The ''Placerville Mountain Democrat'' (known locally as the ''Mountain Democrat'' or simply ''Democrat'') is the

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

of El Dorado County, California, based in Placerville and is the oldest continuously published newspaper in the State of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

History

1800s

The ''Mountain Democrat'' began as ''The Argus'' with first editorial published on November 19, 1853, by its publisher, D.W. Gelwicks. ''The Argus'' was housed in the Crescent City Building in

Coloma, California Coloma ( Nisenan: ''Cullumah'', meaning "beautiful") is a census-designated place in El Dorado County, California, US. It is approximately northeast of Sacramento, California. Coloma is most noted for being the site where James W. Marshall found ...

, then the county seat. In February 1854, Gelwicks bought the ''El Dorado Republican'' from Thomas Springer of Placerville and combined the two as the ''Mountain Democrat''. Its first issue date was February 25, 1854. During the 1850s, the newspaper reported news from steamships as they docked in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, after travel around

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramí ...

– "usually about six months old. But it was new news in the mines." In 1889, the ''Weekly Observer'' merged with the ''Mountain Democrat''.

1900s

In 1922, the ''Mountain Democrat'' absorbed the ''Georgetown Gazette'' newspaper; in 1924, Mountain Publishing Company formed as owner of the ''Mountain Democrat''. In 1935, the ''Placerville Republican'' merged with the ''Mountain Democrat''. In 1958, the ''Placerville Times'' merged with the ''Mountain Democrat''.

Organization

Current owner is McNaughton Newspapers, Inc.; current publisher is Richard Esposito and most recent editor Krysten Kellum.

References

External links