"Somebody asked me to buy an old saddle," said Charley Brown, who collected the relics that became the basis of the collection in the Grant County Historical Museum.  In the 50 years Charley was in Canyon City, he mined, ran a general store, was postmaster of Canyon City, and operated a filling station.  It was in 1925, while selling gasoline that he first started his collection with the purchase of an old saddle.  "A week later a feller sold me an old Colt, one of the first in the West.  By the end of the month I was spending more money on relics than I was takin' in," said Charley.    Everyone was cleaning out their attics that had been piling up for decades and Charley's collection was born.

In 1953, he teamed up with Herman Oliver and spearheaded the building of the actual museum.