Cy Warman

The Express Messenger, and Other Tales of the Rail. Cy Warman

Cy Warman (June 22, 1855 - April 7, 1914) was an American journalist and author known during his life by the appellation "The Poet of the Rockies"Cy (Cyrus) Warman was born on a homestead to John and Nancy Askew Warman of Greenup, Illinois. He was educated at the common schools there and later became a farmer. Warman married Ida Blanch Hays of St. Jacob, Illinois in 1879. In 1880, after failing as a wheat broker in Pocahontas, Illinois, Mr. Warman migrated to Denver, Colorado where the Colorado Silver Mining Boom was in progress. There, Warman worked for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad progressing from a "wiper" (charged with keeping the engine area clean) to locomotive fireman and later to railroad engineer. These experiences became the basis for many of his early writings. In 1888, Mr. Warman became editor of the publication Western Railway. He sold his interest in Western Railway in March 1892 and relocated to Creede, Colorado at the height of the Creede mining boom. There, he founded the Creede Daily Chronicle