Life…Death…Iron

There is a special place in Colorado called “The Gunnison Country”- An expanse of the Rockies sandwiched between the Collegiate Peaks and the San Juan Mountains, birthplace of the Gunnison River, and ranging from arid prairie land to snow capped peaks and towering passes cloaked in black timber where the snow doesn’t melt until mid-July, the Gunnison Country is something special.

In the heart of the Gunnison there is a small jewel dating to the 1870s which has weathered the winds of time remarkably-Powderhorn. Located on Cibola Creek between the town of Gunnison and Lake City in Hinsdale County,high in the San Juans, Powderhorn was once a major farming and supply center for the region.

Once known as “The Breadbasket of the San Juans” Powderhorn farmers supplied the hungry miners of the San Juan range with root vegetables,mutton, and whatever else could be raised or grown in the short-lived summer of the Gunnison country.

Powderhorn has faded in importance since the boomdays of the 19th Century, but a few cowboys still call the place home. There is plenty to see at Powderhorn today- Several abandoned buildings, a few occupied homes and ranches dating to the 1870s, and some seasonally occupied cabins dating to the town’s heyday.

 

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