Schofield flourished for 12 or 14 years, then they decided the cost of transportation was far more than the mineral mined warranted, so in 1886 practically the entire town was moved down the valley four miles and Crystal City was started. Schofield became truly a “ghost town.”
It has always been easier to enter Schofield from Crested Butte than from Crystal, but now with the opening of a jeep road between Schofield and Crystal City all that has been changed and today a new Schofield is in the making. This time it is to be a 40-acre tract of modern buildings containing a 24-housing unit, a motel, and a store. None of the over-night constructed mining shacks this time, but modern log cabins built to withstand the elements at this nearly 10,000 foot elevation.
Leaving Schofield, the Crystal River goes through some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. It runs down a ravine 50 feet below the road, over boulders, through crevices, always in a hurry, it plunges over a ledge into the Little Devils Punch Bowl, then it cascades over another ledge making an impressive waterfall as it drops into the Big Devils Punch Bowl many feet below, where it seethes and swirls trying to find a way out to go on down the canyon.
The trail above the river was used as a wagon road from the early 1880s to about 1917. John A. Williams drove a team of mules over it in 1911 hauling supplies for the Williams General Store in Crystal. Anton Danni drove a supply wagon over it in 1916. The following item was taken from the Marble Booster newspaper, Aug. 12, 1916:
“Tom Boughton, John J. Walsh, D. E. Dever, and Chas. Sisteg, elected at a caucus to represent Marble as delegates to the Democratic County Convention which convened at Gunnison Monday, left here early last Sunday morning, via Crystal (Schofield Pass) driving (horses) most of the distance and enjoying a motor ride the rest of the way.”
These are the last authentic accounts of this wagon road being used I can find; so presume it was closed by rock slides shortly after this date. Over 40 years passed before this scenic part of Colorado was again made available to travel, mainly through the efforts of Gunnison County Commissioner Anton Danni and his road overseer who made several trips from Schofield to Crystal City, on foot, to see if it were possible, and feasible, to open a jeep road. They decided it was and on Aug. 5, 1958, after many months of hard work, the first jeeps came through from Crested Butte to Marble. In 1959 they hope to improve the road enough to permit passenger cars to come down; but no vehicle without a 4-wheel drive could make the trip up the canyon.
The first group to make the trip over the new road was composed of the following people:
| Mr. and Mrs. W. P. Cain | Almont, Colo. |
| Mr. and Mrs. Bart Cox | Almont, Colo. |
| Mr. and Mrs. John Ramsey | Almont, Colo. |
| Mr. and Mrs. R. A. Gauby | Santa Monica, Calif. |
| Mrs. Jane Schmidt | Almont, Colo. |
| Mrs. C. Haase | Almont, Colo. |
| Mr. and Mrs. I. Fifer | Lake Forest, Ill. |
| Mr. and Mrs. O. W. Shumate | Milwaukee, Wis. |
Leaving the punch bowls the river runs another mile and a half before the North Fork from Lead King Basin joins it. This tributary drains another scenic valley. Snowmass Peak (14,077 ft. El.), Maroon Peak (14,158 ft.) and Hagerman Peak can be seen in the background. Beautiful trails wind through the various draws leading to Geneva Lake and the Maroon Belles where fishing is at its best. This is also a highly mineralized valley: silver, copper, lead, and zinc predominating. The Copper King, 20th Century, Winchester, El Negroero and half of the Richardson, all located in this basin, belong to Lee Sperry of the Ragged Mountain district.
