The earliest examples of Colorado printing are the first numbers of two competing newspapers, which were issued at Denver on April 23, 1859, only about 20 minutes apart.[130] Taking precedence was the Rocky Mountain News, published by William N. Byers & Co. and printed with equipment purchased in Nebraska. Its printers were John L. Dailey of Ohio, a member of the company, and W. W. Whipple of Michigan.[131]

The Library of Congress recently acquired its earliest example of Colorado printing, a broadside entitled Laws and Regulations of the Miners of the Gregory Diggings District, attributed to the Byers & Co. press. Printed sometime after July 16, 1859, it is one of but two located copies of the first extant Colorado imprint other than a newspaper or newspaper extra.[132] The laws, passed at miners' meetings on June 8 and July 16, apply to the district named for John Gregory, whose successful prospecting helped to stimulate the famous Pike's Peak gold rush. They were placed in historical context by Peter C. Schank, assistant chief of the American-British Law Division in the Library of Congress, in an article announcing this acquisition:

The lower margin of the Library's copy is inscribed, "Favor of Stiles E Mills, July 20th 1863." Neither the identity of Mr. Mills nor the intervening provenance has been established. In recent years this copy belonged to Thomas W. Streeter (1883-1965) of Morristown, N. J., owner of the most important private library of Americana assembled during the 20th century. The Library of Congress paid $2,800 for the broadside at that portion of the Streeter sale held by Parke-Bernet Galleries on April 23-24, 1968.[134]

Previously the Library's first example of Colorado printing was the second issue of a small newspaper sheet, The Western Mountaineer, published at Golden City on December 14, 1859. This newspaper was printed on the same press, actually the first to reach Colorado, that under different ownership had lost the close race to print the first newspaper at Denver. Gold is a prominent topic in this particular issue, which includes an interesting account of the prospector, George Andrew Jackson, based on information he himself supplied. The Library's copy seems to have been detached from a bound volume, probably before its listing in A Check List of American Newspapers in the Library of Congress (1901). Penciled on its front page are the name "Lewis Cass [Esquire?]" and what appears to be another name beginning with "Amos." Lewis Cass was Secretary of State at the time of publication.