Lower Lake Fork Valley, Colorado facts for kids

The Lake Fork of the Gunnison River starts high in the mountains of western Colorado, United States. It collects water from the northeastern part of the San Juan Mountains.

Journey of the Lake Fork River

The Lake Fork River flows through Lake San Cristobal, which is one of Colorado's biggest natural lakes. Near Lake City, it meets Henson Creek. From there, the river flows north. About 22 miles (35 km) north of Lake City, it enters a deep valley called the Lake Fork Canyon. At the end of this canyon, it joins the main Gunnison River.

Early Days: Ute Land and Gold Rush

Long ago, the land around the Lake Fork River belonged to the Ute Indians. When people from other places started moving into the area, looking for gold, there were disagreements. Many prospectors came to the mountains when gold was found in Colorado.

To try and solve these problems, a special agreement called a treaty was signed in 1868. This treaty gave a large part of western Colorado to the Utes. But more gold was discovered, and more prospectors kept coming. So, in 1873, some Ute leaders went to Washington, D.C.. They signed another agreement, the Brunot treaty, which allowed prospectors and mining in a big part of the San Juan Mountains.

Building Roads and Towns

Otto Mears, a famous person who built many railroads and roads in Colorado, hired a man named Enos Hotchkiss. Hotchkiss was supposed to build a road into the Lake City area. In 1875, he found gold near where Lake City is today, and that's how the town began!

This started a time when minerals and mining were very important in the Lake Fork area. Even then, some people saw how beautiful the mountains were. They also realized the area was great for raising cattle. So, ranches started to appear, even though mining was the main activity.

As more people moved in, they needed ways to send mail and get supplies. That's when the stagecoach became important. One stagecoach route started at Sapinero, a small town where the Lake Fork meets the Gunnison River. The route went up over a flat area called Sapinero Mesa. A small stream called Johnson Gulch flows into the Lake Fork River. The stage road went down into Johnson Gulch and then into the Lake Fork valley. From there, it went about 2 miles (3 km) south to a place called Barnum Station. Here, there was a stage station and a big barn. The stagecoach then continued up the Lake Fork valley to Lake City.

The Age of Railroads

It was hard to move large amounts of minerals out of the Lake City area using only wagons. So, people wanted a railroad. In 1881, the Denver and Rio Grande (D&RG) built a rail line to Gunnison and then to Sapinero. A branch line was planned for Lake City, but it was delayed because of money problems.

Finally, in 1879, the railroad to Lake City was finished. This meant the end of the stagecoach in this area! The train tracks came up the Lake Fork Canyon. At Johnson Gulch, a water tank was built to give water to the steam engines. This spot was called Madera Siding. The rail line continued to an area near Barnum Station, where corrals were built. This became an important place to load cattle onto trains. The cattle were then shipped to Sapinero and further east.

However, the main use of the rail line was to carry the growing amount of minerals from the Lake City area. Ranchers in the valley also depended on the train to bring their mail and needed supplies.

The End of the Line

Like many other mining areas, the mines in Lake City started to produce less and less. By 1933, the rail line wasn't making much money, and the D&RG stopped using it. The line was bought by another company and called the San Cristobal Railroad. A special vehicle called a "galloping goose" was built to run on the tracks.

The galloping goose was a mix between a car and a railway car. It was built on a Pierce-Arrow car body and used a gasoline engine. It could drive on the railroad tracks and carry mail and small amounts of goods to and from Lake City. But this wasn't very successful. The rail line was completely stopped in 1939. By this time, there were automobile roads into the area, and mail was brought into the valley from Gunnison by car.