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Crystal, Colorado: Turning Rock Creek into Crystal River
Frontier Diary
By Willa Soncarty
Registrar, Frontier Historical Society and Museum
The Crystal River district is one of those vast, rich, but until
recently little known countries, that, walled in with high mountains,
has for ages kept its treasures hidden from the outside world.
-- Avalanche Echo Special Edition, May 1893
In 1879, the first prospectors from the town of Gothic crossed what
would become Schofield Pass in search of personal wealth. What they
found was an area containing vast resources.
The survey party of Dr. Ferdinand Vandiveer Hayden was the first to
officially map and document the region. This party of topographers,
geologists, naturalists, scientists, botanists, entomologists and
artists, and a photographer named William Henry Jackson, followed a
stream named Rock Creek in 1873, recording the natural world from the
foot of Mount Sopris to Schofield Pass and beyond. This area would
later become known as the Crystal River Valley.
The Hayden Survey provided information for the prospectors who came six
years later. Their primary focus was to locate veins of gold and
silver. However, also found were vast deposits of marble, slate and
coal.
Those who sought their fortunes also established towns along Rock
Creek. Schofield was the first in 1879, followed by Elko, Crystal City,
Marble and Clarence. Stores and business came with the mining
operations. In 1886 a weekly newspaper, the Crystal River Current,
began publication in the town of Crystal (the name being shortened from
Crystal City). The appearance of the name "Crystal River" in the
paper’s name prompted residents along Rock Creek to throw aside the
creek’s name. Through common local usage, Rock Creek became known as
Crystal River.
As the 19th century progressed, mining continued as the Crystal River
Valley’s prime industry. With John C. Osgood developing his coal mines
at Redstone, Placita and Coal Basin, a railroad was needed in the
Crystal River valley. In 1898, Osgood revived a defunct railroad
project, the Crystal River Railroad, in the effort to connect Redstone
with Carbondale. With this new venture, the railroad’s officers
petitioned the Department of the Interior to officially change the name
of Rock Creek to Crystal River.
After three years of review, the General Land Office of the Department
of the Interior found valid reason for the name change. Citing at least
10 streams bearing the name Rock Creek in Colorado, and that for nearly
15 years the name Crystal River had supplanted the name Rock Creek
locally, the change was officially made on Nov. 22, 1901. Rock Creek
was found no more. Crystal River appeared on official maps from that
moment forward.
"Frontier Diary" is provided to the Post Independent by the
Frontier Historical Society and Museum, 1001 Colorado Ave., Glenwood
Springs, Colorado. Winter hours are 1-4 p.m. Monday and Thursday
through Saturday. For more information, call 970-945-4448.