They say, if you are truly lost, you will go around in a great circle and finally come back to where you started. This is a personal story of my youth.
In the 1959 to 1961 time period when I was in my pre-teens, the family took several week long vacations to stay at the Six J's guest resort south of Gunnison Colorado near the Powderhorn Wilderness. It was then a 40 mile trek from Gunnison on dusty gravel roads. Now Highway 149 skirts Blue Mesa Reservoir to the old community of Powderhorn then only 10 miles of dusty gravel road. On our travels from Gunnison to Lake City we took a detour to see if the Six J's still existed over 50 years later.
The resort is now known as Powderhorn Guest Ranch. It is unoccupied, but recently, maybe only one season. It is for sale and could be made operational again. Whether there is still a market is questionable. Perhaps if I had looked here 20 years ago.....
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| We approach the bridge over Cebolla Creek at the entrance |
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| The manager's residence and office. |
The operation was run by a manager couple, I remember them as Bob and Peggy. They had one hand to tend the horses. Other than that, they did all of the maintenance and all of the hospitality.
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| The Main Lodge |
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| Another View of the Lodge |
The Lodge was the gathering place for the resort. It was composed of a Lobby, a small store, and a Dance Hall
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| The Dance Hall |
Looking in through the window of the dance hall I remember the square dances that were held here. Construction details show that this was a well built and beautiful facility.
The workshop was located south of the Lodge. Bob made sure to keep a large pile of cut and split firewood here for all to use. The only heat in the cabins came from wood stoves. Dad would rise early every morning and get the cabin warming. The ranch hand would fetch the horses from the meadows along the creek and have them saddled and ready for anyone who wanted to rent them. We did quite often.
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| The Ranch Hand's Cabin. |
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| Our Cabin |
As best as I can remember, this was our cabin. At the time, we were a family of 6, Mom and Dad plus Jim, Jack, Jane, and Joe. (Sorry John) So we had 4 J's in our family. The owners of the resort (I believe their name was Franz) had 6 girls, all with names starting with J's!
A tributary from Cebolla Creek was dammed to form the "Polar Bear Wading Pool". A foot bridge crossed over the pool to a picnic area and here I found the only reference to the Six J's.
Overlooking the valley that held the resort was a grave on a small knoll. I never discovered the history that the grave marked.
A number of trails left the resort and climbed up adjacent canyons into the high mountains. We took pack trips into the East and Middle Forks (of what I now know as Powderhorn Creek in the Powderhorn Wilderness).
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| The current entry sign |
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| Any Takers? |
Well, this was fun for me. I found that my memories were vivid and it was quite easy to trace them back to an early time in my life some 55 years ago.
See you down the road...
JIM
