Denver, History of Colorado, BIOS: TEW, Charles F. (published 1918)
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"History of Colorado", edited by Wilbur Fisk Stone, published by The S. J. 
Clarke Publishing Co. (1918)  Vol. II


p. 396, 398
photo p. 397


CHARLES F. TEW.

	After the first mining excitement died out it was found that the 
prosperity of Colorado was due as much to the development of its 
unwatered lands as to its mineral resources. Irrigation, it was 
discovered, was the wand which would fertilize the rare soils of the 
state. To this task of projecting great irrigation systems many men 
have devoted their lives. To no one is greater credit due than to 
Charles F. Tew, now classed among the leading irrigation authorities of 
the country. Holding to high ideals, he has utilized meet practical 
methods which have been of the greatest benefit in enhancing Colorado's 
fertility and making it a great agricultural state, the productivity of 
which places it on a par with the leading agricultural states of the 
Union.

	Charles F. Tew was born in Blair, Nebraska, December 11, 1871. 
His father was John W. Tew, of English ancestry, and his mother was 
Emeroi (Seargent) Tew, who came of Revolutionary ancestry. Charles F. 
Tew was educated at Blair, Nebraska, and at Cheyenne, Wyoming, to which 
place he removed in the year 1890. Having determined upon the practice 
of law as a life work, he prepared for his chosen calling, and was 
admitted to the bar at Cheyenne in 1893. In 1897 he removed to Greeley, 
Colorado, where he practiced law for a time, and has since given his 
attention to law practice in Denver. He has a keenly analytical mind. 
readily connecting cause and effect, and is seldom if ever at fault In 
the application of a legal principle. This, however, has been but one 
phase of his activity. He has been prominent in the promotion of recent 
large irrigation projects, including the construction of ditches and 
reservoirs along the South Platte river. He was closely associated with 
the late D. A. Camfield in organizing the Irrigation districts in the 
South Platte valley and in the development of large areas to 
productivity.

	Mr. Tew, in connection with John T. Warren, filed on the Empire 
reservation in 1902 and 1903 and after the development of that district 
and the task of connecting it up with the Bijou ditch, he was prominent 
in the projection and in the building of the Riverside reservoir, in 
which undertaking he was associated with Camfield and others. They 
built the reservoir, which is the largest in the South Platte valley 
aside from the Cheesman reservoir. They also built the Point of Rocks 
reservoir for the North Sterling irrigation district and the Jumbo 
reservoir. Mr. Tew, associated with C. M. Ireland and others, also 
organized and promoted the Hewylyn irrigation district, now 
successfully serving over thirty thousand acres of land near Hudson. He 
was likewise one of the organizers of the great Greeley-Poudre 
district, which built the long tunnel through the Green Mountain range 
to tap Laramie river and turn its waters into the Poudre. Although the 
completion of this project is prevented by the litigation between 
Wyoming and Colorado in the supreme court of the United States, it is 
an enterprise that will rank with the foremost in the state and which 
will ultimately irrigate over one hundred thousand acres of fine land 
in Weld county. For about two years Mr. Tew has been engaged in the 
long litigation at Denver and Brighton, involving the Antero reservoir, 
the Cheesman reservoir of Denver, the Union Water Company, the Highline 
canal and the East Denver irrigation district and in the controversy 
between the Antero & Lost Park Reservation Company, the Henry L. 
Doherty Company and others. There are few men so thoroughly informed 
concerning irrigation in Colorado and the problems arising therefrom. 
As a lawyer Mr. Tew is familiar with every legal phase concerning the 
development of the irrigation projects of the state, and actuated by a 
most progressive public spirit, has done everything possible to further 
Colorado's interests in the matter of irrigation and thus promote the 
productivity and wealth of the state.

	Mr. Tew has never held public office although he is often heard 
on the hustings, being a fluent, earnest and forceful speaker who 
always commands attention and seldom fails to carry conviction to the 
minds of his hearers. He is a thorough student, a clear thinker, a deep 
reasoner, logical in his conclusions and cogent in his utterances.