On June 22, 1851 a fire swept through the northern part of San Francisco burning the buildings on the north side of Portsmouth Square, including the premises of the Alta California newspaper. This daguerreotype taken about a month later shows the paper's new building nearing completion. In the same year the publisher installed the first steam-operated printing press in the city.

 The building shown on the left was the office of San Francisco's 

first daily newspaper, the Alta California, located on the north side of
              Portsmouth Square, the first public square in the new city, circa 1851.