 Vickers began the newspaper by announcing that it would be nonpartisan, but in the 1868 presidential election, he endorsed the Democratic Party ticket headed by Horatio Seymour, thus losing support from Republicans and paving the way for the successful launch in 1870 of the San Luis Obispo Tribune, which is still being published.Vickers, who came from New Orleans, Louisiana, was 26 years old when he began the four-page "Pioneer.