The Californian was first published in
Monterey, California, on August 15, 1846, by
Alcalde Walter Colton and his friend
Robert B. Semple, from a well-used Ramage
printing press that
Agustín V. Zamorano brought from Hawaii to Monterey in 1834. Zamorano used it to print books, letterheads and proclamations, but not a newspaper. The paper Colton and Semple printed on was
cigarette paper, the only kind available in quantity. The single-sheet publication was printed on a series of sheets,
The Californian moved to
Yerba Buena, as
San Francisco was then called, in mid-1847. The city was about to undergo rapid changes as the
California gold rush got underway. The newspaper did not report about the discovery of gold because word spread so quickly from person to person.
The Californian was forced to shut down May 29, 1848, because its entire staff had departed for the gold fields. Its rival newspaper, the
California Star run by Mormon
Samuel Brannan and Edward C. Kemble, suspended publication for the same reason on June 14. Both
The Californian and the
California Star were bought in 1848 and their printing equipment was combined into one publication, the
Alta Californian. Finding that one printing press was sufficient, the older press from Monterey was moved by Kemble to
Sacramento to print the
Placer Times beginning in April 1849. Kemble wished to preserve the press in a museum, but sold it to an Englishman, H. H. Radcliffe, who used it in
Stockton to print the
Stockton Times and
Tuolumne City Intelligencer from mid-1850 to April 1851. Radcliffe also used the old press to print the
Sonora Herald for Dr. Gunn beginning in July 1850. Gunn eventually bought out Radcliffe. In October 1851, Gunn sold the press to George Washington Gore who brought the equipment to
Columbia, California, to print the
Columbia Star. Gunn regained possession in November when Gore was unable to pay the balance of the purchase price. The old press was brought to
Sonora, California, to be displayed as a museum piece, and was soon lost there to one of the many fires that destroyed the town before 1858. ==References==