Gunnison County Past

145 years ago

From the May 21, 1881, edition of the Gunnison News 

• “The new post office at Petersburg, this county, recently established is called Spring, and now is ready for receiving and forwarding mails. The postmaster is Mr. G.B. Spratt.”
• “The citizens of the town have been so well behaved and peace has been so well preserved that there has not been a case before the Police Court during this entire week.” 
• “Wednesday night there were no prisoners in jail and no ownerless dogs in the pound.” 
• “It will only cost $10 to enroll your name for one year among the original subscribers to Gunnison’s first daily paper.”
• “Later in the morning it became known that the shooting had been done by the Gunnison deputy sheriff’s party, and that the wounded men were John Maloney and John Keough. Then followed a rumor that the sheriff’s posse had been after the shooting overpowered by the citizens of Ruby and were in irons. Some excitable persons went farther and declared that the sheriff’s party were not only in irons but were in immediate danger of being lynched.” After rumors spiraled around Gunnison as to exactly who was shot, who did the shooting, and if anyone was in fact dead. 

125 years ago

From the May 18, 1900, edition of the Gunnison Tribune

• “While excavating for a mill the Dale Company opened a 12-foot body of mineral.”
• “Postmaster Hartman is expecting 1000 extra boxes to accommodate the increasing business of the Gunnison office.” 
• “W. Richardson, the founder of all the cracker factories in Colorado, is now in Gunnison and proposes soon to be making crackers here.” 
• “Took nine days to make a trip from Gunnison to Gothic. A party of men shoveled snow clear from Jack’s Cabin to that place. Snow four to seven feet deep. Gothic had 154 buildings, but only 12 men and two women spent the winter there.”

100 years ago

From a May 1926, edition of the Top O' The World - WCU, The Pitkin Miner 

• “With its accustomed inaccuracy the Post in its so-called tourist edition place Gunnison 380 miles from Denver, locates us thirty miles south of Grand Mesa and in fact  almost loses us entirely. We are thankful that we are well known to most all tourists before they even read the Post.”
• “Monarch Pass is to be opened for the summer. The eastern side of Monarch pass still remains blocked by snow, altho the Gunnison county side had been open for two or three weeks, says the Gunnison News-Champion. Some time ago a partial agreement was reached with the Chaffee county commissioners to have the Gunnison road crew open up both sides of the pass and Chaffee county pay the expense on their side of the line. The only agreement they want to make, however, is to pay Gunnison county a flat $700 for the job, which is the amount Chaffee county would receive from the State Highway department as its share of getting the pass open.” 
• “Seniors (at Western) will plant class tree this year. The tradition, that each Senior class plants a tree on the campus, will be carried out again this year by the class of ‘26. Each graduating class has planted a tree since the founding of the school. A silver spruce is to be planted near the club house this year.”