Grand Lake was once a thriving trade center in the West. During the mining boom, the county seat was moved from Hot Sulphur Springs to Grand Lake in 1881, where it remained until 1888. This led to conflict between two political factions: those who supported Grand Lake and those who wanted Hot Sulphur Springs as the county seat.
The county seat movement grew resentful, and in 1883 a gunfight broke out.
Samantha Missey, programs and education manager for the Grand County Historical Society, explained that the events leading up to this violent attack had likely been brewing for years.
After the county seat was moved to Grand Lake, a man named Tom Johnston was reportedly paid $1,200 by the county to build a courthouse and jail, which he completed in 48 hours, according to the Steamboat Pilot. Today, the building is occupied by Sagebrush BBQ & Grill, but it also operates as an ice house, grocery store and tavern. Meg Sawyers Van Hauen/SkyHigh News
Grand Lake Massacre
According to Robert Black’s book An Island in the Rockies, that winter was particularly hard on Grand County residents: snow continued to fall into June and a heavy spring melt discouraged travel outside the county.
Black wrote that the bad weather could increase tensions between the two factions.
The attack took place on July 4, 1883, near the hotel where Grand Lakes Point Park is now located. Missey said bitter political and personal feuds were likely behind the attack, which left nearly six Grand County residents dead.
She explained that even though Grand County was said to be “expanding in population” at the time, it was still a very small community.
“Everybody knows somebody. We have this web of relationships and connections and interactions. I think there must have been some personal grudges there,” Missy said.
According to the Grand County Historical Society, Mayor John Gillis Mills was originally from Vermont and later moved to Grand County. He was considered by other residents to be an ambitious lawyer with questionable character. He was 34 years old at the time of the shooting.
Fellow commissioner Edward Phillips Weber, 37, was originally from Illinois before moving to Colorado in 1879. Bernie Day, 51, was the oldest commissioner at the time of the shooting and was known to residents as a handsome, affable pioneer rancher.
After the raid, blood-stained papers were found on Commissioner Edward Phillips Weber’s body. One of the papers found on his body included a request to change the county’s newspaper. Photo courtesy of the Grand County Historical Society
Missy explained that tensions had been building between Commissioners Mills and Weber even before the shooting.
“They’re publishing articles about each other in the newspapers and they’re engaged in a kind of smear campaign,” she said.
According to historians, commissioners Weber, Day and Grand County Clerk Thomas J. “Captain” Dean were ambushed by Mills, Sheriff Charles Royer and Deputy Sheriff Bill Redman around 8 or 9 a.m. as they were leaving breakfast and heading to the commissioners meeting.
Weber was shot in the chest by Chief Mills and died that night. Day fired four shots, killing Mills and wounding Redman, but was shot by Sheriff Royer and died on the lakeshore. Dean, 57, was shot once in the head and once in the lower back and initially survived, but died of an infection on July 17, according to historical records.
Only the store clerk spoke directly about what happened that day.
“One of the thugs then jumped on me and struck me severely with a heavy revolver before leaving me on the ground,” Dean said in a statement to the coroner at the time.
Missy explained that Dean’s statement gives historians a lot of information about the shooting itself.
After the gunshots rang out, neighbors reportedly assumed the noise was due to early celebrations because it was Independence Day, delaying the investigation.
Artist and former Grand County Commissioner William Chenoweth painted this painting about the Grand Lake shooting in 1975. The painting hung in the Grand County Courthouse before being moved to the Pioneer Village Museum in Hot Sulphur Springs. Emily Gutierrez/SkyHigh News
The sheriff and his deputy reportedly fled the scene after the shooting and then investigated the scene.
However, Sheriff Royer, 31, committed suicide on the night of July 15 and his body was discovered the next day. It is widely believed that he took his own life out of guilt over the shootings. His confession to the murders was published in the Grand Lake newspaper, The Colorado Prospector.
The book “Island in the Rockies” states that the perpetrators thought they were just trying to scare Weber into leaving Grand County. In his confession, Royer said that one of the perpetrators said that morning, “We’re going to scare Weber a little bit so he’ll have to leave the county for good, right away.”
Royer shot and killed Commissioner Bernie Day during the melee, stating in his confession, “Ever since I killed Bernie, who I considered my best friend in the park, he’s been staring right at me. I can’t take it anymore.”
But the fate of Deputy Bill Redman, who was 29 at the time of the shooting, remains a mystery.
A few months later, Redman’s body was found in the desert near the Utah border, with the name “William Redmon” written in the sand next to his body, and a piece of paper pinned to the saddle nearby also had his name inscribed on it, according to the Georgetown Colorado Miner.
Some believe it was a suicide, others say he was murdered, and others believe Redman may have faked his death and fled the area because he was being pursued by the Rocky Mountain Detectives Association.
In any event, Redman was never seen in Grand County after the shootout.
“I think the most interesting theory is that he sold all his belongings to unknown travelers and made it all the way to South America,” Missy said.
Pictured is a wanted poster of Bill Redman, recreated by the Historical Society. Redman is believed to have been involved in the shooting of the Commissioner and survived, but what happened to him after the shooting remains a mystery. Photo courtesy of the Grand County Historical Society
Anniversary and After
The story was picked up and printed throughout the region, including in newspapers on the East Coast, Missy said. But the Denver article upset many Grand Lake residents, who felt it portrayed them unfairly and thought the negative coverage would hurt tourism in the area.
“I think we need to remember that Grand County was established in 1874, before the state of Colorado was even established,” Missy said.
In established metropolitan areas like Denver, the Grand Lake Massacre was seen as a brutal and shocking way to deal with political dissent, and Missy explained that many people living in these urban areas thought that people from the “Wild West” were savage and uneducated.
“I think it was a very shocking way for them to deal with political disagreements. I don’t think it would be strange from a Western perspective, but I think it would definitely be strange for people who live in more established areas,” Missy said.
Current Grand County Commissioner Richard Cimino called the shootout a “tragic but notable incident.”
“Grand County is only nine years old and has experienced a fairly continuous period of competition, strife and turmoil since day one,” Cimino said. “Colorado Governor James Benton Grant was so infuriated by the violence perpetrated by those tasked with peacefully leading the county that he wanted to wipe Grand County off the map!”
At the time, there were rumors that the governor wanted to redraw the state border so that Grand County was not included.
“Thankfully, Grand County still exists and, needless to say, we get along a lot better now and I’m grateful that the nine elected officials in Grand County government are working together to find a solution that benefits the people of Grand County,” Cimino said.
Cimino spoke about the Grand Lake Massacre during a special KFFR radio program. The full interview can be viewed at KFFR.org.
A memorial now stands at the scene of the Grand Lake shooting detailing the incident.
