Iola (Junction US 50)—Lake City—Slumgullion Pass—Spring Creek Pass—Creede—

Wheeler National Monument—Junction US 160 (South Fork); 123 miles, State 149.

Graveled road between Creede and South Fork, graded dirt road elsewhere; blocked by snow in winter and frequently impassable after late fall and early spring storms. Route paralleled by Denver & Rio Grande Western R. R. between Creede and South Fork. Good accommodations; numerous free camp grounds.

State 149, a back-country road, traverses a rugged region where game and fish abound. The landscape is a succession of high mountains, plateaus, rocky defiles, and broad valleys growing forage crops. Ore veins in the surrounding hills have yielded fortunes in gold and silver, and during the late 1890's this district was among the richest in the State. Today cattle and sheep grazing are the chief support of the scattered population.

In IOLA, 0 miles (7,450 alt., 100 pop.) (see Tour 9c), State 149 branches south from US 50 (see Tour 9) and crosses the fertile valley of the Gunnison, rich in grasses and dotted with ranches. From the summit of NINE MILE HILL, 9 miles, are vistas of green fields and mountain ranges.

At 10.5 miles is the junction with an unimproved road.

Right on this road to the SITE OF SPENCER, 1.5 miles, an abandoned mining camp surrounded by scarred and pitted hills. The only buildings in use are the school and two ranch houses. Well known mines in this district were the Headlight, the Old Lott, and the Anaconda, now marked by collapsing shaft houses.

The road descends into the well-watered, cottonwood-shaded valley of the Cebolla, traversing rolling acres of hay fields to a junction with a dirt road, 16.4 miles.

Left on this road is POWDERHORN, 1.5 miles (8,056 alt., 76 pop.) (cabins and hotels), a trading center; here are the CEBOLLA HOT SPRINGS and CARBONATE SPRINGS, known to the Ute for their healing properties.

The highway ascends SAPINERO MESA, its steep slopes covered with dense growths of sage, dark-green juniper, and scrub oak. The road follows Indian Creek Valley to the broader valley of the LAKE FORK OF THE GUNNISON, a prosperous ranching country, and at THE GATE, 28.6 miles, passes between the towering granite portals of a richly colored gorge. The cliffs wall in the highway, the river, and an abandoned branch line of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad between Gunnison and Lake City. Approaching the Continental Divide, the route parallels the eastern border of the Uncompahgre National Forest to YOUMAN, 34.7 miles The towering rugged summits, a northern extension of the San Juans, lift snow-white caps against fleecy clouds that hang almost constantly on the horizon. To the west is UNCOMPAHGRE PEAK (14,306 alt.); southwest is MATTERHORN PEAK (13,585 alt.); farther southwest, WETTERHORN PEAK (14,017 alt.), seamed with gorges and ravines. The streams here, remote from the main-traveled highway, are well stocked with trout.

This region became known to white men through the explorations of Lieutenant John C. Fremont in 1848 (see The People), but until 1873 remained in possession of the Ute. A few prospectors found "color" here and precipitated a gold rush. The old story of the white men and the Indians was reenacted as the Ute were forced out and the district was thrown open for settlement. Crude roads were built and dozens of mining camps established. A highway between Lake City (see below) and Saguache (see Tour 15b) was the principal outlet until the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad completed its branch line from Gunnison to Lake City in 1889.

LAKE CITY, 45.7 miles (8,500 alt., 259 pop.), is the seat of Hinsdale County, larger in extent than Rhode Island but with a population of merely 450. The per capita cost of government is so high that Hinsdale is frequently cited as an example for the necessity of consolidating Colorado counties. Split by the Continental Divide, much of Hinsdale County is isolated from Lake City throughout winter. The settlement here was one of the first in western Colorado. Optimistic settlers built far in excess of their needs, and today many buildings are abandoned. Upon completion of the railroad the town was a shipping point for gold and silver ores from near-by mines, including the immensely rich Hidden Treasure and Golden Fleece. During the 1890's agriculture and cattle raising became the chief occupations. Although mining activities have revived since the late 1920's, the collapsing structures of mines and mills still splotch the hillsides.

1. Left from Lake City on a trail to CANNIBAL PLATEAU, 5 miles, the scene of a gruesome episode in Colorado's history. In December 1873, a party of men from Utah, bound on a prospecting trip through the San Juan Mountains, reached the encampment of Ouray, chief of the Ute, who urged them to remain until spring. The majority accepted, but six men, Packer, Bell, Humphreys, Swan, Noon, and Miller, pushed on. Six weeks later Packer appeared alone at the old Los Pinos Agency, 75 miles from Lake City, and declared that after a few days' travel from Ouray's camp he had become lame and his companions had deserted him, forcing him to subsist on roots and small game. His appearance and actions belied his story. His first demand was for whisky, not food. Claiming to be without funds, he appeared in Saguache several days later with considerable money, which he spent drinking and gambling.

Meanwhile, an Indian had come to the agency with strips of flesh picked up along Packer's trail. They proved to be strips cut from a human body. Suspicion against Packer mounted and he was arrested. That spring a photographer for Harfer's Weekly, crossing the plateau, stumbled upon the remains of five men, their skulls crushed; strips of flesh were missing from several of the bodies. Exactly what happened is not known. Packer claimed that starvation had made his companions insane, and that he had killed Bell in self defense. Subsequently he discovered that the other four had been slain, apparently by Bell. Packer's story was not believed and he was charged with murder. As there was no prison at the agency, he was chained to a rock, from which he managed to escape. Recaptured in Wyoming in 1883, he was tried for murder in Lake City and sentenced to be hanged. An apocryphal story, widely believed, has it that in sentencing Packer the judge »aid: "Packer, you so-and-so, you have eaten half the Democrats in Hinsdale County". In fact, the judge was far more eloquent. Addressing Packer, he exclaimed, "In 1873, vou, in the company with five companions, passed through this beautiful mountain valley where stands the town of Lake City. . . . You and your victims had a weary march, and when the shadows of the mountains fell upon your little party and the night drew her sable curtain around you, your unsuspecting victims lay down on the ground and were soon lost in the sleep of the weary; and then, thus sweetly unconscious of danger from any quarter, and particularly from you, their trusted companion, you cruelly and brutally slew them all. . . . To other sickening details of your crime I will not refer. ... I sentence you to be hanged by the neck until you are dead, dead, dead, and may God have mercy on your soul."

But Packer was not to hang; he was granted a new trial on a technicality and sentenced to 40 years for manslaughter. A few years later, he was paroled and died in Denver in 1906. During his incarceration Packer was brought to Denver as a witness in another case, and was interviewed by a newspaper reporter. "I thought when I was told about having to come to Denver and testify," he said, "that maybe the people would kind of shrink from me after all the things that have been said, but there was nothing of the kind. They seemed like they wanted to see me." His greatest enjoyment came from a visit to a theater. "And what I liked about it most was that it wasn't anything vulgar, like some of these plays that I read about. There was skirt dancing in it, and all that, but not one of those girls lifted her feet higher than that (Packer indicated about one foot and a half above the ground)."

2. Right from Lake City on another trail to CRYSTAL LAKE, 5 miles (12,000 alt.), at the foot of CRYSTAL PEAK (12,923) ; trout are plentiful in the lake and in numerous springs that feed it.

South of Lake City the route winds through a country of canyons and mountains, its streams walled in by high and jagged cliffs. This almost uninhabited region is one of the few remaining primitive areas in Colorado accessible by highway.

At 48.2 miles is the junction with an unimproved road.

Left on this road to LAKE SAN CRISTOBAL (cabins and inn), 1.3 miles, a favored spot for fishing and hunting. The lake covers about three square miles and contains many small wooded islands. The mountain slopes, blanketed with aspens, scrub oak, and pines, are mosaics of brilliant red, yellow, and green in the fall.

The highway crosses the western boundary of the Gunnison National Forest, 53.7 miles, and ascends to the top of SLUMGULLION PASS (11,000 alt.), 54.4 in., where early prospectors stopped to rest and prepare their slumgullion stew, a concoction of meat and vegetables. Here is a fine view of snowy peaks stretching four ways to the horizon. The pass, first used as an ore trail in 1879, is blocked by snow in winter.

Penetrating wild mountain country, the road crosses the Continental Divide at SPRING CREEK PASS, 66 miles (10,901 alt.) ; here is clearly seen (R) the RIO GRANDE PYRAMID (13,827 alt.), almost perpetually snow-covered. At its base lies the Rio Grande Reservoir, which impounds water for irrigation.

Passing the boundary between the Gunnison and the Rio Grande National Forests, 66.3 miles, the route crosses SOUTH FORK CREEK, 72.4 miles Just off the highway (R) are SOUTH FALLS (free camping), about 100 feet high, with three separate drops. In its downward plunge are numerous churning pools, haunts of rainbow trout.

South of the falls State 149 traverses a lofty forested mesa; resorts and dude ranches appear at intervals; hunting and fishing are exceptionally good.

At 87 miles is the junction with a dirt road.

Left on this road to ANTELOPE SPRINGS, 0.5 miles (8,957 alt.), once a relay station on the stagecoach route between Del Norte (see Tour 11b) and Silverton (see Tour 18). Passengers and mail were carried over this rough rocky way to the booming camps of the San Juan district. Upon completion of the railroad in 1882 the stage line was abandoned.

Left from Antelope Springs on a trail to a natural swimming pool, 0.7 miles, fed by the waters of a warm spring. This section was favored hunting country of the Ute and early miners, for deer and elk came in numbers to a salt lick near by.

The route follows the canyon to SEVEN MILE BRIDGE, 93.4 miles, at the junction with a county road.

Right on this road to SPAR CITY, 7.8 miles, a relic of the early 1880's. A contemporary of Creede (see below), the settlement was much smaller and lacked the gay life of the other camp. The one-time population of 200 were employed in the Denver Tunnel Mine.

Northeast of ANTLERS PARK (free campground), 94 miles, is CREEDE, 100.2 miles (8,854 alt., 384 pop.), seat of Mineral County, the shadow of a once populous mining camp which, springing up overnight, sat perched on stilts and high foundations above the brawling waters of the Rio Grande. Twice almost destroyed by fire, the town has few old landmarks remaining. General stores, a post office, and unpainted frame houses constitute Creede today. But turbines in one of the old mills high up the gorge supply electricity for lamps along the single street, which burn twenty-four hours a day.

The town, one of the later mining camps, was founded by Nicholas C. Creede, a discouraged prospector, who in 1890 stumbled upon "color" when he stopped to eat lunch. His silver bonanza, christened the Holy Moses, then the Amethyst, made the fortune of each successive owner. With the discovery of the King Solomon, another treasure trove, hundreds stampeded to the area. The first flimsy camp, known as Jim Town, grew so rapidly that at one time 200 carpenters were engaged in building houses. Other rich strikes emblazoned the name of Creede on the roster of great bonanza camps along with Central City, Leadville, Aspen, and Cripple Creek.

Gold, silver, and zinc were the basis of prosperity, and during the boom years the district led the State in the production of silver. Population had climbed to 8,000 by 1893. Six-shooters were local life insurance policies; gambling houses and saloons ran day and night. Along the streets moved many dissolute and colorful characters—among them, "Soapy" Smith, silver-tongued bunco artist, who demonstrated over and over again that the hand is quicker than the eye by selling cakes of soap wrapped in dollar bills—always retaining the bills.

To Creede came Cy Warman to found its first newspaper, The Candle, still published, and to celebrate the attractions of the camp in the poem, "And There is No Night in Creede" now known throughout the West.

Here's a land where all are equal—

Of high or lowly birth—

A land where men make millions,

Dug from the dreary earth.

Here meek and mild-eyed burros

On mineral mountains feed.

It's day all day in the daytime,

And there is no night in Creede.

The cliffs are solid silver,

With wond'rous wealth untold,

And the beds of the running rivers

Are lined with the purest gold.

While the world is filled with sorrow,

And hearts must break and bleed—

It's day all day in the daytime,

And there is no night in Creede.

Warman, who grew up with a passion to run a locomotive, came to Colorado in 1880 and worked many years for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. Embarking upon his journalistic career at Creede, he contributed to magazines and wrote several volumes of short stories and poetry.

Several camps in the vicinity of Creede eventually merged with it. North Creede became a residential section; Weaver City, at the junction of Nelson and West Willow Creeks, named for the many Weaver families living there, is today a straggling line of abandoned log cabins.

The mines closed down with the decline of silver prices after 1893, although the ore bodies were far from exhausted. Since the late 1920's some properties have been reopened, and Creede has stirred with new life. Approximately 500,000 pounds of silver ore were shipped weekly (1939) from the mines here.

The ramshackle FORD'S SALOON, still standing (L), was built by Bob Ford, reputed slayer of Jesse James, Missouri desperado of both factual and dime-novel fame. On the eve of opening a new dance hall, June 10, 1892, after one of Creede's fires, a miner named O'Kelly, who claimed that the saloon owner had persecuted his parents years before, shot and killed Ford. The town's sporting element, with whom Ford had been popular, conducted the funeral; there were no flowers but plenty of wine and champagne. Later Ford's body was removed to Missouri. O'Kelly served a short prison term at Canon City.

Left from Creede on a winding horseback trail by way of MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN (11,650 alt.) to WHEELER NATIONAL MONUMENT, 15 miles (do not attempt without guides, available in Creede), named for George Wheeler, a Federal Government surveyor. Set aside by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908, its 300 acres include 60 acres of striking varicolored sandstone formations. Monoliths carved by erosive forces stand in the canyon like chimeras before castellated lines of soaring cliffs. Such descriptive titles as "The Temple" and "The Cathedral" have been given the configurations. The site was known to Indians for centuries; the Ute called the formations the "sand stones.'* Tribal renegades used the locality as a hideout. Probably the first white man to visit here was Lieutenant John C. Fremont while in search of a feasible transcontinental railroad route.

Passing through the Monument, the trail continues to WAGON WHEEL GAP, 34 m. (see below).

WASON, 102.8 miles (8,567 alt., 30 pop.), primarily a resort (dude ranches, cabins), once Creede's bitter rival, was founded in 1892 by M. H. Wason, who had used the land as a cattle range. At the confluence of the Rio Grande and Willow Creek, the camp with its wide streets and substantial buildings enjoyed the natural advantage of a level meadow site. The Wason Miner was the first newspaper published in the district. In a futile attempt to promote his town as the seat of Mineral County, Wason once sponsored a huge Fourth of July celebration, with bands, fireworks, dancing, drinking, and free lunches. A courthouse built by him stood empty in the center of the town until, according to local historians, a group of men came by night and removed it piecemeal to Creede.

South of Wason the highway enters the narrow canyon of the Rio Grande and winds between high brightly-colored walls along the banks of the clear mountain stream, fringed with willows and cottonwoods, its waters golden from amber-colored sands. At intervals the canyon widens into small wooded parks, excellent camp and picnic grounds.

WAGON WHEEL GAP, 109.1 miles (8,500 alt., 35 pop.), is a resort where many wealthy Coloradoans maintain summer houses. Several mineral springs known to the Indians have been developed here. Numerous streams offer good trout fishing.

State 149 passes through the Gap, a narrow, highly-colored gorge barely accommodating highway and river, named for a discarded wheel found beside an old trail in 1873. The wheel presumably was dropped by a party of prospectors led by Charles Baker, who, ordered by the Ute to leave camp near what is now Animas City, obeyed with such alacrity that their supplies and equipment were scattered along the trail. In summer months this region is carpeted with white mountain daisies, goldenrod, purple asters, and fragile star flowers.

The AMERICAN LEGION CAMP, 118 miles, a resort maintained by the Legion Post of Monte Vista, contains a rustic community house; the camp is sometimes rented to other than post members (arrangements made at Post in Monte Vista).

MASONIC PARK, 118.3 miles, reached by a rustic bridge (R), lies between pine-forested slopes and the river. The administration building, housing the park office and recreational hall, is surrounded by cabins owned by members of the Southwestern Masonic Association, and is sometimes rented to visitors (apply at office).

The highway crosses the eastern boundary of the Rio Grande National Forest, 120.3 miles, and descends the narrow canyon between hills covered with pinon, cedar, and pine, to the junction with US 160 (see Tour 11), 122 miles, 1 mile west of South Fork (8,250 alt., 250 pop.) (see Tour 11c).