Career
Born in 1824 in Ireland, McClatchy was a young journalist on the editorial staff of Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune in 1848, when news of a gold strike on Northern California"s American River reached the East. Taking the advice of his employer, who famously declared "Go west, young man," McClatchy went west. After an arduous journey that included a shipwreck in Baja California, McClatchy reached the gold fields of the Sierra Nevada.
His short-lived endeavor at mining, however, brought him no wealth.
Returning to journalism, he took a position in the summer of 1849 with the Placer Times, which was published at Sutter"s Fort, the settlement that gave rise to the river port town of Sacramento, California. By fall of the next year, McClatchy was editing his own Settlers and Miners Tribune, which survived only a few weeks.
Less than a week after the new paper appeared in 1857, McClatchy had become its editors That same week, The Bee reported a scandal that led to the impeachment of California State Treasurer Henry Bates.
Upon his death in 1883, the paper"s leadership passed to James"s sons, Charles Kenny McClatchy and V.S. McClatchy.