Charles Lux (December 28, 1823 – March 15, 1887) was a businessman-rancher and (with his partner Henry Miller) one of the largest landowners in California.
[6] At the same time, the Panic of 1857 and President Buchanan's monetary remedies deprived the Western states of capital for investment[7] San Francisco, however, continued growing (from 24,000 in 1850 to 56,000 in 1860 and 155,000 in 1870) - financed by the gold-mining industry and (after 1857) the silver from the Comstock Lode.
Beginning as cattle dealers and wholesale butchers, the firm continued to invest in ranching properties, at one point owning more than 2,200 square miles of Western land.
[9] Eventually, their expanding cattle empire collided with the interests of land-developers; in 1879 this led to the historic Lux v. Haggin water-rights case.
Lux married the widow of a miner, Miranda Potter (née Sheldon) during his San Francisco residency.