Omaha daily bee., 1909-05-23
MEMORIES OF PIONEER LIFE
Historical Link in the Journalism of
Omaha and Denver.
NOTED BOOSTER OF TWO CITIES
Newspaper Set Up I'm Omaha Trans
ported 20 Denver Fifty Years Ago
business Life OF Omaha
and Council BIums.

The changes wrought in the imperial
west in a nalf century are fittingly epitD-
mized in the Golden Jubilee number of
the Rocky Mountain News of Denver, is
sued April. 23d ult. One hundred and six
pages Of the paper's regular size are filled
with pictorial, statistical and descriptive
matter appropriate to the occasion. Por-
traits OF the men whose energy and ability
forced reluctant Nature to open the granite
doors Of its storehouse Of wealth and set
In motion the forces which transformed the
in~termountain region from a forbidding
wilderness into a group of prosperous
states. What these men have wrought In
the industries, commerce., agriculture, as
well as in the educational, religious and
social factors of civilized life. are told
in picture, prose and poetry. On the title
page, in clouds of golden and rainbow
colors, stands the figure Of the founder
of the News, the journalistic pioneer OF
Colorado, William Newton Byers, looking
from an eminence on the Denver OF today
with its background of snow-topped noun
tains.
Links In Journalism.
The anniversary so impressively signal
lied by the Rocky Mountain News reveals
the oft-forgotten link binding the pioneer
Journalism of Omaha and Denver, and the
part Omaha pioneers played in the de-
velopment of the intermountain region. 1t
reveals the confident hopes and fearless
optimism of the empire builders, and halts
for a moment the moving picture Of Time
to prove that the prophecies of 80 are the
realities of today.
William Newton Byers was among the
first corners to Omaha, reaching here late
in 1854 or early in 1866. The former year
is probably the correct one, for he was
a member of the first territorial legislature
which convened in Omaha January Is,
1856. A native of Ohio, born February %,
1881, he crossed the plains to Oregon with
a United States surveying party at the
age of q, and explored the gold fields of
California in 1858. Returning to the states
by the Panama route, he remained In
Iowa for a year and drifted with the pro-
cession to Omaha. Here his destiny was
shaped. In Denver 1t was rounded out In
rich abundance, and closed in 1908.
Actively In Omaha Affairs.
Mr.. Byers took an active part in the
public affairs of the territory of Nebraska
and the building of the city of Omaha
during their formative periods. Besides
his membership in the first territorial leg
~islature, in which he fought the first effort
to move the capital from Omaha he was
one of the members of the first city
council organized March s, 1857, and was
chairman of the committee which decided
washington Square to Douglas county
for the erection thereon of a court house
and jail. washington Square, was
bounded by Douglas, Farnam, Fifteenth
and Sixteenth streets. All but the two
lots on which the Paxton block now stands
were sold and the proceeds used in the
construction of the old county building
which occupied that corner until 1883.
Lure of the Gold Mines.
Glowing reports of the wealth OF the
Cherry Creek d~iggings and the stampede
to the foothills of the Rockies drew
heavily on Omaha's scant population dur
ing the winter of 1853. Among the hardy
pioneers there was precious little fear of
winter storms on the plains. The lure of
q business and possible fortune over
Swallowed the risks of the elements or
hostile redskins. Byers and his associates
had the fearless spirit of the a~rgonauts OF
a decade before, and did not hesitate 10
face the perils of a 600 mile trip across
the plains late in March, 1853. Packing
their tools Of trade, their printshop, several
forms of ready set type, both news and
ads, and the usual necessaries Of life in
their wagons, they moved out toward the
setting sun with the steady, measured pace
that marked the Overland limiteds in the
days of the ox-teams. The newspaper
outfit reached what is now Denver about
the goth OF April and three days later the
Rocky Mountain News made its appear
ance, a full-fledged six-column folio. carry.
ing ten columns of Omaha and Council
Bluffs advertising, a column of Denver
city ads, some local news and columns OF
ponderous miscellany.
Omaha to the Fore,
Excepting the title and a few local ads
and announcements the first issue looked
like a transplanted Omaha paper of tina
period. o. aha and c uncll Butts ms rchant.
provided the patronage for that number al
least, and the needful padding for many
OF the numbers that followed, for in tn,
summer of 1860 an Omaha freighter counteC
only seven houses on the present site O.
Denver. But there were acres of tents OF
both sides of Cherry creek. Undoubtedly
most of the type was set in Omaha anC
packed overland to Denver. The inquiry
naturally suggests itself, Did the materia
belong to some moribund Omaha paper
Byers was not actively connected will
Omaha newspaper life, but three of hi
asslstants-Gilbert C. Monnell. Thomas
Gibson and Hadley D. Johnson. were mike,
UP in the business. johnson launched tn,
Omaha Democrat In 1855, but it died young
Monnen was identified with the Omaha Re
publican, started in the same year. but dis
Tupted by faetional q~uaTrels. There wa
therefore a supply of newspaper junl
around here, out of which 1t is likely tn
material for the first Rocky Mountain
News was dug. Gibson was associated will
Byers in the publication Of the News anC
Johnson emigrated about the same time
for he was manager Of a ranch at zeal
soTnia Gulch" in 1850.
Origin of the Westward Move.
The News gives this account of tn