The Sacramento Union

The 1851-03-19 front page of the first edition of The Sacramento Union
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Broadsheet
Owner(s)	Various
Publisher	Various
Editor	Various
Founded	1851
Ceased publication	1994
Headquarters	301 Capitol Mall Sacramento, CA 95814
Circulation	105,000 (at max)
Website	none

Type	Alternative weekly
Format	Tabloid
Owner(s)	The Sacramento Union, LLC
Publisher	J.C. Dutra
Editor	J.C. Dutra
Managing editors	Bruce Edgar Slaton Jr
Founded	2006
Language	English
Headquarters	PO Box 748 Sacramento, CA 95812  United States
Circulation	62,000
Website	www.TheSacramentoUnion.com [1]

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, just six years after the Union.

The birth of this storied newspaper institution began 156 years ago, when the city of Sacramento was in its infancy.

Under the direction of its first editor, Dr. John F. Morse, who had attracted proprietors through letters to the New Orleans Delta and well-known literary attainments, The Union was initially printed as The Daily Union on Wednesday, March 19, 1851. Upon the front page of this 23-inch by 34-inch paper, Morse addressed the readers of The Union, committing to “publish the first news in the best style and at the lowest prices” and “to have an efficient correspondent in every important town and mining region in the state.”

The paper had evolved through the efforts of four Sacramento Transcript printers. The printers had introduced the idea of The Union’s creation a year earlier, due to their frustrations with a labor dispute between the Transcript and the Placer Times, which were the city’s first two newspapers. The battle between these two newspapers became so fierce that the papers sold advertising space for below the cost of composition for the mere purpose of undercutting their competition.

Opening its operation at its 21 J St. headquarters, The Union endured very competitive times during its early years, when it was one of about 60 Sacramento newspapers.

Sacramento’s status as a newspaper town, however, was short-lived, as all but two newspapers failed, leading to The Union’s famous slogan, “The Oldest Daily in the West”. In addition to this fact, The Union’s early years are also recognized for their famous contributors, who included Mark Twain, Bret Harte and Dan De Quille.

The Daily Union evolved quite quickly as a leading newspaper, as its initial circulation of 500 was soon afterward expanded with an even wider circulation and the daily publication was joined by the semi-monthly Steamer Union (1851) for Atlantic states and European readers, the Weekly Union (1852), and the semi-annual Pictorial Union (1853), which featured drawings of towns, landscapes and other scenes of the era.