Larimer County, History of Colorado, BIOS: BROWN, James A. (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. 328
photo p. 329


JAMES A. BROWN.

	James A. Brown, a well known capitalist of Fort Collins, was born 
on the 31st of January, 1843, in Prince county, Canada, where he was 
reared and educated. He learned the carriage maker's trade in early 
manhood and in 1S68 came to Fort Collins, Colorado, where he joined his 
brother, John R., in the wagon making and blacksmithing business, in 
which both were very successful. At the end of two years, however, 
James A. Brown turned his attention to the cattle business. In 1881 he 
was chosen general manager of the Powder River Live Stock Company, 
continuing as such until 1893 when the company sold its herds and 
retired from the live stock industry. Its Investment amounted to seven 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars and it was one of the most 
successful live stock concerns operating in "Wyoming. In the fall of 
1886 the company purchased twenty-five hundred acres of land in the 
Elkhorn valley of Nebraska, on which it established extensive feeding 
grounds, annually fattening two thousand head of cattle for the market. 
Of the latter enterprise Mr. Brown was also the able manager. During 
the winter of 1886-87 the company lost four hundred thousand dollars' 
worth of cattle by starvation and because of the bitter cold and heavy 
snows. It had twenty-tour thousand head of cattle on the range in the 
tall of 1886 and found only eight thousand head in the spring of 1887. 
After the company closed up its affairs Mr. Brown returned to Fort 
Collins, where he resided to the time of his demise, which occurred 
January 3, 1914. His efforts and Influence contributed in marked 
measure to the development and upbuilding of his community. He built 
more than a dozen houses in Fort Collins, including the first frame 
structure erected in the town. In 1902 he was a member of the committee 
which secured the building of the sugar factory and he served as a 
director of the Fort Collins sugar factory for two years. He was also 
one of the founders and one of the first directors of the Fort Collins 
National Bank, of which he was elected president In 1893. For two 
terms, from 1901 until 1905, he did valuable service as a member of the 
city council. He was widely recognized as one of the foremost citizens 
and enjoyed the high regard and esteem of all with whom he was 
associated. On the 31st of January, 1867, his twenty-fourth birthday, 
he wedded Miss Adelaide Carnrike, of Belleville, Ontario, Canada, and 
their three living children are as follows: Adelbert F., of Fort 
Collins; Frank J., of Denver; and Clyde H., of Fort Collins.