Eagle County CO Archives Biographies.....Borah, Alfred G. February 3, 1845 - ?
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Judy Crook jlcrook@rof.net November 10, 2005, 12:40 pm

Author: Progressive Men of Western Colorado

Alfred G. Borah [biography includes a photograph, not posted]

     This prominent old settler and progressive citizen of Eagle county, who is

held in the highest esteem by the people of his neighborhood, and who has been

of great service to it in pushing forward its improvement and developing its

resources, was born at Morgantown, Butler county, Kentucky, on February 3, 1845,

and is the son of Jacob and Susan A. (Taylor) Borah, also natives of Kentucky,

who passed their lives in that state, the father dying there in 1847 and the

mother in 1862.  The father was a successful farmer and an ardent Democrat.  He

established Borah’s ferry, on Green river, in his native state, and conducted it

many years.  Six children were born in the household and but two of them are

living, Alfred G. and Jacob E., both being residents of Colorado.  Alfred was

educated at the common schools and remained at home until he reached the age of

nineteen, then, after wintering in 1864-5 in Adams and Tazewell counties,

Illinois, he came to Colorado in the spring of 1865 and took up his residence in

Boulder county.  While living there he helped to build the toll road from the

mountains into Boulder valley and also worked in saw-mills for wages.  In 1868

he moved to Coffey county, Kansas, where he kept a hotel and livery barn for

awhile, then dealt in real estate and insurance. He returned to Boulder county

in this state in 1875, without capital but with a determination to make some,

and during the next three years worked at day labor and mining to get a start. 

In 1878 he moved to Leadville, where he prospected and mined with varying

success until 1882, then with other early settlers moved to his present location

in Brush creek valley.  In company with his brother Jacob (see sketch of him

elsewhere in this work), he passed three years hunting and trapping and guiding

tourists through the country, finding the business very profitable.  In 1885 he

pre-empted a portion of his present ranch, a tract of unbroken wild sage and

willows, which he at once began to improve and reduce to cultivation with such

success and profit that he was soon able to buy an additional tract of three

hundred and twenty acres, so that he now owns four hundred and eighty acres in

all, one-half of which is in a fine state of productiveness.  He has made

extensive improvements on his land and brought it to notice as one of the best

in Eagle county.  A beautiful stream runs through the middle of it, enhancing

its attractiveness and furnishing abundant water for its irrigation.  Hay and

cattle are his chief products, but he also raises quantities of excellent grain

and vegetables.  He has taken great interest in improving the live stock in the

county, to this end becoming one of the principal stockholders in the Eagle

County French Coach and Percheron Breeders Association and serving as its

president.  In school work also he has always been actively and serviceably

interested, having served as secretary of his school district, Brush Creek No.

10, since 1889. In politics he is an earnest and loyal Democrat.  On June 6,

1871, he was married to Miss Mary Crawford, a native of New York state.  She

died on February 11, 1881, and on April 16, 1889, he married a second wife, Miss

Mary S. Grant, a native of Illinois.  They have one child, Mettie Alda.  Mr.

Borah has kept a diary of his life since 1882 in which are recorded many events

of thrilling interest, hardships and privations from the wildness of the

country, hairbreadth escapes from the age of wild beasts and savage men, the

fury of the elements and winter’s cold.  It also records his struggles for

advancement in a worldly way, describing many trials and triumphs, many reverses

and successes, and makes altogether a very interesting and graphic story of the

conquest of a resolute and resourceful man over difficulties of great moment.

Additional Comments:
From Progressive Men of Western Colorado.  Chicago:  A.W. Bowen & Co., 1905

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