Alferd Packer, the Colorado cannibal

Six men went into the San Juans in the winter of 1874 with Packer as guide. He came out alone, well fed, carrying other men’s money. The bodies were found the next spring in a stand of hemlocks near Lake City. Packer served time, was released, and the site is marked today. A grim story, but a true one, and it is woven into every account of prospecting these mountains in winter.