158 Years Ago
The Golden Transcript published its first issue on December 19, 1866. George West was the owner and publisher. George and his wife, Eliza Boyd West, both arrived here in 1859 during the gold rush. George began publishing his first newspaper—the Western Mountaineer—in December of 1859. After taking time out to serve in the Civil War, he returned to Golden and resumed his newspaper business—this time calling it the Colorado Transcript.
The Wests believed in running the Transcript as a family business. Eliza wrote a regular column. All three of their children worked on the paper, as did two of their spouses. The paper stayed in the West family for nearly a century.
The City and the Transcript have seen good times and bad together, and both have certainly had times when their continued existence was in question. Four years after the Transcript was founded, Golden’s population had dipped to 587 souls. A newspaper needs both subscribers and advertisers to survive, and that 1870 census was discouraging on both counts; however, the Wests had faith in the City they helped found. They also knew something that was going to turn the tide of fortune—the railroad was coming!
The arrival of the Colorado Central Railroad in 1870 rescued Golden from threatened oblivion, and by 1880 our population had rocketed to 2,730. The railroad put Golden in a central position between Denver and the mountain mining towns. Because of the railroad, the small city became an industrial and commercial hub, with smelters, grain mills, a paper mill, a pottery, coal mines, brickworks, and one very significant brewery. Washington Avenue became the place to shop for residents of both the City itself and the farms and ranches in the surrounding area.
End of Part 1 of 3 – The Story of the Transcript
Tune in tomorrow for part 2!
