Routt County CO Archives Biographies.....Irwin, Charles C. July 7, 1862 - ?
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Judy Crook jlcrook@rof.net March 25, 2006, 6:21 pm

Author: Progressive Men of Western Colorado

     For a full quarter of a century Charles C. Irwin, of Routt county, has been

connected in a progressive and productive way with the ranching and cattle

industries of Colorado, and within this period he has also given the mining

industry of the state some attention, somewhat to its advantage but not to his

own.  He is a native of Ohio, born at Sciotoville on July 7, 1862, and the son

of George W. and Mahala Irwin, natives of that state who moved to Illinois late

in their lives and there ended their days, the mother dying in 1872 and the

father in 1881.  The father was a prominent business man in Illinois, carrying

on extensive operations in farming, merchandising and milling.  He owned the

controlling interest in the Hungarian Mills, then the largest enterprise of its

kind in the state.  He was an active Republican and a prominent Freemason.  Of

the nine children in the family six are living, Charles C., Albert R., Maud E.

(Mrs. Owen M. Biler), Emma J. (Mrs. William Puyalls), Minnie (Mrs. Guy W. Ward),

and George G.  Charles was educated at the common and graded schools of his

native county, and remained at home working for his parents until he reached his

sixteenth year.  He then moved to Bowling Green Valley, Missouri, and leased a

farm which he managed for a year.  In the autumn of 1879 he came to Colorado and

during the next two years conducted a ranch on Ralston creek.  In 1882 he began

a search for a more desirable and suitable location, and in the fall of 1883

took up a homestead near Slater which he improved and afterward sold.  Then,

after devoting several years to ranching and raising cattle with good results,

he took his earnings and tried to develop mining properties in the vicinity of

Hahn’s Peak.  The venture was disastrous to him and in it he lost a large sum of

money.  With what he had left he bought in 1900 his present ranch on Elk river.

 This he has greatly improved, erecting good buildings and bringing one hundred

and twenty acres of his one hundred and sixty acres to a high state of

cultivation.  His ranch is eight miles west of Steamboat Springs, which affords

him a good market easily available, and is pleasantly located and well supplied

with water.  Cattle and hay are his principal resources, and these are raised in

large quantities.  He also has the Milner ranch near by under lease.  In

fraternal circles he is connected with the Masonic order and the Odd Fellows,

and politically he supports the principles and candidates of the Republican

party.  He is a progressive and highly esteemed citizen, full of practical zeal

and activity in behalf of all good undertakings for the benefit of the community

and deeply interested in the enduring welfare of his county and state.  At one

time he lived neighbor to the well-known Jim and John Baker, old Colorado

pioneers on Snake river, and he has many graphic and interesting reminiscences

of these renowned characters, high types of a race of heroic men that has almost

passed out of American life.  Mr. Irwin is himself something of a pioneer and he

saw many phases of frontier life in its earlier and more rugged days.    

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

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/routt/bios/irwin434gbs.txt

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