Mint Condition Bound Volume of The California Star, Sam Brannan's newspaper. Yerba Buena and San Francisco. Vol. 1, 1847-1848. A Reproduction in Facsmilie. Introduction by Fred Blackburn Rogers. Important pre-Gold Rush California reference work, with heavy Mormon influence. This was published by Howell-North Books of Berkeley in 1965. Yerba Buena was the first name that San Francisco went by. Earliest newspaper editions in this volume are datelined Yerba Buena and the later ones San Francisco. Includes an index and an index of advertisers. 10 in. 15 in. Dust Jacket. This volume overs California history during the Spanish-American war and life before the local discovery of gold in Northern California. Article about the illegality of holding Indians hostage for work, Indians are uniting to make depredations on whites, lengthy article on the first attempt to assist suffering emigrants on the California Mountains (Donner Party), etc. This volume is critical for early California research and ends just before the gold discovery. well indexed, there is much on the Donner party, the Mexican War and other important California events. With original plain brown wraps.According to historian Hubert Bancroft, Sam Brannan (1819-1889) was California's first millionaire. In 1846, after learning of the Mexican-American War, Brannan left New York by ship with his wife, son and 300 Mormons, escaping persecution resulting from the murder of Joseph Smith. Brannan and the rest of the ship's crew had hoped to overthrow the local Mexican regime at Yerba Buena (San Francisco), but arrived two days after US Navy Captain John Montgomery and others already took the city. Brannan brought with him a printing press, on which he later printed the first newspaper in California, the California Star. Brannan opened a store in Sutter's Fort, where James Marshall took that first gold nugget he discovered in 1848. Within a few days of the discovery, Brannan was off to the mill where he reportedly mined a small bag of gold, then rode around Yerba Buena/San Francisco, later claiming he was the first to pass the news of the gold discovery to the city. The 300 Mormons who came to San Francisco with Brannan added to the population of thirty families already there (in 1846) but after the news of gold spread, most of the men fled to the gold country, leaving but 7 men left in town. While historical accounts differ, Brannan appears to have levied a "tithe" of sorts on his Mormon brethren at the gold fields. When Brigham Young heard of it he sent a collector to receive the money, but Brannan refused to hand it over. He was excommunicated as a result. As the Gold Rush took off, Brannan quickly became active in politics. He and others organized the "Argonauts" to take down a band of thieves terrorizing the city and Brannan was an original member (#2) of the 1851 Vigilance Committee. Over time, he became a wealthy real estate magnate and businessman. Having implemented a tremendous vision regarding the growth of San Francisco and utilizing that growth and vision to make himself a financial windfall, Brannan then purchased a huge tract of land in Napa Valley inclusive of the springs at the north end (today known as Calistoga), His intent was to turn it into another Saratoga Springs into a health resort region that was tremendously successful. He poured money into it. He borrowed more. He built distilleries, and created many new businesses. For a time it seemed Brannan could do no wrong. However, after sending his family away to live a more peaceful life, Brannan reportedly imbibed in his own products a bit too much and he is rumored to have had a fling with actress Lola Montez, who reporters thought bled his pocketbooks dry. While he was a successful real estate magnate and wealthy landowner, his drinking and irresponsible business behavior and rumored involvement with Lola Montez caused his marriage to fail. His wife eventually divorced him. He was forced to pay half of his estate to his wife in cash, forcing complete liquidation of all his holdings. The estate liquidation nearly killed him mentally and physically. In 1860 he moved to remote San Diego County. Roughly a decade later, he sobered up, paid most or all of his debts, but died a poor man in 1889. San Francisco California