Small crowd commemorates Eagle County pioneer Charley Peterson at his grave in Gypsum
County pioneer, murder victim, honored with a graveside breakfast
Scott Miller/Vail Daily
Charley Peterson will never again have breakfast alone on April 8.
A group of locals gathered in Gypsum’s cemetery Tuesday to enjoy breakfast burritos while a breakfast of French toast casserole and sausage sat atop the grave of Carl Josef “Charley” Peterson.
Peterson, who homesteaded up the Colorado River on the site of what’s now Roundup River Ranch, was killed April 8, 1916, by two assailants. Evidence collected at the time indicated that the assailants shared a meal with Peterson before killing him with his pistol, then dragging his body under some brush near the river.
Peterson’s story gained new life in 2023 when the Eagle County Historical Society received an anonymous donation of $10,000 to encourage research into both Peterson and historical research in general.
The first use of that donation was tracking down Peterson’s gravesite in Gypsum’s cemetery. Eagle County Historical Society President Kathy Heicher said that it was difficult because Peterson is a fairly common name, and second, Charley wasn’t Peterson’s given name.
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With the help of a former caretaker, Heicher and her grandson, Jack, were able to find a modest marker with Peterson’s given name, Carl Josef, next to that of his older brother, Andrew Kallquist, who hadn’t changed his name when he arrived in this country from their native Sweden.
The donation, with a bit of help from the historical society, funded a proper headstone for Peterson, along with a new grave marker for Kallquist.
The donation is also funding historical research projects on local history.
Vail Christian High School senior Malcolm Osborn did an in-depth study of the early Eagle County mining town of Belden, tucked into the canyon below the now-abandoned mining town of Gilman, between Minturn and Red Cliff.
Osborn was among those gathered Tuesday at the cemetery. There, he said, his interest in local history was sparked by his father, who in the early 1990s was an extra in a movie titled “Tall Tales” that was filmed at Belden.
In addition to researching the history of the defunct mining town, Osborn’s work also delved into the story of Judge David Belden, for whom the town was named.
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Addressing the crowd, Osborn noted that Belden, an Ohio native, first came to Colorado prominence in Denver before coming to what became Eagle County, where he founded the mine and mining town that bears his name.
Osborn’s work will be available in all the county’s libraries.
Mason Darnall, one of Osborn’s classmates, has also received a research grant, and has launched a project about the history of his hometown of Edwards. Addressing those gathered at Peterson’s gravesite, Darnall said he and Vail Christian Headmaster Steve O’Neill started doing research and discovered there isn’t a comprehensive history of Edwards.
“It’s one of the oldest towns in Eagle County, but nobody’s written about it,” Darnall said. But, he added, he found a “remarkable” amount of information in old newspapers and gathered it together.
Darnall encouraged others to apply for grants. “You get to uncover this history people haven’t heard in lifetimes and get paid for doing it,” he said.
As the event wrapped up, Heicher explained the donor’s stipulation that the gravesite breakfast should be for at least one or three, but never just two, people. “It’s because two people killed (Peterson),” Heicher said. “That’s not his lucky number.”
