Gunnison & San Juan

Gunnison & San Juan is a reprint of an 1881 report by the journalist Robert E. Strahorn. He came to Gunnison County, Colorado, in the summer of 1880 to see for himself what the excitement was about. The Utes had been told they would have to leave Colorado, opening a vast and rich land west of Gunnison to white ranchers, prospectors and settlers.

Strahorn took it upon himself to spread the news about this unknown land and its mineral discoveries. According to the description, most of the area's mines are described in detail in the book. He also saw potential in coal, timber, grasslands, marble, iron and real estate investment, and wrote about all of it.

The result, in the description's words, is an interesting overview of the first few years after mining came to what has been called Gunnison country. It covers the formation of the towns of Gunnison, Crested Butte, Pitkin and Aspen. It also covers the ghost towns of Irwin, Ruby, Gothic, Willard, Hancock, Independence and Schofield. This is a booster's eyewitness account from the time, not a later retelling.

This book is for readers of Colorado mining history who want a voice from the time rather than a modern summary. Anyone tracing Crested Butte, Pitkin, Irwin or Gothic back to their first years will find them described as new places. Genealogists and local historians may value a contemporary account. Strahorn wrote to attract settlers and investors, so expect enthusiasm. At 94 pages in the catalogue it can be read in an evening.

Robert E. Strahorn was a journalist, war correspondent and railroad promoter of the 19th-century American West. Wikipedia says he led the Union Pacific Railroad's publicity department from 1877 to 1883, which helps explain why he wrote so eagerly about new country. This is his only book in our catalogue. His author page tells more.

More about Robert E. Strahorn →

Gunnison sits in the mountains of western Colorado. Wikipedia says its population began rising in the 1870s with the mining surge, and that the town was incorporated on March 1, 1880, named for the Army surveyor John W. Gunnison, who explored a railroad route in 1853. The railroad reached Gunnison in 1880.

The influx of miners, ranchers and farmers in the 1870s pushed the Ute out of the area. The county's mining camps produced about 130,000 ounces of gold from the start of the gold rush through 1959. Early output came mostly from placer deposits, and the largest amounts came as a by-product of silver-lead ore.

Strahorn arrived in the middle of this change in 1880, the same year the town was incorporated and the railroad came. His book is a record of that moment.

Source: Gunnison, Colorado (Wikipedia)