tracts; that the press was old enough to preserve as a curiosity, and that the types were all in pi and were so rusty that it was only by hard scouring that the letters could be made to show their faces. There were no rules or leads, and in their absence two or three sheets of tin were cut with the help of a jack-knife for substitutes. Fortunately, there was enough ink for the press, but unfortunately no paper. A supply of paper sent to California to be used to wrap cigars was purchased from a coaster, and on these sheets, not much larger than the commonsized foolscap, was printed the first issue of The Californian. One half of the paper was in English, the other in Spanish, and single copies sold for twelve and one half cents considered cheap at that. The first issue contained a declaration of war between the United States and Mexico with an account of a debate in the Senate.
The Californian after six months boasted that it had been able to meet expenses, but in spite of this assertion it was forced to move from Monterey to Yerba Buena, now San Francisco, where on May 22, 1847, it issued the first number of its second volume with Robert Semple as its sole publisher. Before this change of place of publication, another paper had already been started at Yerba Buena called The California Star, first issued on January 7, 1847. It was published by Samuel Brannan and edited by E. P. Jones. It was much better printed than The Californian, and in spite of the fact that its press was brought to California by the Mormons it announced that it would eschew sectarian discussions and confine itself strictly to the news. The Star was used extensively to boom California and extra editions were printed for circulation in other States.
The Star and The Californian were merged on January 4, 1849, into The Alta California.
PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA
The first newspaper in Minnesota was announced in its prospectus as The Epistle of St. Paul. When the paper appeared, however, it bore the name of The Minnesota Pioneer, and was published at St. Paul, April 28, 1849. It was a four-page, sixcolumn sheet for the first few months, but in October it was
