One day Packer went to gather firewood and when he returned he found that Mr. As they approached starvation, the members of the party began looking at each other with suspicion. The cold weather had driven all the animals and birds to shelter so there was no source of meat. He said that he and his five companions thought that they had enough food for the long journey ahead of them, but it was rapidly used up and they soon found themselves living on roots dug from the ground. After begging for mercy he made the first of several confessions. When Packer was confronted with the strips of flesh, he nearly fainted. Not long after Packer's arrival, two excited Indians ran into the Agency holding strips of flesh which they called “white man’s meat.” They had found them on the ground not far from the Agency, where the snow and cold weather had preserved them. While intoxicated he began telling conflicting stories about the fate of his companions and suspicions arose that Packer himself might have engineered their demise. In Saguache, Packer drank heavily and appeared to have plenty of money. After ten days recovering at the Agency, Packer left for the town of Saguache, saying he intended to work his way back to his home in Pennsylvania. Packer said that he had taken ill and his companions had given him a rifle then deserted him. On April 16, Alfred Packer arrived alone at the Agency, carrying a rifle and a coffeepot holding burning embers, and begged piteously for food and shelter. Of the party of four who followed the chief’s instructions, two died from starvation and exposure, and the other two reached the Los Pinos Agency later that February. Four members of the party were determined to follow Chief Ouray’s instructions, but the other five-Swan, Miller, Noon, Bell and Humphrey-had gold fever and agreed to follow Packer. Chief Ouray provided them with food and advised them to follow the Gunnison River.Īfter traveling a short way, Packer told them that rich gold fields had recently been discovered near the headwaters of the Rio Grande, and proposed that they head that way.
The other ten were determined to continue on to their goal, the Los Pinos Indian Agency, some seventy miles away. He did manage to change the minds of ten of the men who decided to turn back to Salt Lake City. After regaining their health the men were anxious to continue their journey but Chief Ouray, for their own safety, tried to dissuade them. They entered the camp with trepidation, not knowing how they would be treated by the Indians, but the Utes were friendly and Chief Ouray insisted that they stay in the camp until fully recuperated. Just when it looked like their only reward would be starvation and death they came upon a camp of Ute Indians at the mouth of Dry Creek.
After several weeks of travel through barren wastes and snowy mountains they had run out of food.
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But if Packer did know the territory, he did not know how to prepare an expedition of this size for a Colorado winter. Alfred Packer, who allegedly had knowledge of the territory, would be their guide. They had heard glowing accounts of fortunes made in the San Juan country and were anxious to try their hands at prospecting. Packer’s expedition, which left Salt Lake City, Utah in the Fall of 1873, was originally twenty men strong. Victims: Wilson Bell, James Humphreys, Frank Miller, George Noon and Israel Swan He had survived the San Juan winter by eating his companions.
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But when confronted with evidence that suggested his story was false, Packer made a full confession. Packer claimed that he had taken ill, his men had abandoned him and he had traveled alone to the Agency. That April, Packer arrived alone at the Los Pinos Indian Agency, somewhat wild looking, but remarkably healthy for someone who had endured two month of brutal winter weather in the mountains. In February of 1874, a group of six men led by Alfred Packer, ventured into the San Juan Mountains in Colorado territory in search of gold.
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