150 years of the Rocky Mountain News
Are we less informed today?
After 150 years of publication the Rocky Mountain News has gone out of business. What an interesting history our “first newspaper” had! There are a number of tales concerning the “first newspaper” in Colorado. Some suggest that the first papers were printed in Clear Creek County or in Gilpin County, but the history is clear. Leaving aside the papers printed in Spanish and circulated in the San Luis Valley, the first English language paper is clearly the Rocky. William Byers and his printer, Tom Gibson, arrived in Denver after six tough weeks on the Overland Trail. The date was April 17, 1859, and another paper was already in the works. On the day Byers arrived Jolly Jack Merrick had already announced that he’d start a paper, the Cherry Creek Pioneer. Byers was determined to be the first to publish.
Byers Gets There First
Byers decided to go across Cherry Creek and set up in one of the few two story buildings in town, Uncle Dick Wooton’s Saloon & Emporium. Uncle Dick rented the loft of his building to Byers, and Byers began work. Jolly Jack Merrick was hot on the heels of Byers and looked like he was about to get out the first edition of the first paper. He had an old press which the Mormons had used back in Missouri. That little hand-lever press had been thrown in the river during an anti-Mormon riot, but was rescued and worked tolerably well. Soon this newspaper publishing race was the talk of the town and many of the local bets focused on which paper would come out first. The night of April 23, 1859 Byers hit the streets with the first edition of the Rocky Mountain News in a soaking spring snow. Merrick’s “Pioneer” hit the streets only an hour later, but his paper was destined to last only a couple of months.
How Colorado Looked Then
Byers describes a rowdy scene in that first gold camp. The streets were full of freight wagons and bullwhackers flicked their whips at pedestrians to get them out of the way. Drunks weaved out of saloons, and prostitutes set up in back rooms. In fact, the wife of a disappeared minister, Ada Lamont, was the first to open a one woman “parlor house” on “Indian Row.” She soon had a larger staff and for ten years probably ran the cleanest and most honest house in the Territory. There were lynchings and killings too, but not so many as the writers of westerns like to portray. Most of the miners were pretty law-abiding types. The local Arapaho Indians were certainly part of that early scene. Arapaho warriors, back from a raid on the Utes, waved scalps about sometimes. After one such raid, the new miners and other arrivals set up a feast for the Arapahoes to celebrate. The miners and their camp followers were well aware that good relations with the big encampment of Arapaho were important. The Indians had camped by Cherry Creek each winter long before the men from back in the “states” came on the scene. The town recorder was busy recording too. He’d record land claims which were immediately disputed. It was a wild frontier scene that the Rocky Mountain News recorded.
Was The Rocky “Yellow Journalism?”
By the journalistic standards of the day the Rocky was fairly objective. The distinction between editorial writing and news writing wasn’t well known in that period, but Byers did a tolerable job of it. He did have his favorites, of course. For some reason he liked the Bernie Merrick of his day, Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte Chaffee. “Boss” Chaffee swindled many an unsuspecting investor in gold mines. Perhaps his biggest “hit” was the Little Pittsburgh Mine in Leadville. That mine was suspected of being about played out, but Chaffee kept the assays secret and sold it for a fortune. Chaffee was appointed one of our two first U. S. Senators along with Henry Teller, and was endorsed by Byers even though Byers very likely knew him for a crook. They were said to be pals, and that could account for it all. Later Chaffee retired to Connecticut where he married General Grant’s daughter and settled down to a life of ease. Apparently any memory of his bad deeds has been erased in 2009. Chaffee is going to be “re-enacted” on a 150th anniversary bus tour from Central City to the Governor’s mansion this spring. I’ll not be there, but it would be interesting to see how a modern day re-enactor deals with the old boy’s bad deeds.
The Rocky Comes Out For the Union
When our first Territorial Governor, William Gilpin, decided to put the Colorado Territory into play in the Civil War, he was taking quite a risk. Gilpin had been in the army and knew something about tactics. He surmised that if the confederate forces got as far north as Denver, stopping them would be difficult. He was well aware of the threats to the Overland Trail and how difficult it would be to keep California in the Union if the rebels cut that stage route from the states to the west. If the confederates took Colorado, as they had taken New Mexico, valuable Union troops would have to be moved west and thus would weaken the whole war effort in the east. So, Gilpin sent the Colorado militia south to stop the confederates at the battle of Glorietta Pass. William Gilpin also well knew what a threat to his political career it was to issue script on the U. S. Treasury to equip the militia. He had no assurance that the treasury would pay the tab. In fact, that did end Gilpin’s political career as payment was painfully slow in coming to Colorado merchants. Still, Gilpin’s bold move clearly saved the west for the Union. Gilpin needed the support of the Rocky Mountain News. Support from the Central City paper and the other mining town papers was tepid or lacking. He needed Byers, and Byers came through. The Rocky supported Gilpin during a crucial six months. Later as the monetary script was months in arrears being paid, Byers grew very quiet. But as the troops marched out south, the Rocky cheered.
What Will Replace The Rocky Mountain News in 2009?
We could write for days about the coverage the Rocky put out, but the Rocky is gone now and that leaves me with questions. Apparently some of the writers for the Rocky are trying to put out an edition on the web and that likely will be a good news source. But, the amount of accurate information available to us all is sadly diminished each time a reputable paper tanks. The death of great newspapers leaves more room for scandal sheets, and the many little papers put out mainly to grind the ax of someone with a little money and time. Radio and television is there, of course, but I’m not impressed by much outside of N.P.R. and the Denver educational channel. I read recently that something like a quarter of the voters in the last election, mainly young folks, said they got their entire candidate information from late night television.
Possibly the blogs can replace reputable papers, but I have my doubts. I often enjoy the stuff I read on the web, but there’s absolutely no accountability there. If I want to write a blog about elephants on the moon someone will read it, believe it, maybe even pay for it. Of course, there are some good blogs, but nothing beats the accountability of a major printed newspaper. Even more important, the death of a major paper means there will be fewer truly investigative reporters out there, and fewer writers too. I doubt we’ll ever see some of those great feature writers again. I hope Gene Amole is looking down from heaven as I write.
Is There Less Thinking Skepticism?
I really think the American public is less aware, less able to make judgments than we were even a half century ago. We were a more skeptical generation. My dear old Dad always warned me to be careful about the press, the radio or TV. He always advised skepticism about what was said by the Chicago Tribune or the Sun Times back in “Chicagoland.” He enjoyed listening to Paul Harvey on the radio, but reminded me that Paul was “mostly bought and paid for by big money guys who want to protect their investments.” “We all should try to get rich,” said Dad over and over again, “but we all should be skeptical of the press that the rich own.” I wonder what he’d think today about a news source like Fox News or Rush Limbaugh, or any of the scandal sheets that cross my desk. Perhaps as the web matures more standards of journalistic excellence will come into being. For now, though, I’m going to lament the demise of any of the big papers. They’ve tried to inform us in an objective manner since William Byers set up his press by Cherry Creek. I’ll miss the Rocky.