The Sacramento Union was a daily newspaper founded in 1851 in Sacramento, California. It was the oldest daily newspaper west of the Mississippi River before it closed its doors after 143 years in January 1994, no longer able to compete with The Sacramento Bee, which was founded in 1857.
History
Origins The first newspaper published for Sutter's Fort, which was the start of Sacramento, was the Placer Times. It first a published by E.C. Kemble on April 28, 1849. Other papers soon followed, including the Sacramento Transcript, founded on April 1, 1850. The battle between those two papers was so fierce, that workers faced serious wage cuts. A group of eight disgruntled journeymen printers left the Times and the Transcript to start their own morning daily newspaper called the Sacramento Daily Union. The name "Union" was selected in reference to the group of printers running the business and being pro-Unionist.
The paper was first issued on Wednesday, March 19, 1851. Charles L. Hansicker was publisher and head of the firm with included six other proprietors. Dr. John F. Morse, a physician in charge of a local hospital, was hired as editor. On the front page of the first issue, Morse wrote: "It will be our aim to publish the first news in the best style and at the lowest prices." On June 1, 1851, the firm launched the Steamer Union, an edition of the paper focused on California news for circulation in the Atlantic states.
In January 1852, publisher Hansicker exited the firm, which at that time was taken over by E.J. Jefferies. On January 10, 1852, the firm launched a weekly edition called the Weekly Union. In May 1852, editor Morse exited the business. He was succeeded by A.C. Russell, who after four months was replaced as editor by Lauren S. Upson. In June 1852, the firm launched an illustrated sheet with engravings on California subjects called the Pictorial Union. In October 1852, Henry W. Larkin and Paul Morrill bought a controlling interest in the firm.
On November 2, 1852, the paper's office at 121 J Street was destroyed in a fire called the Great Conflagration. More than 80% of structures in Sacramento were burned. The plant was rebuilt on the same spot. In May 1853, business manager James Anthony became a co-owner. Anthony, Larkin and Morrill eventually became the paper's sole owners, with Anthony was the lead partner. At that time, circulation was 500.
During the American Civil War, editor Upson wrote in support of the Union, and was often called the journalist who kept California from joining the The Confederacy. Upson was a friend of Theodore Judah and the Central Pacific Railroad, and called for the first public meeting to fundraise for First transcontinental railroad. He was also instrumental in establishing Sacramento's public school system, flood control, hospitals and other civic improvements
In May 1861, the paper relocated to a new building at 1017 Third Street. The total cost of the new plant was $18,000. In 1863, Anthony began penning editorials in opposition to Collis Potter Huntington and the Big Four Railroaders, believing the industrialists and their railroad corporations too powerful in the state. In 1864, editor Upson retired due to failing health. During the 1867 California gubernatorial election, the Union was in opposition to railroad lobbyist George Congdon Gorham, which contributed to his defeat.
Mark Twain and The Union Humorist Samuel Langhorne Clemens, who is better known by his pen name of Mark Twain, was the most famous contributor to the Sacramento Union, although his limited involvement in the newspaper would be over emphasized by Union staff in the century to follow. After Clemens, then age 30, resigned from the San Francisco Morning Call in early 1866, he was without work for months. It was then he approached James Anthony, one of the owners of the Union who was a good friend, and pitched him the idea of paying him to travel to the Sandwich Islands (modern day Hawaii) and then write to the paper of his experiences. The publisher agreed.On March 7, 1866, Clemens left San Francisco aboard the steamboat Ajax. He sent the Union a total of 25 letters for publication from his four months abroad. His 15th letter, published on July 19, was a detailed account on the loss of Hornet and a lifeboat containing its remaining 15 crew members washing ashore at Laupāhoehoe, Hawaii. Clemens was assisted in his reporting by diplomat Anson Burlingame, who snuck him into the hospital by having him carried in by stretcher. Burlingame interview the crewmembers while Clemens took notes.
In total, Clemens wrote 90,000 words during his trip to Hawaii, with about 35,000 of those words later republished in his travel memoir, "Roughing It," with another 5,000 new words added. Upon returning to Sacramento, Clemens charged the Union $20 for each week he travelled, per their agreement, and an extra $100 for the Hornet story. The cashier declined to pay the extra amount but one of the owners never hesitated to pay and laughed at the situation.
Afterward, Clemens was one of two unsigned reporters to cover the California State Fair for the Union in September 1866. His contributions to the paper ended there. Author Edgar M. Branch speculated this last assignment was either a favor to the owner or one last stab at journalism, an opportunity to join the paper's staff with the experience contributing to Clemens' decision to abandon local reporting for good and focus on lecturing, which propelled his career.
In the years to follow, there was a belief shared amongst Union staff was that one of the desks at the paper's office belonged to Clemens. One writer incorrectly believed for years he had used Clemens' desk, and was disappointed upon learning the truth. During the Great Depression, journalist Herb Caen claimed that staff, to keep the Union in business, would take battered old desks from their office and sell them for $100, falsely claiming they were "Mark Twain's Desk." In 1937, Grabhorn Press republished the Clemens letters for the first time in book form, titled, "Letters From Hawaii."
After the paper's new office at 301 Capital Mall was completed in 1968, its lobby was named in Twain's honor. A collection of Twain memorabilia was put on display there for visitors and a bronze bust of Twain was a focal point in the room. Artist Walter Russell was commissioned by the Mark Twain Memorial Foundation to create the bust in honor of Twain's 100th birthday. It was unveiled at dinner held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel (New York City) and later was housed in Great Britain, but returned to the United States during WWII. Publisher James S. Copley later bought the bust for the Copley Library until giving it to the Union. From then on, the bust featured a plaque inscribed with an excerpt Twain wrote on his time writing for the Union, calling it "a great and influential daily journal." After the Union ceased, the bust was donated to UC Davis and ever since housed at the Shields Library.
In 1974, from November 11–20, the Union and Western Airlines organized a sight-seeing tour for up to 300 people to follow in Twain's footsteps in Hawaii. Tickets were $597, and the group included Union staff and a Mark Twain impersonator.
Mid 19th to Mid 20th century (1867-1966) In February 1867, a rival paper called The Daily Record was first published in Sacramento. It was founded by James J. Keegan, and was under the influence of the Central Pacific Railroad. In 1870, the Record was enlarged, larger than the Union. That same, year, the railroad company banned carriers from selling copies of the Union on its cars. At that time the Union had a circulation of 24,000 (9,000 daily, 15,000 weekly), making it the largest of more than 90 papers published in California. The New-York Tribune called the Union the "miners' Bible" due to how many gold prospectors read it.
In April 1872, Capt. A.D. Wood, of Vallejo, and William H. Mills bought the Record from Kegan. In October 1874, Wood sold out to Hill. In December 1875, the Union was put up for sale at auction by W.H. Larkin, James Anthony and Paul Morrill. The only bid was placed by Morrill at $65,000. Years earlier the three declined an offer to sell the paper for $250,000. The Union owners voided the auction and then entered into negotiations to sell the paper for much less to the Central Pacific Railroad. In February 1875, the Union was acquired by an association of property owners for $45,000, with Mills acquiring a large stake. On Feb. 22, the Record and Union merged to form the Sacramento Record-Union. By 1901, CPR, which had become Southern Pacific Railroad, was looking to sell the Record-Union, having lost an average of $2,000 a month operating it, a total loss of $750,000.
Two years later, SPR and Mills divested from the business, leaving the paper entirely in the hands of the Pacific Improvement Company. In June 1903, Alfred Holman bought the Record-Union, and soon dropped the word "Record" from the name. In December 1906, Holman sold the Union to E.A. Forbes, owner of the Marysville Appeal and Chico Enterprise-Post, for $100,000. A month later Holman bought The Argonaut. In February 1908, the Calkins Newspaper Syndicate bought the Union for $175,000. In July 1908, a group of 300 residents appeared at the Union's office demanding editor Leonard S. Calkins retract an editorial against Mayor Clinton L. White and the city itself. In March 1909, creditors took control of the Union and put L.E. Bontz in charge. Two months later and the Calkins Newspaper Syndicate declared bankruptcy. All of the company's remaining papers were acquired by the Union Trust Company. In November 1910, Bontz bought the Union.
Lynn C. Simpson became a co-owner in June 1914, and the two sold the Union to C.M. Wooster in August 1918, followed by Ben S. Allen and John S. Craig in May 1919. Allen bought out Craig in February 1920, and sold the Union to James D. Meredith in August 1921. The paper relocated for the second time in 71 years to 1910 M Street in October 1921. Benjamin E. Bradley became a co-owner in June 1923, and the two sold the Union to W.W. Chapin in February 1925. Carl H. Brockhagen was another Union co-owner, who acquired the Portland Telegram in September 1927. Chapin sold his stake in the Union to C.A. Hughes in March 1928. Brockhagen acquired the San Francisco Bulletin in September 1928. Hughes left the Union in May 1929 and Brockhagen then put his son Robert "Bob" Brockhagen in charge.
On September 1, 1929, William H. Dodge, of Beverly Hills, formerly a general manager at Scripps Howard, bought the Union from Brockhagen and Herbert Fleischhacker. Dodge then became its publisher. In January 1948, Dodge was the passenger in an automobile heading to Coronado for the annual California Newspaper Publishers Association convention when it collided with a truck in Bellflower. Dodge was hospitalized, and died from his injuries that October. He was age 68. Dodge's son-in-law William A. Simpson Jr. succeed him as publisher. In May 1962, a group of 50 local businessmen formed a corporation to buy the paper. At that time Leonard V. Finder was named publisher. Over the past decade the paper had doubled its circulation to 60,000.
Conservatism and The Bee rivalry (1966-1989) In February 1966, the paper's board of directors voted to sell the paper to Copley Press, and shareholders voted to approve the deal that March. Copley Press paid $2.64 million. At that time the morning Union had a circulation of 65,000 while the afternoon Bee had a circulation of 169,000. Board chairman James S. Copley was a conservative with close ties to the Republican Party. The deal was completed that May, and thus, the Union became editorially pro-Republican. A year later, in April 1967, board chairman Copley and Governor Ronald Reagan broke ground at the Capitol Mall on a new headquarters to house a new long-run, photo-offset press.