The 75th anniversary edition of the Rocky featured four full-color covers drawn by an artist, each depicting key scenes in the history of Denver.

Inside the section shown at right, the editor explained the cover this way:

"In a span of 75 years, the pioneers have become men of the past. Their work is done. They built a state from the wilderness and gave it life, color and vitality. Today, Denver's fights are economic, its adventures are financial and political. There is no frontier.

"These men and women of an earlier, more robust day will say that their era, with its hardships and heartbreak, was a better era. Whether they are right or wrong, Denver cannot turn back. With the vitality and spirit inherited from the pioneers, it faces forward.

"Science, engineering and commerce offer fields for conquest. Today's adventure-seeker needs moral courage rather than physical.

"He needs dollars rather than cartridge, and he fights his battles in a laboratory or an office. Denver and the West offer opportunities to the young and the venturesome, but they are the opportunities offered by a civilized, well-founded community.

"Denver has traveled far in the 75 years since the Rocky Mountain News was founded. Its progress will continue as long as it keeps its one priceless heritage - the aggressive spirit of the pioneer."