William N. Byers was the founder of the Rocky Mountain News, one of the two big newspapers in Denver, CO.

Byers was born in 1831 in Ohio and came west on the Oregon trail in 1851.  He married in 1854 to Elizabeth.  In 1859 he settled in Denver after the Pikes Peak gold strike.  He made his living writing guidebooks for the Pikes Peak region to sell to miners.  This same year he became an editor for the Rocky Mountain News which also was founded the same year.  The News imagined Denver as being a major metropolis in the Rocky Mountain region.

At this time it was no more than a small settlement on the Great American desert. He championed Denver as the Queen City and also promoted railroads and agriculture. He believed he was the one to have founded Denver, CO.

In 1864 he became postmaster general of Denver.  In 1878 he sold the Rocky Mountain News.  He also helped organize the Denver Chamber of Commerce.  He was a tireless promoter of Denver.  He died in 1903.

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Rocky Mountain News  Continuous publication of the Rocky Mountain News spans three centuries.  And today, the newspaper enjoys prosperity unmatched in its storied history.