Slumgullion Gift Gallery

Located in the Historic District of the old mining town of Lake City, Colorado, the Slumgullion Gift Gallery is situated in an old (1918) brick building (with a history of its own - come see the plaque outside our building). After a day of hiking or 4-wheeling, take a break in town, explore the store or have a rest in our little courtyard garden.

 Come relax in the laid-back atmosphere of the shop and discover a cornicopia of gifts ranging from the practical to the sublime. Peruse our unusual selection of items from regional Colorado artists to fair trade items from abroad.

 Exhausted from all the hiking, 4-wheeling or fishing?       Have some refreshments in our little courtyard after a little shopping, or while the rest of the family explores the shop.

Perhaps not some slumgullion, though!

'Then he poured for us a beverage which he called “Slum gullion,” and it is hard to think he was not inspired when he named it. It really pretended to be tea, but there was too much dish-rag, and sand, and old bacon-rind in it to deceive the intelligent traveler.' Roughing It, by Mark Twain, 1872.

The meals are all alike — a potato, a slice of something like bacon, some gray stuff called bread, and a cup of muddy, semi-liquid coffee like that which the California miners call “slickers” or “slumgullion.”             Travels in Alaska, by John Muir, 1915 (describing a trip he made in 1879).

Were those who were instrumental in wilfully creating this unconstitutional debt ... compelled to shovel tailings and clean reservoirs half full of slumgullion until it was paid?                                                          Mountain Democrat, California, 3 Jan. 1857.

Slumgullion -----

• a mountain pass?

• sluice mining leavings?

• a kind of stew?

• coffee?

• an eclectic mixture of different items (i.e. a gift shop)?

Perhaps it is all those things. Come take a visit to Lake City and discover for yourself.

Joe, in the mountains just up-valley from town.

We look forwarding to seeing you, Joe Larkin and Silas Larkin Fox!