Charles McKinney is a prominent figure in the ranching and stock industries of Colorado with over two decades of experience. Born in North Carolina in 1859, he moved to Colorado and worked in farming, dairy, and mining before settling on a successful ranch near Mesa. He has contributed significantly to the growth and development of Mesa County and is a respected citizen.
Charles McKinney, who has been actively connected with the ranching and stock industries of Colorado for a period of twenty-one years, and in that time has suffered the usual ups and downs of the business, but is now comfortably and profitably established on a good ranch near the village of Mesa, Mesa county, has contributed essentially to this portion of the state, and especially to building up and improving the line of activity to which he belongs. He is a native of North Carolina, born in 1859, and the son of Henry and Sarah (Wiseman) McKinney, who were living in McDowell County at the time. Both are natives of the old North state and are now living there in Mitchell County. There also their son passed his childhood and youth and received his education, remaining at home until he was about twenty years of age. He then engaged in general farming for two years and at the end of that time moved to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he worked in a dairy for six months. From there he came to Leadville, this state, and at that point he followed mining for a year and a half. The next two years he spent in Garfield County, where he was again employed in dairy work, and then moved to Plateau valley in 1885 and settled on a ranch. This he sold and bought another which proved to be of no value, and in the deal, he lost all he had in it. He bought the ranch on which he now lives in 1888, and since then he has devoted his energies to its development and improvements and the expansion of his business with gratifying results and cumulative profits. In 1892 he was united in marriage with Miss Mary Wallace, and they have five children, Henry L., David F., Adelbert L., Jessie J. and Clara B. Mr. McKinney has been connected with the growth and development of the county in a leading way, and is one of its influential and representative citizens, widely known and generally respected on all sides.
Source: Bowen, A. W. Progressive Men of Western Colorado. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., Publishers. 1905.