Almost two decades of human life have passed since Emanuel Gant settled on Main creek, Garfield county, where he now lives, and during the whole of that time he has been an important factor in the development of the country in which he has cast his lost. He was born in Jackson county, Iowa, on the banks of the Mississippi, in 1856, and is the son of John and Elizabeth (Grant) Gant, both natives of England, who came to America in the ‘forties and settled in Canada where they maintained their home about ten years. They then moved into “The States,” locating in Iowa, where their son Emanuel was born, as has been noted. A short time afterwards they changed their residence to Kansas and are still living in that state, the father aged eighty-four and the mother eighty-two. Their offspring number eight and Emanuel is the seventh in the order of birth. He remained at home in Kansas until he was twenty and then began working wholly for himself, running cattle in that state. In 1884 he became a resident of Colorado, locating on Main creek not far from the village of Rifle, Garfield county, where he has since lived, and where he has built up a flourishing business in ranching and the stock industry. Mr. Gant was married in 1891 to Miss Eunice Cozad, and they have two children, Lawrence and Helen R. The practical knowledge which Mr. Gant has gained in his wide and varied experience and the acquaintance with men which it has given him, has been of great service to him in his private business and enabled him to take the active part in the public affairs of his community for which he is fitted by endowment, taste and capacity, with credit to himself and benefit to the people. He is esteemed as one of the leading representative men of this section of his county, and justifies the respect in which he is held by a broad and intelligent view of public matters and an earnestness and zeal in their promotion that is in every way highly commendable. At the same time he neither seeks nor desires political honors for himself.
Source: Bowen, A. W. Progressive Men of Western Colorado. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., Publishers. 1905.