The Ghosts of the Lake Fork Region

The Ghosts of the Lake Fork Region is a history of one canyon on Colorado's Western Slope, formed by the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River. The description calls it hauntingly beautiful, and says the river is sometimes raging and sometimes tranquil. Marril Lee Burke follows the place through its human and geological past, from early man and volcanic activity to Native Americans, explorers, trappers, miners, railroad workers and early pioneers.

A Midwest Book Review notice from June 2009 describes it as extensively researched and illustrated with vintage black-and-white photographs. The reviewer says the ghost stories it gathers touch on several phases of local history: the Ute tribes who dominated the area, trappers and traders, the Gold Rush years and the railroad. Library records list Ghosts and History as its subjects, and the catalogue gives 200 pages and a 2009 publication by Western Reflections.

The Lake Fork runs through Lake City, which the Colorado Encyclopedia says was founded in 1874 along the river and served the surrounding gold and silver mines. That is the country this book walks through, in the same order the description sets out: the booms and busts of a remote area, told through the ghosts that linger there.

This is a book for readers of Colorado history who like their history with a haunted edge, and for anyone who has driven the Lake Fork canyon and wondered about its past. The Midwest Book Review recommended it for Colorado history shelves and for metaphysical studies reading lists. It is nonfiction built on legends and historical accounts, with photographs, so it suits both casual browsers and people collecting regional history of the San Juan Mountains.