THE DEVIL’S PUNCH BOWLS—half way between Schofield and Crystal City. The road is to the right, high above these falls. —Photo courtesy Colin L. Moore, Gunnison, Colo.
CRYSTAL RIVER SAGA
One of the most beautiful rivers in Colorado has its source at Schofield Pass high above Elko Basin and Schofield Park. It is fed by melting snow and many crystal clear springs, hence the name Crystal River. And it does not belie its name, as, excepting a few weeks in the spring when melting snow along its lower tributaries gives it a roily turbulent appearance, it is truly crystal clear.
SCHOFIELD
The Flower Garden of the Rockies
(Elevation Approximately 10,000 feet)
Schofield has been called “The flower garden of the Rockies” and rightly so. It is carpetted with multifarious species of flowers, ranging from the delicate snow flowers and Alpine mosses through several shades of Indian paint brushes, blue and purple lupines, and wild roses to the lusty sunflowers. It is especially beautiful in July and August when there are literally hundreds of acres of blue, purple, lavender, gold, and brown columbines.
In the early 1870s gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, and galina were found in this region, so naturally a mining camp mushroomed over night into a village of 50 or 60 houses. These were the regular camp-style buildings with no foundations, resembling huge packing boxes. There was also a store, hotel, concentration mill, and several saloons. While its population sometimes soared into the thousands, it was a transit, moving people, living mostly in tents and always looking for better prospects.
Frank Hall’s “State of Colorado,” Vol. IV, page 150, date 1895, has this to say about this mining camp:
“Schofield was surveyed and platted August 24, 1879, by J. Evans for a company composed of Daniel Haines, S. H. Baker, B. F. Schofield (for whom it was named), H. G. Ferris, Wm. Agee, E. D. Baker, A. H. Slossen, and G. Edwards. It is located on Rock Creek (now called Crystal River) between Elko Basin and Crystal City, eight miles northwest of Gothic, and some 40 miles west of Gunnison. It never was a camp of much importance, though a central station for a number of prospectors.”
General Grant is supposed to have ridden into Schofield on a white mule when he was campaigning for the U. S. presidency. Some of the prospectors tried to sell him some mining claims; being unsuccessful in that, they attempted to get him into a poker game and lose a claim to him so they could boast, “The President of the United States owns mining property in Schofield.” But they weren’t proficient enough in “stacking the cards” to deal him a winning hand. Wishing to show him the grandeur of the canyon they took him where he could look down into the Devil’s Punch Bowls and told him it was called the “SOB Canyon.” He agreed it was appropriately named but suggested a name that would be even harder to beat, “The Schultz Canyon.” Schultz being his political opponent at the time.