The Salinas Californian , sometimes referred to as The Californian , is a digital and print newspaper published in Salinas, California , covering mainly the Salinas Valley. Founded in 1871 as The Salinas City Index , it went through several name changes and assumed its current name during World War II. The paper is part of the USA Today Network , owned by Gannett , which acquired its parent company Speidel Newspapers Inc., in 1977.
17-403: The Salinas Californian’s direct precursor The Salinas City Index first published on March 31. 1871. It changed its name into Salinas Weekly Index in 1883. As Salinas went through a period of agricultural and financial expansion in the years between 1860 and 1890, the existence of The Salinas Weekly Index , and two other publications, Salinas Weekly Democrat and Salinas Daily Journal,
34-702: A Spanish-language weekly paper. Its online edition was launched in September 2000. As of December 2022, the newspaper had no reporters on staff, with all remaining content sourced from other Gannett newspapers, notably the Record Searchlight in Redding , 300 miles north. El Sol was also shut down due to a lack of content. One reporter was hired on staff in August 2024. In 2015, The Salinas Californian’s circulation stood between 6,000 and 7,000 during
51-642: A Sunday Edition. It now has a 24-hour, 7-day digital presence and prints newspapers Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday only. The paper serves Monterey County, California with a specific emphasis on the Salinas Valley. Its delivery area includes the towns of Salinas, Spreckels, Prunedale, Castroville, Chualar, Gonzales, Soledad, Greenfield, and King City. Daily delivery is also available in Monterey, Marina, Seaside, Del Rey Oaks, and Pacific Grove. The Salinas Californian also produced El Sol de Salinas ,
68-610: A newspaper. When Commodore Robert F. Stockton arrived in Monterey with the American naval invasion in July 1846, he found the printing press stored in the Custom House and notified Colton. 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 11.75 by 10.25 in (30 by 26 cm) sheets, with English on one side and Spanish on
85-530: The California Star was the city's only newspaper until an older publication, The Californian , moved to Yerba Buena (as San Francisco was then called) from Monterey in mid-1847. The city was about to undergo rapid changes as the California gold rush got underway. The California Star appeared weekly until June 14, 1848, when it was forced to shut down because its entire staff had departed for
102-658: 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
119-451: The gold fields. Its rival newspaper had suspended publication for the same reason on May 29. Later that year, Sam Brannan sold his interest in the moribund California Star to Edward Cleveland Kemble, who also acquired The Californian . Kemble resumed publication of the combined papers under the name Star and Californian on November 18, 1848. On December 23, 1848, the California Star and Californian ran an article indicating this would be
136-482: The last issue. In a business arrangement with the firm of Gilbert, Kemble and Hubbard, a new paper, entitled ALTA CALIFORNIA , would be published at San Francisco, Upper California, the first issue of which would appear on Thursday, January 4, 1849. By 1849, the paper had come under the control of Robert B. Semple , cofounder of The Californian , who changed its name to the Alta California . On January 22,
153-601: The other. The biggest news item in the first edition was the United States declaring war on Mexico . On October 3, 1846, The Californian printed the first poem published in a California periodical, entitled "On Leaving the United States for California". The next issue carried the poetical rejoinder "On Leaving California for the United States". Both poems were unsigned, but were probably the same author. The Californian moved to Yerba Buena , as San Francisco
170-530: The paper began daily publication, becoming the first daily newspaper in California. On July 4, 1849, Semple began printing the Daily Alta California on a new steam press, the first such press in the west. In 1863, Albert S. Evans became editor at the paper and continued in that capacity for several years. The newspaper continued publication until June 2, 1891. The Daily Alta California
187-720: 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
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#1732771733389204-534: The week, slightly higher on Saturdays. The Californian (1840s newspaper) The Californian was the first California newspaper. 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
221-523: Was a 19th-century San Francisco newspaper. The Daily Alta California descended from the first newspaper published in the city, Samuel Brannan 's California Star , which debuted on January 9, 1847. Brannan, who had earlier assisted in publishing several Mormon newspapers in New York , had brought a small press with him when he immigrated to California as part of a group of Mormon settlers in 1846 aboard The Brooklyn . With Dr. E. B. Jones as editor,
238-428: Was renamed The Californian in 1990, but was still referred to as " The " Salinas Californian , and carries the full three-word name on its masthead and logos. In May 1977, Gannett purchased Speidel Newspapers Inc., and has remained owner of The Salinas Californian ever since. The Salinas Californian has issued newspapers from Monday to Saturday since its inception until Sept. 28, 2015. It has never produced
255-522: Was seen as evidence that the city was “one of the most modern for its size in the state” in the late 1800s. The paper changed its name into Salinas Index-Journal in 1928, after merger with The Salinas Daily-Journal . In 1936 the newspaper was bought by Merritt C. Speidel. In 1942, Salinas Index-Journal merged with Salinas Morning Post . The combined publication was renamed The Salinas Californian in honor of California's first newspaper, The Californian , published in 1848 in Monterey . The paper
272-530: 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
289-400: 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. The Daily Alta California#California Star The Alta California or Daily Alta California (often miswritten Alta Californian or Daily Alta Californian )
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