Town file
Gunnison, Colorado
Gunnison, Colorado (Gunnison County, Colorado) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 179, "Deep Beneath The Goat Heads" (9 July 2020). In 2015 Jake Millison, whose full name was Jacob, was twenty-nine years old and living on the 7-Eleven ranch, a 700-acre property between Parlin and Gunnison in Gunnison County, Colorado.
- Town
- Gunnison
- County
- Gunnison County
- State
- Colorado
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 179
- Approximate location
- 38.548, -106.925
Episode 179 / 9 July 2020 / 155 min / full
Deep Beneath The Goat Heads
"It's Gunnison, Colorado ... this is in Gunnison County, area code 970" about 0:05:33
The case: Murder of Jake Millison (May 2015). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2020
- Population
- 6,250
- Median age
- 25.8
- Median household income
- $41,500
- Median home value
- $274,700
- Two-bedroom rent
- $913 a month
- Cost of living
- $101,000
- Religious
- 40%
- Property crime
- ▲ just above average
- Violent crime
- ▼ just below average
History, in brief
- Gunnison is named after John W. Gunnison, an explorer looking for a route for the Transcontinental Railroad, who stayed three days before travelling west to Utah. about 0:09:02
- In the early 1800s the people moving there were fur trappers and mountain men; fur prices dropped in the 1840s and many stopped. about 0:09:56
- In the 1850s the trappers turned to hunting placer gold, and in the 1870s people came in numbers because of the mining surge. about 0:10:50
- Several miners were killed by the Ute tribes and many miners fled the area. about 0:11:26
- The Gunnison camps reportedly produced about 130 ounces of gold from the beginning of the gold rush through 1959. about 0:11:56
- Silver lead ore also became a big deal in the area. about 0:12:22
- Before the railroad arrived the town split in half fighting over which railroad would come through. about 0:12:35
- The railroad came a little after 1880, which blew the town up, and cattle became big around 1880 too. about 0:09:45
- Farming is hard here: about 11 inches of rain a year, high elevation and poor soil, so irrigation ditches had to be dug. about 0:12:56
- John Outcult, a former shipbuilder from New Jersey, helped build the Paragon School, still standing, and the Gunnison Pioneer Museum; he was known as the most trusted white man in the area. about 0:15:03
- In 1918, during the Spanish influenza epidemic, Gunnison barricaded the highways and warned train passengers they would be arrested and quarantined for five days; not one resident died of the flu. about 0:15:52
- The 2006 novel The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen is based on that quarantine. about 0:17:04
The reviews read out
2 stars
"Great place to visit with lots of outdoor activities, but a very boring small town with next to no nightlife; job opportunities are low and isolated, housing is affordable but most people are lower class, and the students at Western Colorado University were unfriendly."about 0:17:29
3 stars
"If you are willing to work hard you can get a job; there are lots of restaurants and seasonal work and many people hold more than one job."about 0:18:52
3 stars
"There are big companies like City Market, Safeway, Ace and the Tractor Store, and a small warm Walmart with no grocery section, plus lots of small businesses and restaurants."about 0:19:20
3 stars
"A person of the age would like to see more establishments where one can go out and have a nice beverage."about 0:19:36
3 stars
"People tend to live here for a while; it is pet and family friendly."about 0:20:36
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Aspen, Colorado45 miles
- Breckenridge, Colorado81 miles
- Whitewater, Colorado88 miles
- Cortez, Colorado122 miles
- Golden, Colorado123 miles
- Walsenburg, Colorado133 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.