The Star, the Saint, and the City
Regional historian-author William Briggs talk about how the origins of San Francisco and early California journalism are the focus of his new book. From the discovery of the great bay to the arrival of a shipload of the first Yerba Buena immigrants and the subsequent transformation into the City of San Francisco, the book traces this history through the first San Francisco newspaper, The California Star and the dramatic life of its publisher Samuel Brannan.
According to Briggs, a California State University emeritus dean and retired journalism professor, history has marginalized the importance of Sam Brannan, and the enormous role played by the original Mormon religious refugees he led to California in 1846. Not only did they colonize Yerba Buena, but his fledgling newspaper renamed it San Francisco and two years later broke the news about the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill, launching the Gold Rush and transforming California.
