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Mike Patterson and Jody Stewart owned Cerro Gordo. She passed away in 2001, and he took over. He had caretakers John and Roxie Bowden watching over things for him when he couldn't be up there. The hotel has never been open to overnight visitors in modern history, nor has it had an operating restaurant. The bunk house and the Belshaw House were available for overnight stays in 2002, but it was bring your own food unless you arranged in advance to have a group of volunteers come up and cook for your group. You probably had a tour of the hoist house above the town, there is no mill in Cerro Gordo to tour up there, and the mines are off limits. Mike Patterson passed away in 2009, and Mike's family owns the town. A small group of volunteers, myself included, help caretake the town when Robert Desmaris, the permanent caretaker needs time off the mountain. We no longer have running water, or propane up there, so only day visits are allowed. The hoist house is off limits to the general public now, due to safety reasons.
My book explains the past and current history of Cerro Gordo, talks about it's key characters throughout the different eras, has rare pictures and stories from the early 1900's when mining boomed again with the discovery of the importance of zinc that had previously been tossed aside, and stories of that tramway you are talking about. I touch on not only the true histories, but the legends and lore that have been handed down, and my own personal experiences up there.
Also, in the middle of August, I will have another book out, a pictorial history of Cerro Gordo published by Arcadia Publishing as a part of their Images of America series. I will keep everyone posted on that one as the time gets closer. Images of America: Cerro Gordo will include a good portion of pictures from a rare collection owned by the family of Louis D. Gordon who was responsible for Cerro Gordo's zinc era, and he was responsible for the Leschen tramway that replaced the older Montgomery tram. One whole chapter of this book includes pictures of this tram during it's construction and during operation. These pictures were never seen even by owner Mike Patterson, until I brought them up to him and showed him...and are quite amazing! I also was given transcripts of Louis D. Gordon's wife's diary, and amongst the things she talks about which you will read about in both of my books, is using the tram to put her grocery list on and have things sent from Keeler to Cerro Gordo via that tram.
It seemed like GT.com had a good idea with that trip but recall one of them saying they just about broke even on it.
