two years Stanislaus county had risen from the position of the seventeenth to that of the first wheat-producing county in the state, with a harvest of 2,- 300,000 bushels.
"Governor Haight's message of December, 1868, once more reflects the general prosperity of the state. Crops were abundant and labor was well paid. Means of communication were. increasing, and commerce and man- ufactures were healthy. The geological survey was going on apace, and charitable and educational institutions were doing well their appointed work. With regard to immigration, the governor believed that the state should set astde an appropriation for the purpose of making known what California had to offer to farmers, mechanics and laborers in order that her resources might no longer remain undeveloped for lack of human brains and human hands. In a subsequent message we find the governor referring in laudatory terms to the efforts of the California Immigrant Union to promote immigration to the state, efforts which were undertaken in a spirit of patriotism and without other reward than the sense of accomplished duty. The work thus begun has been continued with constant, unselfish and patriotic devotion, not only by those who have specially devoted themselves to so laudable a labor, but also by every resident of the state who realizes and endeavors to make known the prodigal bounty with which nature has surrounded him."
Today social order is well established throughout California, her in- dustries are going forward on a large scale, and the fruits of the early strug- gles of the sturdy pioneers are within reach of the present generation. The fulness of the harvest, however, lies far beyond the grasp of persons now living and is to be the reward of posterity.
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CHAPTER X. GROWTH OF NEWSPAPERS.
FROM EARLY TIMES CALIFORNIA HAS BEEN A GREAT COUNTRY FOR NEWS- PAPERS AND PERIODICAL LITERATURE OF ALL VARIETIES-GREAT BOLD- NESS OF EARLY EDITORS, WHO TOOK LARGE RISKS AND MADE GOOD PROFITS BY DOING SO-PRINTED MATTER THAT COST A SMALL FOR- TUNE EACH ISSUE IN THE DAYS WHEN PAPER WAS WORTH FABULOUS PRICES-EXTRAORDINARY FERTILITY OF THE JOURNALISTIC FIELD IN EARLY SACRAMENTO-MODERN PAPERS AND THEIR METHODS, WITH A SKETCH OF SOME OF THE LEADING JOURNALS OF NORTHERN CALIFOR- NIA.
Though at the extreme western rim of the American continent, and though often supposed to be far beyond the influences of high culture, es- pecially in pioneer times, California has a brilliant record in journalism and literature, as intimated by President Jordan, of Stanford University, in his chapter of the present volume.
The land that produced Joaquin Miller, Bret Harte, Mark Twain, Henry George, Arthur McEwen, and like men of the pen need not be ashamed of its record. Even in pioneer days San Francisco and Monterey, the centers of population, had a powerful press. The isolation of the country and the absence of world news inevitably led to a high order of writing. Mediocres would have run to village gossip, but the men at the helm in those times were men of talents, so they wrote a high class of editorials, a good type of stories, and a rich class of humor.
By the year 1876 San Francisco had eighty well known publication, and in modern times the output runs far into the hundreds, and the range covers every variety of journal imaginable, some being published in Chinese. San Francisco has ever been an inviting field for publishers, but, like every other large city, it has a good-sized newspaper graveyard.
The first paper published in the territory was the Californian, at the historic town of Monterey. Volume I, number I, bore date August 15, 1846.
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Walter Colton and Robert Semple were its proprietors. The paper was printed from long primer type and the press work was done on an old Ramage press that had seen service in the Mexican war, having been used by the Mexican governors in the printing of their edicts.
Second in the list of papers comes the California Star, a weekly, which was established in San Francisco by S. Brannan, on January 9, 1847, and E. P. Jones was its editor. On April 17, 1847, E. C. Kemble, later of the Alta, succeeded Jones and was for a long period the senior editor in the state.
In May, 1847, the Californian removed from Monterey to San Francisco and became a competitor of the Stor. When the gold era dawned journalism suffered a severe blow. The fever for gold raged so high by the spring of 1848 that all the printers deserted for the mines. Both the Star and the Californian were compelled to suspend publication, so that from May 26, 1848, until the latter part of June there was not a newspaper in California.
By August, 1848, the Californian resumed its career, this time under the management of H. I. Sheldon. In September of the same year E. C. Kemble bought both the Star and the Californian and consolidated them under the name Star and Calfornian. It might be said here that such consolidations were very common in California from that date on to the end of pioneer times. It is noticeable, even to-day, that the state has many such consolidated publications.
The Star and Californian went out of existence in December, 1848, and on January 1, 1849, Kemble, Hubbard and Gilbert established the Alta Californian, which was published for more than a generation. From January 4, 1850, until its suspension it was a daily.
On April 28, 1849, E. C. Kemble, who had gone to New Helvetia, issued the first copy of the Placer Times. More concerning this will appear under the heading of Sacramento journalism, for New Helvetia became Sacramento.
On August 25, 1849, Falkner & Leland established the Pacific News in San Francisco, though paper was then worth $60 a ream. Their publica- tion was issued on many sizes and colors of paper-white, butchers' brown, tea wrappers, or on whatever could be obtained. It was a tri-weekly.
On January 18, 1850, the Journal of Commerce was established by W. Bartlett. It is still issued, being one of the oldest papers in the west.
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The Stockton Times was established on March 16, 1850.
In June, 1850, Toy, Nugent & Company founded the San Francisco Herald.
July 1, 1850, Crane & Rice launched the California Courier.
August 3, 1850, the Evening Picayune was established in San Francisco. It did not last long.
On August 6, 1850, the first copy of the Marysville Herald was issued, thus giving Yuba county a record running back almost to the beginning.
On September 1, 1850, the California Illustrated Newes appeared.
Under a summarized statement the careers of a number of early papers may be thus exhibited :
The Weekly Californian, Monterey, August, 1846.
The Weekly Star, San Francisco, January 9, 1847.
Alta California, weekly, January 1, 1849.
Alta California, daily, January 4, 1850.
Placer Times, Sacramento, April 28, 1849.
Pacific News, San Francisco, daily, August 25, 1849.
Journal of Commerce, weekly, San Francisco, January 23, 1850.
Stockton Times, weekly, March 26, 1850.
Sacramento Transcript, daily, April 1, 1850.
Stockton Journal, semi-weekly, June 19, 1850.
California Courier, daily, San Francisco, July 1, 1850.
Sonoma Weekly Herald, Sonoma, July 4, 1850.
San Francisco Evening Picayune, August 3, 1850.
Marysville Herald, weekly, August 6, 1850.
Illustrated California Newes, semi-monthly, September 1, 1850. Gazette-Republicainc, tri-weekly, San Francisco, September, 1850.
Late in 1855 James King, of William, and C. O. Gerberding, established the San Francisco Bulletin, which is still in existence. (A graphic account of the killing of James King, of William, and of the part the Bulletin played during Vigilance Committee days, appears in the chapters devoted to the Vigilance Committees. )
George K. Fitch and Loring Pickering secured the Bulletin in 1850, and under their mangement it became famous. Men like Nesbit, Bartlett, Barnes, Tuthill and Avery added luster to its columns in the day of its power and glory.
The San Francisco Call was first issued on the morning of December
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1, 1856, under the management, as announced, of "Associated Practical Printers." It grew in size and favor from the outset, and by 1869 Messrs. Pickering & Fitch had bought it. Under their management it soon became a power and was for many years supreme under their direction.
On October 7, 1863, the Democratic Press was established in San Francisco, and by June 12, 1865, it became the Evening Examiner, with Will- iam S. Moss as publisher and B. F. Washington as editor. For several years William S. Moss, Phil Roach and George Pen Johnston were its owners. Until secured by United States Senator George Hearst, in the eighties, it was a highly chaste and non-sensational journal. After Senator Hearst's death the paper went to his son, W. R. Hearst, and under his control it has been conspicuous for its aggressive sensationalism.
On December 4, 1871, the San Francisco Evening Post was introduced to the public under the proprietorship of Messrs. Hinton, Rapp & Co., with Henry George as editor. Mr. George afterward became famous as the au- thor of "Progress and Poverty." and apostle of the single-tax school of politi- cal economists. S. Seabough, a brilliant editor, L. E. Crane, and J. T. Goodwin, who introduced Mark Twain into journalism, were famous writers for the Post during its early history.
The Daily Report was established in 1863, and was issued with success by Bunker and Heister for many years. It suspended in 1901.
The history of the San Francisco Call and of the San Francisco Chron- icle appear in independent sketches, furnished by their present proprietors.
The following facts are taken almost wholly, though not in his language, from an excellent article by Mr. Joseph A. Woodson, for many years the brilliant editor of the Sacramento Record-Union :
On the 28th of April, 1849, at Sutter's Fort, the first Sacramento paper was issued. E. C. Kemble and Company were its founders, and from the seed they planted, sprang all the journals which have been started in the Sacramento Valley since that date. Their paper was the Placer Times, which was an offshoot of the Alta Californian of San Francisco, and its success en- couraged those who conceived the idea of a paper at the Fort. The merchants of the vicinity guaranteed the owners against loss. An assortment of old type was picked up from the Alta office, an old Ramage press was repaired, Span- ish foolscap was secured and the entire outfit was shipped to Sacramento by
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water. An office was built near what is now 28th and K streets. It was a mixture of adobe, wood and cotton cloth, but it answered the purpose. The paper was 13x18 inches and the title was cut from wood with a pocket knife. Everything about the office was pioneer-like and the crudest imaginable.
The Times appeared on Saturdays until chills and fever drove the editor to San Francisco, after which Per Lee conducted the paper for two weeks, but, being a tyro, he abandoned it and H. Giles took charge for the owners of the Alta. In July the office was moved to Front street, where it flourished for a time, though the editor growled about the ingratitude of people who had promised to give him a lot. .
Subscriptions were ten dollars a year. In November, 1849, after a brief period of reduction in size, the paper resumed its old shape and was removed to Second street between K and L streets. On April 22, 1850, it began to ap- pear as a tri-weekly and J. E. Lawrence became its editor. In July, 1850, it was enlarged one-third and on October 8th it was bought by Loring Pick- ering, J. E. Lawrence and L. Aldrich for $16,000.00, which sum included the cost of the building and two lots. Up to this time the paper had been inde- pendent in politics, but inclined toward Democracy. In June, 1851, the Times was consolidated with its rival, its last issue being June 15, 1851.
It is interesting to recall that the Sacramento of those times contained about 100 buildings, though there lay along the river front many barges, brigs and deep water vessels, on some of which many people lived. An ordinary wooden hotel twenty-five by fifty-five feet then cost $100,000 and rented for $5,000 a month. Beef was worth about $3.00 a pound, cheese $1.50 per pound and milk $1.00 a quart. Carpenters earned $16 a day and laborers $1.50 per hour. A ball in those days could muster but eighteen women from the region extending from Marysville to the San Joaquin, and more than 250 men were in competition for the "first dance," after having paid $32.00 for a ticket of admission. This was the era of the hurdy-gurdy, the revolver and the bowie knife. Under such social conditions the founders of the first newspaper began their career.
On April 1, 1850, the Sacramento Transcript made its appearance. It was the same size as the Times, but it appeared as a tri-weekly and it was the first paper to issue in interior California more frequently than once. a week. The proprietors were George K. Fitch, S. C. Upham, J. M. Julian, H.
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S. Warner, Theodore Russell and F. C. Ewer. Mr. Fitch and Mr. Pickering of the Pioneer Times and Transcript were afterward proprietors of the Bulletin and the Call of San Francisco. Mr. Ewer became an eminent Epis- copal clergyman and was for some years pastor of one of the greatest churches of New York city.
Professor Josiah Royce, now of the Chair of Philosophy at Harvard University, whose excellent history of California has been referred to through- out the present history, found the files of the Transcript invaluable to him during his researches. This need excite no wonder, for it was a good news- paper, carefully edited, and of a high degree of literary excellence. Fifth in- terests in the paper sold the summer after it started for as much as $5,000. G. C. Weld bought the interest of Mr. Upham for $10,000 very soon after the paper was founded. In July, 1850, the Transcript was enlarged and the rivalry between it and the Times became very warm. The Transcript was an independent publication at the outset, but it became Demo- cratic in December, 1850. On June 16, 1851, the Times and Transcript were united and issued as one paper under the joint title, the first double- headed paper in California. George K. Fitch had become state printer and Loring Pickering had the city printing. These contracts formed the basis of the fusion, Mr. Fitch retaining a half interest in the printing and Picker- ing and Lawrence holding the other half.
The editors were Pickering. Fitch and Lawrence, and they found a rival in the State Journal. In June, 1852, the Times and Transcript left the field and went to San Francisco, where it was published by the old firm and subse- quently published by George Kerr, B. F. Washington, J. E. Lawrence and J. C. Haswell. It passed from them to Edwin Bell and next to Vincent E. Geiger & Co. Pickering, Fitch & Co. meantime had acquired the Alta Cali- fornian and on December 17, 1854, they bought back their old Times and Transcript, which the Alta absorbed immediately.
On October 30, 1850, the Settler's and Miner's Tribune was started to champion the cause of the Squatter's Association and was noted for the active part it took in the Squatter riots of 1850. Doctor C. L. Robinson, who sub- sequently became the Free State Governor of Kansas, was its editor, and James McClatchy, afterwards of the Bee, and L. M. Booth, were associate editors. Cyrus Rowe brought the printing material from Maine. The publi-
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cation was daily except Sundays, for one month, after which it became a weekly and in another month gently gave up the ghost and became the first contribution to Sacramento's famous newspaper graveyard.
The Sacramento Index, established December 23, 1850, was the first Whig newspaper of the valley. It was started by Lynch Davison and Rolle, practical printers. J. W. Winens, afterwards a prominent San Francisco lawyer, was its editor, assisted by H. B. Livingstone. It was issued from the Times office and was the first afternoon newspaper. It relied for support upon the Whigs, but found political contributions very weak, so it took its posi- tion against the actions of the Vigilance Committee in hanging a gambler. After that ill-timed stroke, it lost ground and died quietly on St. Patrick's Day, 1851, having lived three months. It was noted during its brief but brilliant life as a paper of rare literary ability, of great vigor and originality of expression, and as a paper of high ideals.
About this time competition between the Times and the Transcript be- came so warm that it was ruinous to business: Printers became discouraged cr: account of low rates, so they resolved to establish a new paper and they se- cured Dr. J. F. Morse as editor. They sent to San Francisco for stock, rented rooms at 21 J street and on March 19, 1851, they launched the Sacramento Daily Union. The proprietors were Alexander Clark, who subsequently went to the Society Islands; W. K. Keating, who died afterwards in an insane asylum; A. C. Cook, Job Court (who was burnt to death at the Western Hotel fire in 1874) ; E. G. Jefferis : Charles L. Hansicker, F. H. Harmon, W. K. Davison and Samuel H. Dosh. Mr. Dosh was afterward editor of the Shasta Courier. During its long and successful career the Union, afterward the Record-Union, and now the Union again, has played a great and important part in the journalism of northern California. Many brilliant editors have graced its columns with wit and wisdon, and have contributed in no small degree to the instruction, the amusement and the upbuilding of the public character.
On February 5, 1852, the Democratic State Journal appeared with V. E. Geiger and B. F. Washington as editors. It was a Democratic paper and it opposed the reign of popular justice organized as the famous Vigilance Committee of 1856. Its career was not successful, and on June 24, 1858, it breathed its last.
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The California Statesman was founded on November 13, 1854. It was a morning paper edited by Henry Meredith, straight out Democratic and sup- ported WV. M. Gwin for re-election to the United States senate against Bro- derick. In March, 1855. the publishers were involved in legal difficulties and they suspended the Statesman in consequence.
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