Irving Howbert
1 book in the catalogue.
Irving Howbert was a Colorado pioneer who came west as a boy and became one of the best known businessmen in the Pikes Peak region. He was a county official, a mine owner and a banker. Western Reflections Publishing carries one of his books, Memories of a Lifetime, his own account of life in the Pike's Peak country from 1860 on.
About Irving Howbert
Wikipedia records that Howbert was born in Columbus, Indiana, and died in Colorado Springs. His father, a Methodist missionary, first visited Colorado in 1860, and the family settled in Old Colorado City in 1861. Howbert worked as a farmer, cowboy, freighter and store clerk before he served about six months in the 3rd Colorado Cavalry in 1864 and 1865, a unit that fought at Sand Creek.
He was El Paso County clerk and recorder from 1869 to 1879. In that role he issued the paperwork establishing Colorado Springs, and he helped William Jackson Palmer found the city. He helped fund the Colorado Springs Opera House, completed in 1881, with profits from a Leadville mine. He also helped incorporate the First National Bank of Colorado Springs and served as its president for ten years. Sources give different years for his birth and death, so we state neither.
What the books share
Howbert's book belongs to one place and a few busy decades: the Pike's Peak country from the gold rush of 1859 and 1860 to the Cripple Creek excitement. It reads as a pioneer's memoir, with the Santa Fe Trail, placer camps, railroads and town building all seen by someone who worked in them. Because the original appeared in 1925, it also shows how a man of that generation looked back on his own life and on events like Sand Creek. Readers use it as a primary source on early El Paso County.
The subjects this author is catalogued under. Open Library record.
Next steps for readers of this author
Walking the old town
Plan a morning in Old Colorado City after reading the encyclopedia article, so you know what the district was before it joined Colorado Springs. Then stop at the Pioneers Museum and ask how its collections handle the 1860s.
Reading a pioneer's account against others
A memoir shows one man's view. After finishing it, read the NPS page on Sand Creek and compare how each source treats that event, then note the questions you'd like answered by a third source.
Go deeper
Howbert's memoir centers on El Paso County and the Pike's Peak region, with a stretch of Civil War era service. These resources cover that ground, from the city he helped start to the Sand Creek site.
Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum
The museum's site says it preserves and shares the cultural history of the Pikes Peak region through exhibits, programs and collections.
Colorado Encyclopedia: Colorado Springs
A reference article on the city's growth, with photographs including one of Old Colorado City, established in 1859 during the gold rush.
Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site
The National Park Service history and culture page for the 1864 event, where Howbert's regiment is recorded by other sources to have served.
Good to know
Who was Irving Howbert?
What did Howbert write?
Why don't you give his birth and death years?
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