Gunnison

Restoring and Re-storying the Land We Call Home

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WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE IN DEEP RELATIONSHIP with the land on which we live? The 33rd Annual Headwaters Conference, hosted by Western Colorado University in Gunnison in December 2022, aimed to answer that question. The theme of the conference was “Land Back: Indigenous Homecoming in the Headwaters.”  In recent years, the conference focused …

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Down on the Ground…with Messy Vitality

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A review of Aspen and the American Dream by Jenny Stuber I NEED TO BEGIN THIS COLUMN with an apology to the spirit of this magazine’s cofounders Ed and Martha Quillen. Ed was pretty adamant about not including Crested Butte or any of the recreation-dependent communities in his version of “Central Colorado”; he did not see …

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Great Blue Herons: Can they Co-Exist with Recreationists?

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By Chris Rourke Along a more than four-mile stretch of the Slate River near the town of Crested Butte lies a colony of Great Blue Herons. They return every spring to lay eggs, hatch their brood and tend to chicks. The majestic and colorful creatures can be spotted high in the tree tops overlooking the …

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Q&A with Dr. Duane Vandenbusche

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Duane Vandenbusche is a Professor of History at Western Colorado University in Gunnison since 1962 and has just been named Colorado’s State Historian, the first to be based outside of the Front Range in its 96-year history. He is the author of 11 books including: “The Gunnison Country,” “Around Monarch Pass,” “Lake City” (with Grant …

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Finding Balance During a Pandemic

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By John Hausdoerffer This past March, as my campus closed in the midst of the emergence of COVID-19, it felt like a different historical era passed with each daily news cycle. The day before, my daughter Atalaya, 12, and I could not wait to drive across the Utah desert in search of California snow. One sunset …

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Down on the Ground in the Anthropocene City-State

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By George Sibley An interesting thing happened mid-March in Boulder which the media seem to have mostly missed. Commissioners from Grand County showed up at a noisy Boulder County commissioners’ hearing on a West Slope-to-East Slope transmountain water diversion project – to testify on behalf of the project. It is probably the first time ever, …

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Drought Brings the Gunnison Valley’s Past to the Surface

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By Sam Liebl The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation burned what it could not move and flooded what it could not burn. By the spring of 1968, the residents of Iola, a town 12 miles west of Gunnison, had been forced out. The Blue Mesa Dam was complete, and the impounded waters of the Gunnison River …

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Boom and Bust: Monarch, Colorado

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By Duane Vandenbusche The date was July 14, 1878, and Nicholas Creede was tired. The veteran miner from Indiana had been prospecting for two months in the South Arkansas River country and had found nothing. Then, about five miles east of a high pass, he hit a promising strike and named it Monarch. The discovery …

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Down on the Ground Pimping for Cucumbers and Other Plant Notes

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By George Sibley It’s the culmination of summer over here in the Upper Gunnison, plantwise anyway. My partner Maryo is a serious gardener, and she’s gradually weaving me into that web of life. I reached my current relatively ripe old age without learning much about growing things – something I increasingly see as a flaw …

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Down on the Ground with Loss and Transformation

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By George Sibley Said farewell to a couple of friends last week. One was an aspen – a lovely tree about thirty-five years old according to its stump, in the prime of life. After three years of increasingly evident decline, it budded this year but failed to produce any leaves. It was one of a …

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The Monarch Tram and Giftshop

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By Mike Rosso For many years, I’ve driven right past this popular tourist attraction on top of Monarch Pass, but have never stopped in the gift shop or ridden the tram. This morning I took advantage of some relatively clear weather to visit and learn about the Monarch Crest Giftshop and Tramway, the highest commercial …

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About the Cover Photo

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Back in the mid-1950s, Salida entrepreneur Elmo Bevington, and former Gunnison Sheriff George Cope, leased land on the top of Monarch Pass from the United States Forest Service (USFS) to construct a gift shop and restaurant. It was completed in 1954. Bevington then decided to develop an old trail near the building site which went …

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Places – Iris: A Very Remote Ghost Town

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Article, photo and map by Kenneth Jessen Iris, located in the northern part of Saguache County south of Gunnison, was one of the most remote ghost towns in the state. Until recently, the roads into the area were private, gated and posted. New home construction west of the site has opened up the area to …

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Down on the Ground with Springtime in the Rockies

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By George Sibley

It’s only the ides of March as I write this, but it’s already springtime in this part of the Rockies. I know that because right now it feels like January outside, with snow pellets – nasty little dry lumps, no art to them at all – moving through, too horizontally to imagine they might stay and leave us a little moisture. But beyond the blur of winddriven flakes I can see blue sky, so I know that in a few minutes it will probably be June out in the yard, calm and sunny and warm. That’s how we know it’s springtime in the Rockies; we know only that whatever extreme we’re in at the moment, it’ll be some other extreme within the hour at worst. Or best.

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Doyleville, Colorado: Jumping-off point into the Gunnison Country

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By Duane Vandenbusche

The little ranching community on Tomichi Creek preceded the great mining boom in the Gunnison country. Doyleville, located near the mouth of both Hot Springs and Razor Creeks, began in 1876 when 52-year-old Henry Doyle of northern Michigan, his wife and two youngest sons, crossed Marshall Pass and entered the Tomichi Valley. He settled next to the S.W. Davidson family, who had a dairy farm, as did Doyle.

Taking advantage of the 1862 Homestead Act signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln, Doyle acquired 160 acres for $1.25 an acre. He lived in a tent that first summer.

When the Gunnison country mining boom began in 1879, Doyleville became a stop for Barlow and Sanderson stages and for the many freighters en route to Gunnison and nearby silver camps.

Jesse and Frank James came to Doyleville in the 1870s and worked on the Coats ranch, where they hid from the law. Mrs. Coats was a relative of the James boys. Ike Thompson had known Jesse and Frank in Missouri. Jesse drew him aside. “Hello Ike, my name is Brown here. You understand?”

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Book Review – Belle Turnbull: On the Life & Work of an American Master

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by David J Rothman, Jeffrey R Villines, eds.
ISBN: 978-0-9641454-9-8
Pleiades Press, 2017
$16.00; 201pp.

Reviewed by Eduardo Brummel

David J. Rothman is Director of the Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Gunnison’s Western State Colorado University. He is also, as anyone who’s recently spent time with him already knows, a passionate advocate for Breckenridge-based poet, Belle Turnbull (1881-1970), whom he describes as, “one of the strongest poets yet to emerge in Colorado.”

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Jack Haverly’s Towns for Suckers

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By Jan MacKell Collins

“Jack Haverly, Jack Haverly I wonder where you are. Are your fortunes cast with Sirius, or ‘neath some kindlier star?” – “Memories of Jack Haverly” by Eugene Field, the New York Times circa 1901

We all know certain people in our lives who never seem to hold onto their money, no matter how much they make. During the 1800s, Jack Haverly was just such a person.

Born Christopher Heverly in Pennsylvania in 1837, the budding capitalist first began working his way up in the world by selling peanuts and candy on passenger trains. He went on to work as a “baggage smasher” for the railroads and also as a tailor’s apprentice before finding where his heart truly belonged: the theatre.

Haverly’s first variety theatre, complete with a saloon, opened in Toledo, Ohio in 1864. As it turned out, Haverly made a great showman. His first performing troupe at the theatre, “Haverly’s Minstrels,” drew record crowds. A misspelling on a poster changed his last name, and he became known in entertainment circles as Jack Haverly.

Shortly after Haverly’s Minstrels debuted, Haverly acquired various partners and began taking his shows on the road. His travels took him across America and north to Canada. Along the way he married one of his showgirls, Sara Hechsinger of the famous Duval Sisters. When Sara died in 1867, he married her sister Eliza.

For over a decade, Haverly bought and sold numerous theaters and headed up an amazing thirteen performing troupes. He seldom had trouble finding investors, even as he became known as a compulsive gambler and speculator who sometimes threw his money away as quickly as he made it. He also had a bad habit of filing for bankruptcy, yet somehow always managed to stay afloat. Newspapers lost count of his failings and resurrections, but his friends never hesitated to loan him money when he needed it. They knew he would pay it back the next time fortune smiled upon him again.

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Still Sweeter Every Day

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By Chris Rourke

With a sound as sweet as their name, “Free the Honey” blends three-part harmonies and traditional stringed instruments, while telling listeners about the simple goodness of life.
Yet this time the Gunnison Valley-based acoustic band has a new song to sing, as it returns to its roots as an all-female trio.
Its members – Jenny Hill, Lizzy Plotkin and Katherine Taylor – first formed the band three years ago. Each a talented musician in their own right, they learned of one another through the grapevine of a small community. Once joined, the magic began to happen, combining the best that the south has to offer with the support of a western community. Despite the demands of travel and their insistence upon professional excellence, the group has no intention of slowing down.
“I read a quote today … that compared music to fuel,” said Plotkin. “It’s the fuel of our lives right now, and it would be a shame to ever stop. It fuels us, it keeps us going and it keeps us authentic.”

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Living Small – The Tiny Home Movement

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By Mike Rosso It might be a reaction to the mega mansions and trophy homes of the 1990s and 2000s. Housing shortages and rising home prices may also be contributing to it, but the minimalist, tiny home movement is alive and kicking, nationally and here in Central Colorado. What is a tiny home? Also known …

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Luthier Kent Viles Gunnison’s “Dobrato” Resonating Far and Wide

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By Chris Rourke What began as a garage project has struck a chord as the hallmark product for a Gunnison business that serves guitar players throughout the country – some of them having pretty “big” names in the music industry. The “Dobrato” is the brainchild of Kent Viles, owner of Castle Creek Guitars on Main …

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Music Review: Free the Honey – Fine Bloom

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Fine Bloom is an album graced by three instrumental muses: mandolin player Jenny Hill, violinist Lizzy Plotkin and guitarist Katherine Taylor. In the hives of these queen bees dwells a lone upright bass player, Andrew Cameron. He works his tail off to bring home a steady beat that forms the bottom end of this talented bouquet. Gunnison-based Free the Honey was formed as a string quartet steeped in the Appalachian sound. Its traditional mixture of slow-brewed fiddle is simmered on top of a jangling banjo, which warms when cooked over hot coals. Deep, low tones of double bass penetrate, held together with the churning chunk of a mandolin. Three American girls descant a breathtaking three-part harmony, blending together their soulful whispering vocals into a thick syrupy flow. These three sirens are songwriters accustomed to the classic country tune. Southern heritage runs like long river deltas down their veins. The Central Colorado Rockies beckoned them all distinctly with an older bluegrass mythos. A simpler form of music then made its emergence from floral meadows deep beneath the shadow of a prestigious mountain.

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Down on the Ground with Rationality

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by George Sibley I’m doing a seminar here at Western State this fall, titled “The Colorado River in the Anthropocene.” The Anthropocene, as many of you have probably read or observed yourselves, is an acknowledgement that humans have, over the course of the past 200-10,000 years, begun imposing the kinds of largely irreversible changes on …

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The Fairview Lookout

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by Ericka Kastner Lovers of four-wheeling, hikes above treeline and ridiculous views of the Continental Divide should put this adventure on their to-do list. The highest fire tower in North America sits on Fairview Peak at 13,214 feet in elevation, just north of the town of Pitkin. This one-room stone hut, constructed in 1912 (just …

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Regional News Roundup

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Towns Sign on to Pact A group of Colorado towns has launched a “Mountain Pact” in an effort to reform the way the Feds collect royalty payments from the coal industry, and to offset the negative effects of climate change on their communities. Signed on to the pact are Leadville, Buena Vista, Ridgway, Carbondale, Aspen, …

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The Gourmet Guy

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Indian Chai/Chicken Curry
By Pemba Sherpa – Sherpa Café, Gunnison and Crested Butte
(Dedicated to the people of Nepal)

Indian Chai
(Makes five cups)
1/4 cup of Chai tea leaves or seeds
2 cinnamon sticks
About 1/4 cup of cardamom seeds
(Break up the cardamom to release the flavor)
Small piece of ginger
2-3 pinches of black pepper
About 1 tablespoon of sugar
1 or more liters of milk (depending on how strong you want the Chai)
2 cups of water

In a pot, mix Chai tea leaves, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, black pepper, sugar and water. Bring to a boil for at least a minute, then add the milk and bring to a boil again. Strain the liquid into a cup, and the Chai is ready.

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Regional News Roundup

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Election Results The yards signs are gone, the glossy mailers no longer clog our mailboxes, the robocalls have ceased (for now) and the results are in. In one of the most expensive races on record for a U.S. Senate seat, Republican Cory Gardner (with a leg up from The Denver Post) defeated Democratic incumbent Sen. …

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The Headwaters Conference – Celebrating 25 Years

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The 25th Headwaters Conference, The Working Wild, began Friday, Sept. 20 at Western State Colorado University in Gunnison. The auditorium was full in anticipation of the keynote speaker, Gary Snyder. One spectator mused, “It’s the gathering of the eagles,” with community leaders from all over the Headwaters region in attendance. After a poem by Art Goodtimes and a song by Alan Wartes, Conference Director John Hausdoerffer introduced Snyder. He revealed that Snyder, a beat generation poet, inspired Jack Kerouac’s famous character from the Dharma Bums, Japhy Ryder. 

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Persistance – Food Production in the Gunnison Valley

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By Polly Oberosler Up until the 1950s, water running through small ranches in the Gunnison Valley and other rural areas in western Colorado were destinations for fisherman from the Front Range. Nearly every ranch had a cabin or two where the fisherman came to set up “housekeeping” for a few days, and the ranchers had …

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Q & A with Gunnison Athlete David Wiens

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Western State Colorado University graduate and Gunnison resident David Wiens has won two World Cup Mountain Bike races, two U.S. Mountain Bike National Championships and six consecutive Leadville 100 races. In 2000, he was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, three years after his wife Susan DeMattei’s induction. This year, WSCU has hired …

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Restaurant Review – Sherpa Cafe

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By Mike Rosso Sherpa Café 325 E. Tomichi Ave. Gunnison, CO 81230 (970) 641-7480 sherpacafegunnison.com Open seven days a week A few years back, in my Durango days, I had a roommate from Nepal named Bindeshar. He owned a Himalayan gift shop downtown but hoped to someday open a restaurant there. Often, he would try …

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Quenching the Parched West

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By Michele Parenti

A brisk, windy Saturday morning beckons Bill Zeedyk and a crew of “white collar muscles” to the Wolf Creek basin in Gunnison. It’s October in the high Rockies. The morning weather is turbulent with rain and snow as the shivering volunteers listen to the day’s instructions. Bill is wearing Muck boots, layers of flannel and fleece, jeans, a fishing hat and the thick of his beard to keep him warm. For a man in his sixties, he’s sturdily built, and he’s been plugging away since the wee hours of the morning. In a soft-spoken manner Bill urge us to stay hydrated and watch our footing. The author of the book Let the Water Do the Work, Bill has years of experience in the Forest Service and holds a wealth of knowledge within him; and along with training volunteers in water conservation, he is also busy in the fields of rock masonry and hydrology.

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Down on the Ground with Beer and Whatever

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By George Sibley

It is hard to find things to write about in a positive and optimistic way these days without feeling like Pollyanna – looking on the bright side of life, like those guys hanging on crosses put it in “The Life of Brian.” But, in an era when nearly everything seems to be going to hell, there is one thing that is getting better and better, and that is beer. All those ales, lagers, pilsners, stouts and other things along a spectrum from hoppy to malty that get lumped together as “beer.”

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Stock

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By Polly Oberosler

My paternal grandfather, John Sherman Moses Cranor, born in 1864, was a sixth-generation American and worked at whatever he could to make a living, as did most during his time. In doing so, he inadvertently schooled his five children in lessons of resourcefulness, honesty and hard work that they soon needed. My grandmother died in the 1918 flu epidemic, and they were virtually on their own quite prematurely.

Those young people were the movers and shakers of a generation of Americans unparalleled in history. They came from the era of the horse and buggy, yet crossed the lines and adapted to the most accelerated portion of industrial expansion. They absorbed incredible knowledge and savvy about anything or any piece of equipment as it was manufactured and put to use in the fields, on the dam projects or on the highways.

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Pioneer Ski Area – Colorado’s First Chairlift

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By Duane Vandenbusche

The Pioneer Ski Area began during the winter of 1939-40 and was located three miles up Cement Creek and eight miles south of Crested Butte on the side of spectacular Cement Mountain. Pioneer would become famous as the first ski area in Colorado to employ a chairlift.

The ski area was hatched in the minds of Gunnison skiers Rial Lake, Art Fordham, Chuck Sweitzer and Wes McDermott. All of these men had skied off Monarch and Marshall Passes in the 1930s, but they yearned for a ski area that could eliminate the long treks to the tops of mountains. The four men knew the region around Crested Butte to the north had everything needed for a great ski area – tremendous snow, high mountains, and a great ski tradition dating back to the early 1880s.

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Waunita Hot Springs – The Power of One Woman’s Tears

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By Cara Guerrieri

As a young girl with romantic leanings, the legend of Waunita Hot Springs fascinated me. It is said that the tears shed by the beautiful Waunita, a woman of the Ute tribe, created the hot springs. She had fallen in love with a Shoshone warrior, who was then killed in battle. In her grief and sorrow, Waunita wandered the valley and was so heartbroken that she died within days and was buried in a nearby cave. Her love was so strong, however, that where her tears fell, the earth weeps. In the remote valley twenty-seven miles from Gunnison, Colorado, millions of gallons of water per day flow at up to 174°. The legend of Waunita is written on a plaque near the springs and as a youth, I remember reading it and trying to imagine a love that powerful.

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The Fairview School

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Story and photo by Eugene Blake

One-room country schoolhouses and those who attended them are becoming rare. But one of these school buildings – Fairview School seven miles north of Gunnison – is again becoming a vital part of the historic Ohio Creek community.

The school began in 1881 when local settlers established District 10 with the encouragement of a former teacher, Lewis Easterly, who served on its board for 52 years. By 1882 work had begun on a log school, but a tent was rented at the start of the fall term. Rev. Thomas Cook was hired as the first teacher. In 1883 the log schoolhouse was completed and given the name Fairview because of the view of the Anthracite Mountain Range and Carbon Peak to the north.

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