Early silver finds were sensational, and many came to Irwin to strike it rich. Robert Breckenridge was one of those, and he may have ended up putting bullets in his partners’ heads.

A man and his wife bought land in the Gunnison Country and ended up near the Lake Fork of the Gunnison, before heading into Lake City.

A major snowstorm hit the Gunnison Country when the railroad pulled out of Gunnison in early March into avalanche terrain.

Aspen was isolated and had trouble getting silver out and supplies in, so they brought in the burros.

Miners in the Upper Animas River Valley found mining camps, and before Silverton grew, Howardsville was king.

Between Ouray and Telluride, a militia stood guard at Imogene Pass to keep the silver mines operating despite striking workers.

Nicholas P. Creede moved from Iowa to Omaha to Colorado. He was a wandering prospector who discovered mines, made it rich, and went broke before striking it big near the town of his namesake.

The year was 1946 and competitive skiing was in its infancy at Western State and in the Gunnison Country.

Ouray was booming in the 1880’s as a silver camp and wanted a grand hotel. The Beaumont was born and would rival the La Veta Hotel in Gunnison as the finest in western Colorado.

Steve Monfredo – “Fredo” – was one of the biggest characters to have ever graced the Gunnison Country.

“Cochetopa Shorty” – an Englishman – fought for the Union in the Civil War before coming to the Gunnison Country to mine at Irwin.

Cowboy Bob, an aimless drunk who babbled about gold, finds his El Paso Lode.

William Henry Hall arrives in Gunnison in 1878 to start the town’s 1st newspaper, “The Gunnison News.”

With songs in their hearts and silver on their minds, miners flocked to Irwin in the shadows of the Ruby and Elk Mountains.

Ulysses S. Grant needed some whiskey, so he stopped in the Gunnison Country to quench his thirst.

William Wall had just arrived in Virginia City (later Tincup). He wakes up one morning with 8 bullet holes in his tent.

Father John Franklin Dire carried both the mail and the gospel to miners in the Gunnison Country with his famed telemark turn.

Was it possible to get the marble from the quarry to the train at the valley below? Learn how they did it on today’s episode.

The Marble Quarry produced the giant stone that was used at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington, D.C.

“She was a woman’s libber far ahead of her time.” Sylvia Smith owned and edited the Marble City Times newspaper after needing to leave Crested Butte for speaking her mind at a time when women were expected to stay at home and stay quiet.