The Golden Transcript is the second oldest newspaper in Colorado, behind the Central City Register-Call.

After coming west, he fortuitously helped William N. Byers publish the first extra edition of the Rocky Mountain News on June 11, 1859, and then (with his partners in the Boston Company) established Colorado's fourth newspaper, the Western Mountaineer, in Golden on December 4, 1859.

After that newspaper ceased operating in 1860, West fought with the Union Army in the American Civil War, and resumed his journalistic career as Local Editor of the News in 1865.

Its founder remained at the helm for 40 years, a remarkable accomplishment in Colorado journalism, until his death in 1906.

The Golden Transcript carries the remarkable distinction of having never missed an edition throughout its publishing history.