RYAN, Hon. Charles M., b 1857; 1905 Bio, Montrose County, Colorado http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/montrose/bios/ryancm.txt --------------------------------------- Donated September 7, 2001 Transcribed by Judy Crook from the book: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Published 1905, A.W. Bowen & Co., Chicago, Ill. --------------------------------------- Hon. Charles M. Ryan Hon. Charles M. Ryan, of Montrose, whose valuable services to his country and the state at large in the last state legislature indicated a knowledge of the interests and requirements of the state and an acquaintance with public affairs in general and with men that could have been acquired only in a long, varied and useful experience, is a native of central New York, born in 1857, and the son of John and Helen (Cahil) Ryan, who were born in Ireland and came to the United States in early life, the father coming as a young man and the mother as a girl with her parents. The father located on a farm near Syracuse at the village of Navarino, and from there he was married near his home on which he and his wife lived the rest of their days, he dying in 1864, at the age of forty-eight, and his wife in 1880, at that of fifty-five. They were the parents of six children, the subject of this review being the third of the number. He remained in his native county until he reached the age of eighteen, and received a limited education in the district schools near his home. When he was thirteen, his own independent and self-reliant spirit and the circumstances of the family induced him to go out for the purpose of earning his own livelihood, which he did there for five years. In 1875 he came to Colorado and located at Colorado Springs and in that neighborhood he became attached to the stock industry and for a number of years was a range rider and cowboy. While neither frail in physical health nor wanting in manly spirit, his free out-door life was a source of great advantage to him in every way. It gave him increased bodily vigor, heightened and established his courage, developed a broad and ready resourcefulness, and taught him the best of all lessons ever given in the school of experience, to rely on himself in emergencies, giving him at the same time a wider knowledge of and a firmer confidence in his own capabilities. Thus nature is always balancing her gifts to her children. Expatriating this gentleman from the blandishments of cultivated life, which might have been his portion had he remained in his native state, and laying him under tribute for almost every form of arduous effort and confronting him with almost every form of danger and privation incident to a life in the wilderness, through this very means she poured into his veins a strong and steady tide of high vitality and intensified his spirit with a daring and a comprehensiveness of power that not only carried him safely and successfully through the engagements then upon him, but fitted him for whatever might come in future. Essentially and by nature a man of high integrity, he met faithfully every draft then made upon him in the line of duty, and since then he has continued to do so, and with the augmented force he acquired in the discipline of trial through which he was then passing. The summer of 1877 was passed in a stamp mill on Summit mountain, above Del Norte, and after that he was engaged in prospecting until late in the summer of 1880, when he went back to the saddle and occupied himself in buying and selling cattle. Prior to this time, by thrift and business acumen, he had acquired valuable property in Telluride, making his purchases there about 1882. In 1885 he sold out his holdings in that section and, moving to Montrose county, continued to deal in stock and also prospected and located mining properties, being the original discoverer and locator of the Tomboy mine. His principal occupation in this region, however, was dealing in cattle, which he carried on extensively until 1892. In that year he was appointed superintendent of the Sunnyside mine at Eureka gulch by the First National Bank of Montrose, which owned the property. He held this position during the summer and passed the ensuing winter in prospecting through the Lasalle and Blue Mountain districts, returning in the early summer of 1893 to again take charge of the Sunnyside for a few months. In the fall of that year he was appointed brand inspector for the western half of the state and held the office until relieved by a change of administration in the state government in the spring of 1894. The summer following was consumed in prospecting in the San Miguel region, and in February, 1895, he bought a bankrupt stock of furniture in a store now kept by Messrs. Frasier & Garrett. After disposing of this he became live stock representative for the house of Planchard, Shelly & Rogers, of Omaha, whom he represented two seasons in this state. Quitting this employment at the end of that period, he once more turned his attention to dealing in stock, in which he has since been extensively and successfully engaged, his headquarters being at his valuable and well-improved ranch of four hundred and eighty acres ten miles northwest of Montrose. He has been energetic and very serviceable in connection with all projects for building up and improving the county, developing its resources and strengthening its commercial importance that have commended themselves to his judgment. When the County Fair Association was organized he was one of its first directors and mainstays, and for a number of years he has been president of the Livestock Association. In politics he is an unwavering Republican, and as the candidate of his party, to which he has given the devoted loyalty and service of his mature life, he was elected as county representative in the last legislature. He is a Knight of Pythias, with membership in Montrose lodge of the order, which has also felt the force of his intelligence, enterprise and capacity. On Christmas day, 1890, Mr. Ryan was married to Miss Clara A. Land, a native of New York city, daughter of John Scott and Susan (Haden) Land, the father, a Canadian, being an extensive traveler in various parts of the United States and a soldier in the Civil war, losing his life on the battlefield. His widow makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Ryan. They have one child, Archie S., aged seven years. =================================================== Contributed for use by the USGenWeb Archive Project (http://www.usgenweb.org) and by the COGenWeb Archive Project USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. 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