Lake City and the Alfred Packer story, told plainly

If you spend any time around Lake City, you will hear the name Alfred Packer, sometimes spelled Alferd. It is one of the best-known stories attached to Hinsdale County, and it is a grim one, which is exactly why it is worth getting from real records rather than from tall tales.

The documented outline is this. In the winter of 1874, Packer traveled with a small group of prospectors into the deep snow of the San Juan Mountains, in country that today lies within Hinsdale County. He came out alone. He was later accused of killing and eating his companions, and years afterward he was tried and convicted in Lake City. The case has drawn argument and legend ever since, and the town and its courthouse remain linked to it.

This is a true and serious piece of local history, not a souvenir. People died, and the facts are genuinely contested in places. The respectful way to learn about it is through the institutions that keep the actual records, which lay out what is documented and where the story becomes uncertain.

For the trial record and the documented facts of the Alfred Packer case, start with the Colorado State Archives and History Colorado rather than retellings.