County Celebrates 150th Anniversary with Tours, Picnic.

The atmosphere was festive and town was lively on August 1 for the Celebrate Lake City event, celebrating the County’s founding 150 years ago in the year 1874.
From 1 p.m. until 3 p.m., folks were free to explore the upstairs courtroom at the County Courthouse where cannibal Alferd Packer was tried, and from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m., a community picnic was held, catered by CLIMB Elevated Eatery, serenaded by the musical stylings of Tim Mallory and blessed by Pastor Jason Santos.
While everyone ate, County Commissioner Kristie Borchers gave a speech detailing the history of the area, beginning with the collapse of the Mesa Seco plateau into the Lake Fork Valley 700 years ago, when the Slumgullion Earthflow dammed the river, creating Lake San Cristobal.
Borchers explained, “The lake was a favorite camping spot when Native American tribes used this land as summer hunting grounds. The Ute Territory was subsequently reduced under several different agreements, driven by gold and silver exploration in the San Juan Mountains. The state of Colorado created Hinsdale County on February 10, 1874.”
Borchers thanked the crowd for coming to the “summer party,” explaining that the actual birthday of the county was in February, when Lake Citians celebrated out on the ice at Lake San Cristobal.
“We spent some time this winter gathering up a timeline of 150 years of work improving our county,” she said, directing people to the Visitor’s Center for a full timeline.
The abbreviated timeline Borchers recited, which she deemed ‘snapshots in time,’ is as follows: 1877, construction of the Hinsdale County Courthouse, which remains largely unchanged, where Susan B. Anthony spoke and Alferd Packer was tried for murder; 1881, telephone service reached Lake City;

1889, the first passenger train arrived; 1907, the first automobile arrived; 1915, the first tourists from Texas arrived; 1921, women won the right to vote, and the Town Trustees were an all-female board, also, a big flood washed out the train depot, tracks and roundhouse; 1937, construction of several auto courts began and there were individual cabins available for rent; 1950, the first Jeep tours began, using Otto Mear’s constructed backcountry roads for recreational sightseeing and not just as supply routes; 1954, the Chamber of Commerce sponsored construction of Deer Lakes; 1956, reliable electricity was established in Hinsdale County; 1968, water and sewer systems were established, the same year the Lake City Ski Hill opened; 1975, the Lake City Medical Center was opened downtown; 1978, National Register for Historic Places designated Lake City a Historic District, which remains one of the largest historic districts in the nation; 1985, Highway 149 paving over Slumgullion Pass was completed; 2013, Ute Ulay stabilization project began, along with the Papoose Fire, impacting Upper Rio Grande; 2019, more than 100 + significant avalanches impacted Hinsdale County; 2020, Hinsdale County purchased Peninsula Park.
Borchers concluded her speech saying, “Thank you to those of you serving Hinsdale County, living in Hinsdale County or partnering with Hinsdale County. We appreciate all the work you do.”