already completed between Vallejo and Sacramento, from Adelaide to Suscol, and from Sacramento to Marysville, and this rapid work and the prospect of many further extensions added materially to the real estate boom. "Agriculture was now becoming an ever more vital factor in the progress 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 became continually better understood. The arid lands in the San Joaquin valley, which had hitherto been accounted nearly worthless, were now found to be extraordinarily prolific, and ground which had hitherto failed to find a purchaser at $1.25 per acre could now hardly be bought at $20 per acre. Within 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 manufactures 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 aside 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 industries are going forward on a large scale, and the fruits of the early struggles 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. CHAPTER X. GROWTH OF NEWSPAPERS. FROM EARLY TIMES CALIFORNIA HAS BEEN A GREAT COUNTRY FOR NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICAL LITERATURE OF ALL VARIETIES-Great BOLDNESS OF EARLY EDITORS, WHO TOOK LARGE RISKS AND MADE GOOD PROFITS BY DOING SO-PRINTED MATTER THAT COST A SMALL FORTUNE 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, especially 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 1, number 1, bore date August 15, 1846. 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 Star. 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 publicawas issued on many sizes and colors of paper-white, butchers' brown, wrappers, or on whatever could be obtained. It was a tri-weekly. tion tea 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. 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 News appeared. Under a summarized statement the careers of a number of early papers. may be thus exhibited: The Weekly Californian, Monterey, August, 1846. 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 News, semi-monthly, September 1, 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 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 William 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 author of "Progress and Poverty," and apostle of the single-tax school of political 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 Chronicle 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 encouraged 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, Spanish foolscap was secured and the entire outfit was shipped to Sacramento by |