Gunnison news-champion., 1917-04-06
Father Time Kind to Us

The founders OF Gunnison. whsn
they planted the stakes upon tn
tOwnsite. had In mind single 'horcl,
and that was that Gunnison would
become a great mining center owing
to the fact that II was surrounded by
an immense territory Astounding in
precious mineral wealth
This was but the natural conclu
sion OF the people who. wild with ex-
element over the discoveries in Lea
Vile pushed their noses over the
Continental divide separating the A.
lantic from the Pacific, sunk their
picks in the masses OF granite and
porphyry and began to dig the prec
ious metals from the bosom of thesc
mountains.
And the early boomers OF the town
shaped all their activities toward the
building Of shelters, sampling works
and reduction plants for the success
full treatment OF the ores that were I d.
be brought here on a "down-grade
pull" where all that was precious and
marketable in metals was to be eS
tracted and put into money and rag
material for manufacturing.
This effort has succeeded TO a dc
gree. but at last IT had to be aban.
doned-abandoned because fate de-
creed that the railroad should haul
the ores to Pueblo and Denver. q
distance OF 300 miles. cheaper than It
would drop them off at Gunni son after
transporting them but few miles.
With smelters and reduction works
but an irridescent dream. the men
who did things at Gunnison in those
days set about to make the town fam
Gus from another angle.
We discovered immense mountains
OF iron, mountains that made the great
deposits of Pennsylvania look like
gopher hills in comparison to size
and we launched worldwide cam
paign to make Gunnison the Pitts
burg OF the West" We patented
hundreds of claims containing iror
ore; We drew the stones for the
of an immense steel plant;
we brought in experts that pronounc.
ed the quality OF our iron ore su
perior to that OF any in the world,
and we sent out literature broadcast
telling of our possibilities-yea, Ger
We toiled-we toiled-we boosted
We talked Of our destiny-we praised
our resources-but we saw certain
ties dwarf into possibilities, and poss-
Utilities fade into faint dreams-we
failed.
We went to sleep. When We awoke
we found that new vision had nm.
folded itself before our eyes in our
dream.
Was that dream OF smelters an,
works. or iron foundries and
steel works? No. II was OF Gunni-
son-an educational center.
With renewed hope and determina.
tion-with the courage that has al.
ways predominated the very life az
every Gunnisonite-we started to work
again-we started on the preliminary
plans for the establishment in our old
home town of an educational institu.
ton where our children could receive
the higher knowledge OF learning tina.
would better fit them to take their
places among the men and women OF
the busy world who do the things
worth while.
1t was an uphill game at III. be
ginning to get the consent of the ba'
ance Of the state to recognize tn.
claims of Gunnison for a state tns.I.
tuition. There were many discourage
ments: but with that spirit of determ;.
nation always active. they never for
a moment recognized defeat
And 70. today. we are enjoying the
benefits Of the Colorado State Normal
school. founded BY the state l~risla-
ture and now recognised a. perna.