The Daily Alta California was a San Francisco newspaper 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.
With Dr. E.B. Jones as editor, the California Star was the city's only newspaper until an older publication, the Monterey Californian, moved to Yerba Buena, as San Francisco was then called, from Monterey in mid-1847, becoming simply The Californian. 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 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. By 1849, the paper had come under the control of Robert Semple, who changed its name to the Alta California. On January 22, 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.
