Travel Back in Time

Why “Trappers” Lake?

Trappers Lake’s name was given to it by the abundant wildlife in the area and the popularity of trapping for animal pelts. To this day, raccoon, porcupine, marmots (whistle pigs), muskrat, pine martin, weasels, small rodents, beaver, deer, elk, and moose roam the wilderness- that’s just to name a few! Native Ute Indians were known to use the Trappers Lake area as their summer hunting grounds due to the abundance of wildlife. It has also been told that buffalo once thrived in the White River Valley. They were pushed over Ripple Creek pass and pastured for the summer in the high country.

1886 - J.C. Osgood and William L. Pattison

The first known man, besides the Native Ute Indians, to establish themself in the Trappers Lake area was in the year 1886 by J.C. Osgood. Mr. Osgood saw the opportunity for a great deal of money to be made by offering remote vacations in the Rocky Mountains to the people of Colorado plains. He then established his location and operated as a private lodge from 1886 to 1892. Mr. Osgood hired William L. Pattison for the time that the lodge was established until it closed. This information was gathered from a letter wrote by a Forest Service employee. Another exert from a biography on Mr. Pattison states that he took up his residence in the Trappers Lake area in 1884 and served as the lodge manager until 1893. After the closing of the lodge Mr. Pattison and his family relocated on Fawn Creek where he homesteaded a plot of land.

When this original lodge was established in the late 1880’s it was located right next to Trappers Lake, where Little Trappers Creek flows into Trappers Lake. It was made up of a main lodge, stables and three private cabins. Many of you whom have visited the area know that there are two structures that stand in that area that belong to the DOW and have been grandfathered in to the Wilderness Act. This is where our (the current owners: Becca (Mobley) Nielsen and Kaysyn Chintala) heritage plays a role in some of the history of the upper White River Valley. In the summer of 1917, Vern Caldwell (Becca’s great, great uncle and Kaysyn’s great, great, great uncle) and Sam Himes worked for the Fish and Game where they took lumber to Trappers Lake to build a fish hatchery. The men rigged their pack saddles to tie on boards on each side of a burro and then the other ends fastened to another burro, hauling the logs to the site.

1894 - Change in Management

Jake Borah, Frank Squires, Henry Galdwin, and Jack Frey then took over the management and operated as a public hotel and resort. Dates of their management could not be determined and no other information could be gathered on the operations or condition of the original lodge.

1918 - The Forest Inn

In the early years, Trappers Lake Lodge was known as the Forest Inn, due to the thick growth of trees surrounding the resort. Jack Nassau, originally from Smyrna, Turkey, spent the summers of 1917 working for the Forest Service and the winters trapping in the Trappers Lake section. He homesteaded in the Marvine area but later gave up his place and went to work for the Game and Fish department where he spent the summer at the spawning station at Trappers Lake. While working at the station he decided to try for a forest permit for a lodge. Permission was granted and Mr. Nassau built Forest Inn on the existing 11.4 acres that makes up Trappers Lake Lodge to this day. He built the original lodge and all the furniture that was in it. Where the Bath House is today is where Geraldine “Jerry” Nassau, one of his daughters, was born.

1919 - Arthur Carhart Visits Trappers Lake

Arthur Carhart was sent to Trappers Lake area in 1919 to make a survey for the construction of several hundred home sites. However, after Carhart spent a great deal of time with two old fisherman and a bottle of bootlegged liquor, he realized the impact this would have on the area and that below. Trappers Lake then became known as the “Cradle of Wilderness”. This is where the wilderness concept was born and the principle was first applied in the summer of 1919. All applications for homesite permits around the lake have been declined from then on in order to preserve natural landscape.

1964 - Wilderness Act of 1964

Buckles, Ricki. A History Of The Upper White River Country.
http://genealogytrails.com/colo/rioblanco/bios.html

Articles

Garfield County Gazette

It's easy getting lost.

By: Seth Boster 
October 2, 2016 Updated: October 8, 2016 at 8:49 am

At least that's what I was told upon finally arriving at Trappers Lake Lodge and Resort. The drive from Colorado Springs to this remote spot in the Flat Tops Wilderness was supposed to take about six hours, but it ended up taking me closer to eight as I made a few wrong turns in the northwestern high country, where cell service often fails. I got back on track one time thanks to a cowboy herding his cattle, another time thanks to a motorcyclist at an out-of-service gas station and one last time thanks to a fisherman deep in White River National Forest.

Read More on The Gazette's website

The Denver Post

Trappers Lake, a relatively unknown Colorado jewel, reaps benefits of a 2002 fire

By Scott Willoughby | The Denver Post

FLAT TOPS WILDERNESS AREA — It must have been a sight to behold.

Colorado undoubtedly had seen bigger wildfires, even bigger blazes during that very summer of 2002 alone. But the imposing Big Fish fire was all the more extraordinary, set against the dramatic backdrop of Trappers Lake and the striking Flat Tops Wilderness surrounding it. All told, 17,000 acres in the so-called “Cradle of Wilderness” were scorched by a lightning strike while firefighting crews watched the pristine valley go up in flames.

Read more on The Denver Post's website