Starting in life for himself at the age of twenty, and since then residing where he now lives on Garfield creek, in the county of the same name in Colorado, Lucius Lake, whose well improved and skillfully cultivated ranch is near Newcastle, is thoroughly identified with the interests of the section in which he has cast his lot and to whose development and advancement he has essentially contributed. He was born in 1868 in Illinois, and is the son of Roderick and Anna (O’Neil) Lake, the former a native of New York and the latter of Vermont. Soon after their marriage they settled on the virgin prairie of Illinois, and there they lived and flourished until 1879, when the mother died at the age of thirty-nine, leaving five children, of whom Lucius was the first born. In 1886 the father moved his family to this state and settled at Aspen in what is now Pitkin county. He afterward moved to Newcastle, Garfield county, where he now resides. He is a veteran of the Civil war who saw years of awful havoc and hardship in the momentous contest, and received a serious wound at the battle of Antietam, which the great Southern commander considered one of the best fought and most creditable engagements of his memorable career. A brother of Mr. Lake’s father, who was also a Union soldier, died in a Southern prison. Mr. Lake accompanied his father in his change of residence, remaining at home and assisting in the work of the homestead until he reached the age of twenty. He then started out for himself, locating where he now lives on Garfield creek, and where he has since been engaged in an active and expanding stock business. He has given his attention earnest to the cultivation and improvement of his ranch, and the building up of his business and the interests of the section in which he lives, and has to his credit achievements in both a private and a public way that are highly appreciated and commended in the community. His chief aim is to do well what he has to do from day to day without seeking public station or political advancement for himself; and in this he has succeeded well, and won the regard and confidence of his fellow men at the same time.
Source: Bowen, A. W. Progressive Men of Western Colorado. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., Publishers. 1905.