Garfield County Commissioners (BOCC) this week took a look at a 100-year-old Colorado murder case. It all has to do with a requested name change for a place called Dead Mexican Gulch, near the Devil’s Causeway in the Flat Tops Wilderness Area in northern Garfield County.
The Colorado Geographic Naming Advisory Board (CGNAB), which was formed in 2020 to consider places in the state whose names may need to be changed, approached the BOCC with the idea of changing “Dead Mexican Gulch” to “José Belardi Gulch,” in honor of the man who is supposedly buried there. In November 2022, the CGNAB tried to change “Mt. Evans” (named for John Evans, Colorado’s territorial governor at the time of the Sand Creek incident) to “Mount Blue Sky,” but that attempt has stalled due to a tribal dispute.
Anyway, according to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, José (Joe) Belardi was a sheep herder who murdered two of his colleagues over money in 1921 or ’22. Legend has it that Belardi gambled away paychecks entrusted to him by his hapless friends. So, Belardi killed them both and attempted to burn one of the bodies. He got 12-16 years in the Cañon City state penitentiary for that, but Tom Tynan, a sheep rancher and the prison warden, set Belardi free after five years to work on the Tynan ranch.
One night, Belardi was either struck by lightning or suffered an epileptic seizure and fell into his campfire. It is unknown who exactly is buried at Dead Mexican Gulch but, according to reports, a grave exists there marked with Belardi’s name and the year 1922.
Commissioner Tom Jankovsky called Belardi “a scoundrel and a murderer” and said he wasn’t the kind of person whose name should be on a landmark. Jankovsky suggested “Karma Gulch” because Belardi got what was coming to him. Commission Chair John Martin suggested “Lost Sheepherder Gulch.” The BOCC, at this point, is not in charge of naming or renaming the Gulch.
In other news, Martin dubbed himself “the baddie” for the sole “nay” vote on two letters of support for affordable/attainable housing projects and a land use change permit for a 54-acre solar farm near Rifle, all of which passed on 2-1 votes anyway.
Kansas-based real estate investment and housing firm Cohen-Esrey requested a letter of support to the Colorado Housing & Finance Authority for Glenwood Gardens as a federal low-income housing tax credit and state affordable housing tax credit project. The firm also wants to apply the county’s private activity bond volume cap of $3,745,176 to the project. Glenwood Gardens is proposed for land in West Glenwood, home to the historic Osgood greenhouse, which was brought brick-by-brick to Glenwood Springs from Redstone in 1939.
Cohen-Esrey representative Nick Emenhiser said that the project would be the first of its kind in Glenwood Springs and include 131 units. He added that the firm would like to break ground next summer. “I’m up to my eyeballs in people!” exclaimed Martin. “I’m going to hold the line in reference to growth. We need to be careful with our natural resources.”
Glenwood Springs City Manager Beverli Marshall also requested a letter of support for the City’s application for money from the state Department of Local Affairs for the Vogelaar Climate-Smart Workforce Housing planning project. The city wants to complete conceptual design plans, a geothermal energy feasibility study and other assessments for a development of 100 to 150 mixed units on the 3.5-acre Vogelaar property near the confluence area in Glenwood Springs.
Marshall told the BOCC that Garfield County needs to create 1,300 housing units to catch up with housing needs and 26 units per year to keep up. “We’re not adding people,” she explained. “They already work here. We can reduce the commute by giving them an opportunity to walk or take transit to work.” Citing area difficulties to keep employees, she added, “We can’t ignore how potential workers won’t come to the area if there is no place to live.”
Martin is concerned that residents of Glenwood Springs want much-needed infrastructure and other repairs that have been on the back-burner. “We need those improvements before we start building more,” he said.