William N. Byers
Originally from Ohio, Byers moved with his parents to Iowa in 1851, and then to Omaha. There Byers became the first deputy surveyor in the Nebraska Territory, in which capacity he created the first official map of Omaha, in conjunction with Andrew J. Poppleton. Soon afterwards Byers became a member of the first city council of Omaha, and a member of the first session of the Nebraska Territorial Legislature.
In 1859 Byers moved to Denver to take advantage of recent gold strikes in the area. Taking the printing presses of the defunct Bellevue Gazette of Omaha, he produced gold field handbooks. Robert W. Furnas, a friend of Byers, later recalled that he had bought the equipment and had it taken by ox team to Denver. Byers would later use the printing equipment to publish the Rocky Mountain News. The Rocky Mountain News was the first newspaper printed in Colorado, and continued publication until 2009.
Byers built and lived in several mansions in Denver, including the one now known as the Byers-Evans House. The Byers-Evans House is now a museum, and is located next to the Denver Art Museum in downtown Denver. Around 1889 Byers and his wife relocated outside of the city of Denver into the community known as "South Denver," where they lived in a mansion on a large tract of land. Byers was an avid horticulturalist and planted a wide variety of tree species on his property, as well as using the majority of the land plot for personal farming and gardening. After the Byers couple vacated the mansion, it was demolished and the property was used for Byers Junior High School, dedicated to the Denver Public Schools in 1921.
As a former territorial surveyor, it is not surprising that Byers was an accomplished outdoors man, spening considerable time in the mountains. In 1863, the artist Albert Bierstadt asked Byers to serve as a mountain guide, and he led Bierstadt on an expedition from Idaho Springs to the summit of Mount Evans. Bierstadt's masterpiece "Storm in the Rocky Mountains" was based on that trip.
Sources:
William Newton Byers. Findagrave.com. Retrieved 4/6/08.
William N. Byers. Nebraska State Historical Society. Retrieved 4/5/08.
Stone, W.F. (1918) History of Colorado. S. J. Clarke Publishers. p 499.
William Newton Byers, Bierstadt's Visit to Colorado -- Sketching for the famous painting "Storm in the Rocky Mountains", Magazine of Western History, Vol. XI, No. 3, Jan. 1890; page 237.
In 1859 Byers moved to Denver to take advantage of recent gold strikes in the area. Taking the printing presses of the defunct Bellevue Gazette of Omaha, he produced gold field handbooks. Robert W. Furnas, a friend of Byers, later recalled that he had bought the equipment and had it taken by ox team to Denver. Byers would later use the printing equipment to publish the Rocky Mountain News. The Rocky Mountain News was the first newspaper printed in Colorado, and continued publication until 2009.
Byers built and lived in several mansions in Denver, including the one now known as the Byers-Evans House. The Byers-Evans House is now a museum, and is located next to the Denver Art Museum in downtown Denver. Around 1889 Byers and his wife relocated outside of the city of Denver into the community known as "South Denver," where they lived in a mansion on a large tract of land. Byers was an avid horticulturalist and planted a wide variety of tree species on his property, as well as using the majority of the land plot for personal farming and gardening. After the Byers couple vacated the mansion, it was demolished and the property was used for Byers Junior High School, dedicated to the Denver Public Schools in 1921.
As a former territorial surveyor, it is not surprising that Byers was an accomplished outdoors man, spening considerable time in the mountains. In 1863, the artist Albert Bierstadt asked Byers to serve as a mountain guide, and he led Bierstadt on an expedition from Idaho Springs to the summit of Mount Evans. Bierstadt's masterpiece "Storm in the Rocky Mountains" was based on that trip.
Sources:
William Newton Byers. Findagrave.com. Retrieved 4/6/08.
William N. Byers. Nebraska State Historical Society. Retrieved 4/5/08.
Stone, W.F. (1918) History of Colorado. S. J. Clarke Publishers. p 499.
William Newton Byers, Bierstadt's Visit to Colorado -- Sketching for the famous painting "Storm in the Rocky Mountains", Magazine of Western History, Vol. XI, No. 3, Jan. 1890; page 237.
