FOREWORD The Gunnison News-Champion printed many articles between 1935 and 1945 of historical interest in Gunnison County. This work is a transcription of many of these articles. The material has been divided into 3 sections: 1. People. This includes recollections by individual pioneers, stories about pioneers by others and obituaries. 2. Pioneer organizations and meetings with lists of those who attended. Under this heading is included a section of Gunnison County reunions in Denver and California with a roster, including addresses, of those present. Western State College alumni often held meetings at the same time. 3. Articles of early history of the area including towns, explorers, Indians, mines and quarries, smelters, ranches and railroads. The story of White Pine of 1883-1885 in the last 65 pages as told by George A. Root, editor of the White Pine Cone, is almost a diary of the town. Mr. Root includes stories of mining activities, parties, births and deaths, new supplies arriving on pack trains, elections, baseball games, tragic accidents and Christmas celebrations showing the day to day life in an early mining town. A complete index of all the people mentioned in this book is included. TABLE OF CONTENTS PEOPLE Charles Adams 1 Clarence Adams 6 John M. Allen 8 William D. Allen 10 Samuel T. Ashley 11 Mrs. Margaret Bain 12 D. C. Baker 13 Marion E. Bates 14 Camille Besse 15 Mrs. Camille Besse 16 Bruce Blackstock 17 Joseph Blackstock 18 Recollections of 21 An anecdote of his life by him 23 Mr. and Mrs. S. G. Bottenfield 25 Clyde W. Brewer 26 Mrs. Valentine G. Brewer 27 Frederick Brown 28 Buckskin Charley 29 Mrs. J. J. Carpenter 32 E. M. Collins 33 Story of his life 34 Frank W. Comstock 36 James R. Corbitt 37 N. C. Creede 38 Mrs. T. L. Crews 41 Thomas Lee Crews 42 Henry Crooks 43 Dr. B. F. Cummings 45 Mrs. W. C. Cuthbert 46 Joseph Danni 47 Mrs. Mary K. Davis 48 Theodore Davis 49 Mrs. Addie F. Decker 52 Frank Dice 53 Reuben Dove 54 Lewis H. Easterly 55 Mrs. Alice M. Eastman 57 Mrs. Joseph Eccher 59 William A. Eckbert 60 Herman Eilebrecht 65 Mrs. Ida C. Ferguson 67 Mrs. C. S. Fisher 69 Mrs. Susan Flick 71 Mrs. John Gratton 72 M.J. Gray 73 J. Frank Grubb 76 Gunnison Family 78 John W. Gunnison 80 Justin Gunnison 83 Alfred Ingles Haines 84 Story of his gun collection 85 Alonzo Hartman 87 Obituary 87 Story by daughter 89 Eulogy by J. E. Phillips 92 Tribute by D. J. McCanne 93 Mrs. Samantha Haymaker 95 Winfield S. Henderson 96 Frank E. Keenan 100 Henry F. Lake 102 Obituary 102 Funeral 105 Mrs. Mary Lawrence 106 Mrs. Lee Lehman 108 Mrs. Della Lightley 109 Edwin T. Lindsley 110 Mrs. Ralph A. Little 112 Roy S. Lobdell 113 Eugene Patrick Mahoney 114 Mrs. Abbie Mergelman 116 Archer A. Miller 117 Mrs. Margaret Miller 118 Sylvester J. Miller 119 Mrs. Myra Ronald Moor 120 Capt. Louden Mullin 121 Obituary 121 Tribute by D. J. McCanne 123 Mrs. Lucy Myers 127 James A. McIlwee 129 Bert (W. W.) McKee 131 Recollections of life 132 Fred D. McKee 136 Mrs. Sadie Nichols 137 Ernest Morrison Nourse 138 Mrs. Patrick J. (Anna) O'Fallon 141 Mrs. Curtis (Gertrude) Osborne 142 Alfred Packer 143 Mrs. Carey A. (Margaret) Partch 145 Frank H. Perkins 146 John E. Phillips 147 Recollections of early Delaware and Colorado by him 149 Mrs. Julia Quinn 152 Samuel Quigley 153 George A. Root 156 Mrs. Louisiana Norvell Rogers 158 Mrs. Mary Rozman 159 Mrs. Lillie Ruck 160 A. W. Sewall 161 Mrs. Helen A. Sills 163 Mrs. Arta B. Smith 164 Mrs. Mae Soden 165 James R. Spann 166 Samuel P. Spencer 167 Miss Lucy Spier 169 John A. Steele 171 C. T. Stevens 173 Dr. George Sullivan 175 T. J. Thompson 177 John B. Turner 178 Frank Tuttle 179 Mrs. Boyd D. Tyrer 180 Fred D. VanAken 181 Mrs. Maty VanAken 182 Mrs. Philip (Marie) Vidal 183 Steve Walters 184 Mrs. May E. Webster 186 Clyde Allen Welch 188 William Henry Whalen 189 Mrs. Elmer Wiley 191 David Wood 192 Benjamin Franklin Wright 196 Mrs. Margaret Zugelder 197 Mrs. Mary F. Zugelder 198 PIONEER ORGANIZATIONS AND MEETINGS First Pioneer Day Observed in 1906 199 Pioneers Held First Annual Dinner 200 Second Annual Pioneers' Dinner Was Gala Social Event 202 Pioneer Banquet of 1941 Brot Many Thrills 204 GUNNISON COUNTY PICNICS Gunnison County Picnic In Denver Sunday Was Big Social Outing 207 "Gunnison County Picnic" Held In Denver Sunday 209 J. E. Phillips Writes Of Activities of Pioneers Who Have Moved Away 211 Sixth Annual Gunnison County Picnic Held At Long Beach, Nov. 13 213 W.S.C. Alumni Have Meet at Long Beach 217 Gunnison County folks in California Hold Combined Picnic 219 W.S.C. Alumni Attend Picnic 223 Alumni California Picnic of Gunnisonites For 1940 225 Meeting Friends of Youth in Sunny California 227 Annual Gunnison County Picnic Held In Long Beach, Calif., Nov. 9 229 EARLY HISTORY OF PLACES, INDUSTRIES AND PEOPLE Creede No Night in Creede 233 Crested Butte Former Crested Butte Resident Recalls Early Day Impressions Of That Region 234 Rifle Found in Washington Gulch Is Relic of Buffalo Hunt in '80s 236 Crested Butte Hose Co. No. 1 237 Explorers Traveling in the Gunnison Country 88 Years Ago; Loring's Expedition 238 'Pathfinders of Colorado' Given Eloquent Tribute By Ray Clarke 240 Grand Junction Early Days in Grand Junction; First Newspaper Early Banks and Business Deals 246 Grand Junction Town Site Laid Out In 1881 249 Gunnison Anniversary Recalls History Of Local Banks 252 Start of Gunnison Gas and Water Works 254 D. J. McCanne Tells How He Came To Build The Gunnison Town Ditch 257 Another Chapter of Early Day Gunnison Industries and Men 261 Musical Events of Early Days in Gunnison 267 There Were Telephones In Those Days 272 Former Gunnison Resident Comments On Current Events 274 Gunnison County Early Day Attorneys In Gunnison County 276 Phillips Adds Names To List of Early Day Attorneys In the Gunnison Country 278 Gunnison In the Lurid 80's; An Article Prepared by Dr. Lois Borland 280 Romantic History of Gunnison County 284 Gunnison - Then and Now - As Described By Veteran Newspaper Man of '80's 290 Lifting The Veil On Secret History Of The Eighties On Western Slope 292 Pioneer Book by Ingham Tells Early History of Gunnison 296 Three First Sheriffs of Gunnison County 298 When Snowshoeing Was All the Rage In Gunnison Fifty-Five Years Ago 301 Hinsdale County How County Of Hinsdale Got Name During Early 70's 304 "Home On the Range" Famous Song May Have Been Written On The Lake Fork 306 Indians A Visit To the Los Pinos Indian Agency in 1874 307 Early Days In The Gunnison Valley - Ute Indians 313 Irwin Inside Stuff About Pioneer Life in Gothic and Irwin 318 Looking Backward Over 58 Years of Gunnison County History: Stories of Early Days In and Around Irwin 321 Vivid Story of Early Days in Irwin Told by J. E. Phillips, Former Resident This Locality 324 When Irwin Was Mining Center Of The Elk Mountains In Early Eighties 326 Lake City Lake City In Boom Days Of Late Seventies 331 La Veta Hotel How B. W. Lewis Built Famed La Veta Hotel At Gunnison. His Plans For Another Pittsburgh 335 Grand Ball Opening La Veta Was Western Slope Event 338 Superintendent McCanne Tells How La Veta Was Built 340 Lulu City Seeking History of Ghost Towns 345 Mines and Quarries Wealth of Granite At Aberdeen To Be Used For Memorial 346 Akron Mine at Whitepine Shows Steadily Increasing Output 348 The Famous Augusta Mine, Its History and Development 350 Marble Shut Down Is Tragedy Says Early Day Editor 353 Marble Will Live Again Says C. C. McWilliams 355 Early Day Mining Men of Gunnison Region, Successful in California 357 Romantic History of Washington Gulch in Crested Butte Mining District 359 Newspapers Starting of Early-Day Newspaper In Gunnison Region Brought To Mind by This Interesting Article 363 How Newspapers of The Gunnison Region Were Started 366 Charley Adams Set Record Straight About Gunnison's Early Day Papers 371 Interesting Story of Elk Mountain Pilot 374 Sixty Years Of Progress 378 Old Press In News-Champion Office Junked to Shoot Japrats 381 Oil Drilling Speaking of Oil! First Drilling West of Rockies Took Place at the Head of Ohio Creek 382 Railroads "Over The Trails Of Yesterday" 384 Something Pulls Them Back 387 Ranching Gunnison History and Romance Is Closely Related to Livestock Brands 388 The Diamond Joe Ranch on Crystal Creek 389 Historical Notes About Pioneer Ranch Families Of The Gunnison Region 391 Traveling with Editors Root and Olney Over 63 Years Ago 393 Smelters How the Great C. F. & I. Co. Was Formed in Seventies; Its Beginnings at Crested Butte 397 Story of Early Day Smelters In Gunnison 401 D. J. McCanne Writes About Smelter Failures 403 White Pine Beginnings of White Pine and Early Days in Mining Camps on The Upper Tomichi Section 405 History of White Pine before 1883, When First Newspaper Was Founded in That Town 465 Chas. E. Adams, Veteran Publisher, Dies in Montrose * * * Montrose Press Editor Succumbs Friday News of the sudden death at Montrose Friday of Charles E. Adams, editor of the Daily Press for 36 years, came as a shock to his world of friends thruout the western slope. Altho Mr. Adams was known to be seriously ill, and the News-Champion of last week carried an item to that effect, yet that the disease was fatal, or that his passing would come so soon was entirely unexpected.