page_title: Saguache, Colorado
section_title: Attractions and recreation
hierarchical_section_title: Saguache, Colorado / Attractions and recreation
caption_attribution_description: English: Harper's Weekly, October 17, 1874 issue. Illustration by John A. Randolph of the scene of "A Colorado Tragedy." Photo taken from an original copy.
context_page_description: The historic town of Saguache is a Statutory Town that is the county seat of Saguache County, Colorado, United States. The population was 493 at the U.S. Census 2010.
context_section_description: As the gateway to the San Juan Mountains, home to the Rio Grande National Forest and the La Garita Wilderness Area, Saquache offers outdoor activities such as sightseeing, cycling, hiking and camping.   Highway 114 to Cochetopa Pass follows the original Old Spanish Trail, offering high country scenery and access to large tracts of public lands.
  Saguache has a small museum.  According to the information they provide:
  In a tribute to our forebears and in keeping with the work ethic embedded from our agricultural heritage, this Museum has won acclaim from visitors all over the United States, and many foreign countries.
  The museum provides information related to convicted cannibal Alferd Packer, who served time in the Saguache County Jail.  On February 9, 1874, Alferd Packer and five other men departed from the camp of Ute Chief Ouray, near what is now Montrose, Colorado, prospecting for gold.  The party was soon stranded in a blizzard near Lake City and nothing was seen of them until April, when Packer came out of the mountains alone.  Packer gave several conflicting stories about the fate of the other men, but finding his stories dubious he was jailed in Saguache where he remained until August, when he escaped.  By coincidence, on the day of Packer's escape from the Saguache jail, the remains of the missing prospectors were found with evidence of foul play and cannibalism.  He was eventually found in Wyoming; he was returned and tried in Lake City.  Found guilty, he was sentenced to 40 years and was paroled after serving 17.  He died in 1907 and by all accounts had been "a model citizen" for his remaining years.
  Due to the nature of the crime, at the time it was sensationalized and well-covered throughout the nation, and it remains a well-known incident locally in Colorado.   The area where the bodies were discovered is now known as Cannibal Plateau.
  Packer is remembered in Lake City by holding an annual Alferd Packer Jeep Tour and Barbecue. The cafeteria in the University of Colorado, Boulder student union is called the Alferd Packer Memorial Grill.
  The museum displays a figure of Packer sitting in a cell with the sheriff guarding the prisoner from his chair in his office.  On display are handcuffs, leg irons and other items relating to the history of Alferd Packer.
caption: Harper's Weekly, October 17, 1874 issue.  Illustration by John A. Randolph of the scene of "A Colorado Tragedy".  Photo taken from an original copy.
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