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Rev. J. J. Gibbons experienced the San Juan Mountains of Colorado as few men ever did. At the end of the Nineteenth Century, it was his job to tend to the sick, give last rites to the dying, bury the dead, and bring comfort to grieving families. Even when the weather was at its worst, Father Gibbons set out on foot or on horseback to bring comfort to those individuals in need of a Catholic priest. In the San Juan tells stories of skeletons along the trailside, men blown to bits while warming dynamite on a stove, and the power of avalanches that killed not only those in the way, but also would-be rescuers who came later. Responsible for an enormous territory that covered 10,000 sq. miles of some of the most rugged terrain in the United States, Father Gibbons was a living testament that faith in God helped good men to make it through terrible times.