lferrell@alamosanews.com 

DEL NORTE — A remarkably preserved freight wagon from the early 1900s offers a window into the grueling labor and rich history of Colorado's Summitville gold rush.  

According to research provided by Ken Kernen, the grandson of early pioneer Fred Kernen, the wagon was originally purchased from Weiss Mercantile in Del Norte. By 1911, the Summitville Business Directory formally listed Fred Kernen as the operator of a stage line business running between Del Norte and the high-altitude mining camp.  

The famous gold wagon was an essential lifeline for the region. During the covered wagon days of the late 1920s, it served as the primary transport for the highly lucrative Pickens-Wiley strike at the Little Annie Mine.  

While much of the country was rapidly modernizing during this era, the rugged terrain of Summitville still required the resilience of horse-drawn freight. The mining district, perched at an unforgiving 11,500 feet in elevation, was one of Colorado's richest gold sites. Though its initial boom occurred in the 1870s, the area saw a major resurgence of gold extraction during the late 1920s and the Great Depression — the exact time Kernen's wagon saw its heaviest use.  

Between 1926 and 1931, Kernen utilized his wagon to haul freight for Jack Pickens and Judge Wiley. The logistical process was a demanding, multistep operation. Kernen would initially pick up freight and supplies in Del Norte using his motorized Model T truck. He would then drive 8 miles to his Pinos Creek Ranch to transfer the heavy load into the wooden wagon.  

Preparation was a meticulous family affair. Before each trip, Fred’s son, Lloyd, would loosen every wheel hub nut with a wrench and apply heavy axle grease to the tapered metal axles. To ensure safety on the steep mountain passes, he cut new wood brake shoes from green aspen and attached them to the wagon's braking mechanism.  

The following morning, Kernen would hitch a four-horse team and begin the grueling ascent up the muddy, deeply rutted Summitville road. He would break the journey at Toll Gate Springs, spending the night in a cabin equipped with a barn for the horses, before arriving in Summitville the next day.  

Once at the camp, a crew unloaded the supplies and packed the wagon with small canvas sacks filled with gold ore. Strategically, the high-grade ore was placed in the bottom of the wagon to protect it, while low-grade ore was layered on top. After resting for the night at the Summitville boarding house, Kernen would trace his route back to Toll Gate Springs for the night and eventually return to his ranch the next day. From there, the gold was transferred back to his truck and driven to the assayer’s office in Del Norte the following morning. Then, the arduous cycle began again.  

The harsh Rocky Mountain winters required dramatic adaptations. When the snow grew too deep for traditional wheels, Kernen converted the wagon into a bobsled to navigate the heavy snowstorms that frequently battered the route.  

The winter trips were notoriously treacherous as deep snowpacks accumulated on the primitive road. Ken Kernen’s research recounts one harrowing incident near Greyback Mountain, where the heavily loaded bobsled slipped off the packed trail and slid down into the surrounding trees. Fred Kernen had to painstakingly unharness each of the four horses separately to guide them back up onto the road. Using two heavy chains, the team managed to pull the loaded bobsled out of the deep snow, an exhausting effort that left him arriving in Summitville many hours behind schedule.  

Today, the history of the Fred Kernen wagon stands as a testament to the grit required to extract Summitville's famous gold, preserving the legacy of the miners and freighters who built the San Luis Valley.  

The wagon resides in the Rio Grande County Museum after being donated by the Kernen family.