Bios (McKinlay/Price), Routt County, Colorado Progressive Men Of Western Colorado Copyright 1905 Bio copies from "Progressive Men of Western Colorado" generously donated by the 'Museum of Northwest Colorado', email musnwco@cmn.net Transcribed by Shelley Barnes shellbbco@prodigy.net McKINLAY, William A. If the environment of a man's birth and youth have any considerable influence on his tastes, his habits of thought and his destiny, much of value in the mental make-up and general disposition of the subject of this sketch may be attributed to the fact that he was born and grew to early manhood on the banks of the picturesque Hudson, amid the wonders and delights of that noble river where progression in spirit and cultivation in taste, besides all forms of a business mind are likely to be quickened by the busy traffic of the stream and the high state of development found everywhere along its banks. Mr. McKinlay was educated in the public school of New York and the University of Wooster, Ohio. He is the son of Daniel and Rachel McKinlay, the former a native of Scotland and of the same lineage as the late President. The father was manager for Garner & Company, prominent manufacturers at Wappingers Falls and other points in the Hudson river valley. When but a boy he became interested with his brother and other relatives who were the principal owners of the Licking Iron Company, which was the first to erect iron furnaces in the famous Hocking valley region of Ohio. In 1875 he came to Colorado for the benefit of his health, and after spending two years traveling in California and the West, returned to Colorado Springs, and was in North park and Routt county in the fall of 1879 just before the Meeker massacre. In 1880 he became interested with his associates in the mining machinery business at Denver and Pueblo, and in the latter place their company erected a large machine shop and foundry. In 1888 he disposed of this interest there, returned to Routt county and located the well known McKinlay ranch on Elkhead creek, since January 1, 1896, Mr. McKinlay has devoted is time wholly to political life, having been in the treasurer's office almost continuously since that time. In 1904 he was again honored by the Republican party with the nomination, and was elected by the largest majority ever given a county treasurer in Routt county. In June, 1900, he was married to Miss Dora J. Keller, whose father was one of the first settlers of the county, having located on Elk river in 1883. PRICE, James F. It was in that great nursery of American enterprise, resourcefulness and good citizenship, the ample farming life of our country, that James F. Price acquired the salient characteristics of manly independence, undoubting self-reliance and vigorous industry which have enabled him to forge ahead in the struggle for supremacy among men, and build up a competence for himself and secure a lasting place in the esteem and confidence of his fellows. He was born in Wayne county, Illinois, on July 22, 1850, the son of James and Elizabeth Price, the former a native of England and the latter of Indiana. Somewhat earlier in their married life they moved to Illinois, and there they passed the remainder of their days, the father dying there in 1881, after surviving his wife a quarter of a century, she having died in 1856. He was a Freemason and an Odd Fellow, and politically belonged to the Republican party. They had three children, Edward, Fannie and James F., all of whom are living. James the last born, grew to the age of eighteen on the paternal homestead and was educated at the district school in the vicinity of his home. He remained in his native state until 1869, then moved to Minnesota, where he passed one summer as a farm hand at small wages. Returning then to Illinois, he settled in Jefferson county and spent ten years farming on his own account. In 1879 he came to Colorado and located near Denver, where he worked as a saw-mill and ranch hand for a time. His next move was to Rathbone, and here he engaged in freighting between that place and Georgetown until 1881. In that year he became a resident of Routt county, homesteading on a part of is present ranch and subsequently adding the rest by purchase. He now has two hundred and forty acres, of which one hundred and fifty acres are under cultivation with good annual results in hay, grain and hardy vegetables, although cattle and hay are his principal products. He was among the first settlers in this section of the county, and he has been prominently connected in a serviceable way with all its improvements, local and general. The buildings on and the productiveness of his own land are the results of his own industry and thrift, and much that is of real aid to the development and progress of the neighborhood has had abundant help for him. Fraternally he is connected with the Masonic order, and in political allegiance he is a devoted Republican. His ranch is well located, six miles northwest of Steamboat Springs, in a region renowned for its fertility and still undeveloped possibilities, its resources being as yet but slightly stirred, but as they are in the hands of a highly progressive and enterprising people, among whom he has an elevated rank as a promoter, the day of their full development and usefulness is not far distant. All honor to the men of brain and brawn who have taken this wilderness in hand and made it begin to blossom as the rose. =================================================== Contributed for use by the USGenWeb Archive Project (http://www.usgenweb.org) and by the COGenWeb Archive Project USGenWeb Project NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the internet, this data may be used by non-commercial researchers, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format for profit, nor for presentation in any form by any other organization or individual. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than as stated above, must obtain express written permission from the author, the submitter and from the listed USGenWeb Project archivist.