Eagle County Historical Society will host its second commemoration of murdered pioneer

The Eagle County Historical Society will commemorate the anniversary of a particularly foul deed in the county’s early days.

The nonprofit group will commemorate the second Charley Peterson Day with a breakfast — lunch, really — at the Gypsum gravesite of Charley Peterson, who was murdered on April 8, 1916, at or near his cabin along the Colorado River.

The first event brought a plate of eggs, pancakes and ham, as well as a cup of coffee, to Peterson’s grave at the Gypsum cemetery. This year’s event will do the same, and Eagle County Historical Society members will sell $10 breakfast burritos — cash only, please — to those who attend a 30- to 40-minute presentation at Peterson’s grave.

The county’s historical research efforts were given a boost with a $10,000 donation from an anonymous donor that created the Charley Peterson Historical Research Fund. That fund is intended to pay for research focused on the county’s history.

The donation came with one stipulation: Every year, one or three or more people — not just two people — must visit Peterson’s grave on the anniversary of his death, and provide breakfast for Peterson.

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Peterson was probably born Carl Josef Kallquist. He was an immigrant from Sweden who likely changed his name when he arrived in the U.S. He homesteaded along the Grand River, now known as the Colorado, on a site at what’s now the Roundup River Ranch.

Peterson lived a quiet life and ferried people across the river.

On April 10, 1916, two men discovered Peterson’s body. He’d been shot four times with his own pistol. Evidence showed two other people — likely his killers — had been in Peterson’s cabin with him. The killers were never found.

Peterson’s cabin had been ransacked, but the money hidden in the cabin was still there.

Using grant funds, historical society president Kathy Heicher, along with her grandson, the cemetery caretaker and other society members began a search for Peterson’s grave, which was discovered next to that of his brother, Andrew Kallquist. The donor and the historical society paid for a new grave marker.

In addition to the information about Peterson, the graveside event will also introduce the historical society’s first winner of a research grant.

Malcolm Osborn, a senior at Vail Christian High School, was awarded a grant to research the mining town of Belden and Judge David Belden, for whom it is named.

Osborn researched and wrote an 83-page manuscript about the pioneer days of Belden, plus a history of Judge Belden. He also wrote an interpretive sign for the county museum’s Belden exhibit.

The manuscript will be placed in each of the county’s libraries and will be available to be checked out.