Home > Back to Search Results >
Volume one issue of Colorado's first newspaper...
Volume one issue of Colorado's first newspaper...
Item # 612828
Currently Unavailable. Contact us if you would like to be placed on a want list or to be notified if a similar item is available.
May 28, 1859
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, Cherry Creek, K.T. [Kansas Territory, of which it was part at that time], published by Wm. N. Byers, May 28, 1859
An exceedingly rare newspaper, being the first newspaper to print in present-day Colorado, although not by much.
John L. Merrick was actually the first to arrive in the vicinity, following those chasing gold in the Pike's Peak region, and not knowing a printing competitor was on the way, he leisurely commenced preparing for the first issue of "The Cherry Creek Pioneer". The local settlement offered a prize to the winner of publishing the first newspaper in Colorado, and both the "Rocky Mountain News" and "The Cherry Creek Pioneer" announced their date of first publication as April 23, 1859. A committee of citizens determined that the News had won by 20 minutes.
A website on "The Founding of the Rocky Mountain News" notes that: "...the first issue...was printed on brown wrapper paper. At the start it was publishes weekly, but later it became a daily...". This issue--issue #6--is also published on brown wrapping paper due to the lack of more typical newsprint in this remote location. Not surprisingly most of the content is mining related and even includes a list of names under the: "Emigrant's Register" noting those who recently arrived in the search for gold.
Single sheet, folio size with a one column masthead, close-trimmed at the right margin of the front page only affecting some letters, mostly in ads. Printing creases to the front page cause blank streaks but do not cause loss of readability. Small library stamp at the top margin for the "Kansas State Historical Society" from which we purchased this issue.
Category: The Old West
No Longer Available
