Gunnison news-champion., 1922-12-01
DEATH CLAIMS PIONEER
OF EARLY COLORADO DAYS
Continued from Page One)

dkc OutD
were married in that city and begun
the life Of u sharer in the lot of Colo
rado prospector at Rosita, Colo.
The first-born. Minnie, arrived one
year after marriage-an Independence
Day baby, and in 1876. So this Ger
man-born man and Norwegian-born
woman were told about the wonderful
coincidence. This was getting the feel
of their adopted country with empha
sis. Now they were really a part of,
a vital and patriotic part Of this new
country. Their next child, Mary, was
months later came Phillip, who was
born in Lcadville. Louise, the baby
member of the family, was born in
Gunnison.
The first child WAS but few months
old when ProspectOr Pressler bundled
wife and child into a stage coach and
started for Central City. Here, as in
every other camp. until the eventual
etfete Gunnison was met up with, the
wife not only prepared the meals for
"her man." and nursed her offspring,
but assisted in the actual construction
Of the shnck which was 70 be her home
until the silver ignis fatuus called
them elsewhere.
Mrs. Pressler even fashioned her
own tables out of barrels and chairs
out Of boxes which had once contained
canned and dried provisions which the
freight stage had brought in, while
the privacy Of the home was preserved
by hanging newspaper curtains.
Then, Later was the the experience
at Leadville, when the husband, now a
mine superintendent, became the OBJ
ject of the anger Of striking employees
of the Pittsburg mine. Bullets pass
ed thru the thin wooden walls of the
house, and one of them perforated the
pillow where lay the infant son.
Medical aid in those days was some
times widely separated. so that when
the little son showed symptoms of an
infantile disease of crippling prop
ensities while the family was in Irwin,
the mother set out with him by stage
for Gunnison, where the desired medi-
cal attention could be obtained-Gun-
nison, the town with q railroad, stores
and laid-out streets and the like.
The fact that the stage happened to
overturn and in SO doing broke the
mothers leg, was only an incident in
the life of q hardy-born woman. When
she got to Gunnison, there were two
patients for the doctor instead Of one.
1t was not broken bones or such
things, however, that most concerned
the housekeepers Of those days. II
was the cost Of such articls as -four
ct $25 . barrel. The only satisfaction
was that the barrel would make . new
table eventually. But that trip to
Gunnison was the final haven-making
! for the family Of prospector Pressler,
He realized that the time had come
when he must educate his two children
who were approaching school age, and
Gunnison had schools. While he held
down his position Is mine superinten-
dent at Irwin, he settled his family in
Gunnison. on the East side. That was
in 1880.
With the Baptist church on one
side. he erected what was at that time
one Of the finest homes in Gunnison.
Among his neighbors were J. d. Mil
Ter, the leading meat merchant, and
E. P. Shove. the banker. It was here
that Louise, the last Of the children,
was born in 1883.
It was one evening in the spring of
1885 that Mrs. Pressler gathered her
four children about her and told them
that they five would have to face the
world alone. That day the crushed
and lifeless body Of Jacob Pressler had
been taken ont Of . mine in Pitkin.
Came the Christmas day when the
home burned down while the family
was away on q Whit. The last link
which held them to Gunnison having
disappeared, the family went to Dem
yer in 1892. Ten years later they re-
moved to Seattle, Washington.
The former residents Of Gunnison,
Lsndyille, Demver and other central
Colorado towns have foregathered Of
ten, md 4nxy Prsssler Was the tie
that bound them together IN such
tnthatings, ma when Try aS1Eed her
how ahe Hln9W - much G1nniSon kos-
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