The Elk Mountain pilot., 1920-01-08
ANOTHER CHAPTER OF
HOW THEY BOOMED

HOW THEY DOOMED
Los Angeles. Calf. Jan. i, 1920.
Mr.. Editor:
There are but few of your readers
that forty years ago from next sum-
msr there was population Of at
least 5000 people assembled at Irwin.
These people all had to be fed and
housed and it all came about within
a period of about six months, SO you
must know that 1t was a pretty busy
place.
1t all came about In this way, the
rich ruby. brittle and native silver
had been found near the surface.
Many specimens. and In fact small
shipments had gone out in the fall Of
1879. Before the people could come
in that season the snow covered the
country. The deeper the snow greater
the excitement grew during the win
ter. Talk about your Klondyke boom.
from Leadville. Aspen, Cripple Greek.
Goldfeld, or Tonapah booms. the
Gunnison county boom Of 1880 was
equal to any Of them.
There s. are no less than six big
stocks of general merchandise stores
in Irwin. In value all the way from
$4,000 to $4,000 for each stock.
There were two drug stores, two
hardware stores. several hotels and
rooming houses. blacksmith and
butcher shops. bakery, cigar stores,
and numerous other little shops. with
ANYTHING to sell that the public would
want to buy. As I recall. there were
two dozen drinking saloons. some OF
them having handsome and expensive
bar fixtures. Think of it, that many
saloons forty years ago. and now
there is not one left.
Among the merchants there was N.
Shurtleff from Peoria, Illinois. He
had a partner named Dick Rolf. u
big. husky German American from
Princeton, Illinois. believe your es-
teemed fellow townsman, John Steele.
claims Princeton as his ancestral
home. Dick Rolf after one year re-
turned. to Princeton Mr. Shurtleff
dropped dead from heart disease be-
hind his counter one day in 1883.
John E. Packard. a young man from
Chicago. had big stock Of goods.
When he wasn't selling groceries. he
was quoting Shakespeare. and after
one year got tired Of both occupa-
tions. sold out and pulled oat for CAL
ifornia. where he had much to do
with shaping the destinies of the
beautiful town of Pomona His father
was the manufacturer Of the Fraser
Axle grease, so well advertised forty
years ago. understand Mr.. Pack
ard was In Cunnison hast summer,
hunting up old land marks.
j. w. Skinner. q native Of Pennsyl-
vania, came to Irwin. from Dodge
City. Kansas. shipping In big stock
Of goods. Jim. did buainess there as
long as the town lasted. He after
wards lived In Salt Lake City, Utah.
and two or three years ago committed
suicide for no apparent reason than
that he was tired Of living. W
Brown & Kilpatrick was another
merchandise firm with . big stock.
Col j. C. Brown was an old New York
merchant and politician, having serv-
ed in the New York legislature He
took part in all of the early day po-
litical scraps on the Democratic side.
Bartlett & Co.. came from Canon
City. They had big store. The
late ex-governor. Jas. H. Peabody. was
a partner in this firm, though he
never lived in Irwin. When A. E.
Bartlett closed out after doing busi-
ness as long as the town lasted, he
ran a grocery store in Gunnison for
a while with the late Judge Ira Brown
as a partner. Mr.. Bartlett after
wards Lived for number Of years In
Glenwood Springs. and he. too, died
by his own hand few years ago, his
body being found on the trail just
out. Of Glenwood with pistol grasped
In his hand. Bart was popular
young man In his time.
Wallace & Fraser came from Gin
cinnati, Ohio. They had q large stock
of goods. Mr.. Wallace had been q
sheriff Of Hamilton county, Ohio. and
a merchant Of Cincinnati. Sandy
Fraser was his brother-in-hw, their
wives being sisters. Mr.. Wallace had
a large family of children but none
ever came to Colorado to live but one
daughter. Miss Matte Wallace, who
assisted in the store, and afterwards
married q mining engineer by the
name of Smith. Mr.. Wallace was a
genial man and at one time was in