William Byers - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

William Newton Byers was a founding figure of Omaha, Nebraska

Founding figures of Omaha, Nebraska

The following people were founding figures of Omaha, Nebraska. Their period of influence ranges from 1853 through 1900. Many in this group were members of the Old Settlers' Association and/or the Omaha Claim Club...

, serving as the first deputy surveyor of the Nebraska Territory

Nebraska Territory

The Territory of Nebraska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until March 1, 1867, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Nebraska. The Nebraska Territory was created by the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854...

, on the first Omaha City Council

Omaha City Council

The City Council of Omaha, Nebraska is elected every four years on a nonpartisan basis. The next election will occur in 2009. Omaha has a strong mayor form of government. Members are elected by district...

, and as a member of the first Nebraska Territorial Legislature

Nebraska Territorial Legislature

The Nebraska Territorial Legislature was held from January 16, 1855 until 1865 in Omaha City, Nebraska Territory.- Slavery :In 1854 the Kansas-Nebraska Act created the Nebraska Territory, overturning the Missouri Compromise by allowing legislatures of the Nebraska and Kansas territories to...

.

He was also an early settler of Denver, Colorado

Denver, Colorado

The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...

and the founder and editor

Editing

Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...

of the Rocky Mountain News
Rocky Mountain News
The Rocky Mountain News was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As of March 2006, the Monday-Friday circulation was 255,427...

in Denver, Colorado

Denver, Colorado

Biography

Originally from Ohio, Byers moved with his parents to Iowa in 1851, and then to Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...

as the city was being laid out in 1854. There he became the first deputy surveyor

Surveying

See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...

in the Nebraska Territory, in which capacity he created the first official plat

Plat

A plat in the U.S. is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. Other English-speaking countries generally call such documents a cadastral map or plan....

of Omaha. A partnership with Andrew J. Poppleton led Byers to make the first map of the city of Omaha. Soon afterwards he became a member of the first city council, and a member of the first session of the Nebraska Territorial Legislature, convened January 16, 1855, in Omaha.

In 1859 Byers moved to Denver

Denver, Colorado

to take advantage of recent gold strikes in the area. Taking the printing presses of the defunct Bellevue Gazette by ox

An ox , also known as a bullock in Australia, New Zealand and India, is a bovine trained as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castrated adult male cattle; castration makes the animals more tractable...

cart

Cart

A cart is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people...

, he and J. H. Kellom were the authors of a handbook to the gold fields, published that year. Robert W. Furnas, in 1859 associated with the Nebraska Advertiser, later recalled that Byers had bought the equipment of the defunct and had it taken by ox team to Denver, then in western Kansas Territory

Kansas Territory

The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Kansas....

, where he used it in the publication of the Rocky Mountain News.

Upon moving to Denver he built and lived in several mansions, including the one now known as the Byers-Evans House

Byers-Evans House

The Byers-Evans House Museum is a historic house museum in Denver, Colorado, USA.- History :The Byers-Evans house was built in 1883 by William Byers, the founder of the Rocky Mountain News and was sold to William Gray Evans in 1889. It is an Italianate style house which had several additions made...

. The Byers-Evans House is now a museum, and is located next to the Denver Art Museum

Denver Art Museum

The Denver Art Museum is an art museum in Denver, Colorado located in Denver's Civic Center.It is known for its collection of American Indian art,and has a comprehensive collection numbering more than 68,000 works from across the world....

in downtown Denver. Around 1889 Byers and his wife relocated outside of the city of Denver into the community known as "South Denver," which was organized as a "dry" community. They lived in a mansion on a large tract of land between Washington and Pearl streets; many historical sources list 171 Washington as the address of their home. Byers was an avid horticulturalist and planted a wide variety of tree species on his property; he used the majority of the land plot for personal farming and gardening. Some of the trees he planted may still be on the property today, around the periphery of William N. Byers Junior High School. After the Byers couple vacated their mansion and farm, the house was demolished and the property was used for Byers Junior High School, dedicated to the Denver Public Schools

Denver Public Schools

The Denver County School District No. 1, more commonly known as the Denver Public Schools , is the public school system in the City and County of Denver, Colorado, United States.-History:...

in 1921.

As a former territorial surveyor, it is not surprising that Byers was an accomplished outdoorsman. While living in Denver, he spent considerable time in the mountains. In 1863, the artist Albert Bierstadt

Albert Bierstadt

Albert Bierstadt was a German-American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. In obtaining the subject matter for these works, Bierstadt joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion...

asked him to serve as a guide, and he led Bierstadt on an expedition from Idaho Springs, Colorado

Idaho Springs, Colorado

The City of Idaho Springs is a municipality in the U.S. state of Colorado that is the most populous settlement in Clear Creek County, Colorado. Idaho Springs is located in Clear Creek Canyon, in the mountains upstream from Golden, some thirty miles west of Denver...

to the summit of the mountain Bierstadt named Mount Rosalie, later known as Mount Evans

Mount Evans

Mount Evans is a mountain in the Front Range region of the Rocky Mountains, in Clear Creek County, Colorado. It is one of 54 fourteeners in Colorado, and the closest fourteener to Denver...

. Bierstadt's masterpiece Storm in the rocky mountains was based on that trip.

William N. Byers died on March 25, 1903 and was buried in Fairmount Cemetery

Fairmount Cemetery (Denver, Colorado)

Fairmount Cemetery in Denver, Colorado was founded in 1890 and is Denver's second oldest operating cemetery after Riverside Cemetery. It was designed by German landscape architect Reinhard Schuetze...

in Denver, Colorado.

External links

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