In the San Juan

Rev. J. J. Gibbons experienced the San Juan Mountains of Colorado as few men ever did. At the end of the nineteenth century, when avalanches ran, mines exploded, and plagues hit hard - everyone backed off except for Gibbons. It was his job to tend the sick, give last rites, bury the dead, and bring comfort to the grieving families. So even when the weather was at its worst, Father Gibbons set out on foot or on horseback to bring comfort to those individuals in need of a Catholic priest. In the San Juan tells stories of skeletons along the trailside, men blown to bits while warming dynamite on a stove, and the power of avalanches that kill not only those in the way, but also would-be rescuers who came in later. Responsible for an enormous territory that covered 10,000 square miles of some of the most rugged terrain in the United States, Father Gibbons was a living testament that faith in God helped good men to make it through terrible times. Western Reflections Publishing chose to reprint this extraordinary work in order to provide the general public a rare look at life in the silver mining heyday of the San Juan Mountains through the sensitive and perceptive eyes of a man of faith.