If you are interested in mining this is for you. We have; Rocker Bottom Ore Carts used in Camp Bird Mine Ouray, Colorado. This was donated to the museum by the Rash Family in 2001. An Ore Tumbler, conveyor belt driven used by local mines. There are several types of ore buckets used in horizontal mine shafts and ore buckets used in vertical mine shafts. We have a special double set of tracks that were laid inside of mine shafts to allow ore to be moved in carts from inside tunnels where miners were mining ore.  Schramm brand air compressor used to power air drills in local mines donated by Paul Redden.  We also have very large water pumps used in placer mining.

For the cowboys of our community, there are over 100 cowboy hats worn by present and past ranchers of Gunnison County. We have several saddles that were used by ladies and men in the ranching business in the past. There are newspaper and magazines articles from the past, which cover several ranchers from the early days of ranching in Gunnison. Some of these ranchers are Dan Thornton past Governor of Colorado and Gus Roberson past President of the Quarter Horses Association of the United States. You can read about all of the Rodeo Queens of Cattlemen’s days from the very first queen thru 1980’s queens.

For the telephone buffs, you will find one of the best displays of telephone equipment in the United States. We have telephone switch boards of all types from 1881 thru the late 1900’s. You will find telephone booths, and every kind of telephone made. There are displays showing how the telephone system works.

For kids of all ages we have The Train. Locomotive #268 also known as “Cinderella” located at her permanent home, she likes to have kids ring her bell. There are several different kinds of railroad cars that she pulled, on display. The Railroad Depot located on the Irby Ranch near Sargents was relocated to the museum. The Irby family donated the Depot to the museum. The large water tank located on the east side of Marshall Pass at Mears Junction, Colorado holds 50,000 gallons of water. The Ender Family donated the Water Tank to the museum in 1971.

We have one of the better Antique Car collections in all of Colorado. There are over 80 different cars to be seen. Our oldest car is 106 years old belonged to the Ed Leonard Family and was donated by Cass Leonard. The 1918 pickup was donated by Tom Redden. Forest Kelley’s’ 1912 Ford Model T Pickup is on display.

The ladies of Gunnison must come to the museum to see all of the dresses that we have on display. Dress’s from 1886 thru the 1950’s. Wedding dresses, prom gowns, poodle skirts and just plain everyday dresses. There are several party dresses from the 1940’s and 1950’s.

For the young girls we have the Chance doll house with nearly 200 dolls on display and for the young boys there is the Iris building displaying several toy car collections with hundreds of different toy cars.

Here is a big thank you to all of the people that visited the museum these past few weeks. For those of you that didn’t please come in sometime this summer, you don’t know what you are missing.