Ruby-Irwin Cemetery

 

 

When ruby silver, a silver-arsenic sulfide mineral, was discovered in 1879 along what prospectors appropriately called Ruby Gulch, two communities came to life- Ruby and Irwin, silver mining camps established in 1879, located about a half mile apart, and a mile northeast of the cemetery. Irwin was named for Canadian prospector Richard Irwin, one of the first arrivals. The town of Irwin eventually absorbed Ruby.  When the towns were only a year old, Irwin could boast of having the country’s only brass band.  Irwin had a main street with a row of two story clapboard, false –front businesses and an elaborate string of fire plugs to protect them. The ore gave out quickly and by 1885, the town was nearly deserted.  No original buildings stand in Irwin today.

The Irwin Cemetery, originally the Ruby Cemetery is located just east of the crest of Kebler Pass on County Road 12 about ten miles west of Crested Butte.  While the cemetery historical marker indicates both communities died in 1885 with the silver bust, the Irwin Post Office remained open until June 1900 so burials after 1885 are probable.