Last week, I wrote an article about the legend of Sir St. George Gore, the namesake of Colorado’s Gore Range and Gore Pass, along with several other well-known landmarks. While these spots bear his name, Gore is perhaps best-known for his notorious hunting expedition in which he is often blamed for slaughtering 1,000s of animals and leaving them to rot in the 1850s.

After publishing that piece and citing some of the sparse accounts found online related to Gore’s expedition, a man named John LaConte reached out to share his insight. An award-winning investigative journalist who works for Vail Daily, LaConte recently published a book that’s an in-depth dive into the life of Gore, with LaConte being the first to track down hundreds of digitalized primary sources from the 1800s that helped to track Gore’s movement around the American West.

There’s perhaps no one on the planet that’s more familiar with the actual Sir St. George Gore story than LaConte, able to separate fact from fiction in a way that adds a depth to his story that extends past the shocking headlines that tend to pop up from time to time. From how rumors related to the slaughter of wildlife originated to a look at the type of person Gore was, LaConte’s book, titled ‘Notorious Hunter Sir St. George Gore: Deadly Legacy in Colorado‘ covers it all.

After a few words back and forth with LaConte, I knew I had to get him on a podcast to chat about the topic (APPLE or SPOTIFY). That interview ended up being a fascinating one and among my favorites throughout my years with OutThere Colorado – I highly recommend a listen, it can be found at the following links on APPLE or SPOTIFY.

As a bit of a teaser for that podcast episode (APPLE or SPOTIFY) and LaConte’s book, here are a few snippets related to the Gore story that many get wrong, according to LaConte and his research on the topic that spanned two years:

1. Gore didn’t start his travels in America in 1854 – he actually started his North American travels a year prior, and those travels didn’t even start in the United States (you’ll have to read the book or listen to the podcast to find out when and where it all started)
2. The claim that Gore left 1,000s of animals to ‘rot in his wake’ seems to stem from a letter, penned by someone he was in a bit of a feud with at the time. That said, there may be some truth to his hunt – and it wasn’t his only American expedition (find out about the feud and his expeditions by… you guessed it… checking out the book or podcast).
3. While Gore’s life provides numerous reasons that he could be portrayed as a villain (learn about that in the book or podcast), signs point to him being viewed in a positive light during much of his travels in America, including by famed and respected outdoorsman Jim Bridger.
4. Gore may have discovered an ample amount of gold across the American West, though it’s also believed he passed up on the chance to profit from his finds (where’s the gold? what happened to it?… book or podcast).
5. Gore’s namesake on the Gore Range may get the most talk nowadays, but the reasoning behind it actually makes sense, stemming from his role in the construction of one of the first major roads that allowed for further exploration in Western Colorado (what road? book or podcast).

That’s all you get in this article – and yes, each ‘fun fact’ you just read is indeed a bit of a teaser for my podcast interview with John LaConte and LaConte’s book, which provides a much more in-depth look on the topic of Sir St. George Gore than what we covered in our hour of chatting on the topic. You’ll have to check out the podcast to learn a bit more, and then you’ll probably want to get LaConte’s book to hear even more about this ‘notorious’ character with a Wild West tale that’s fit for the Hollywood screen.

Find our podcast interview with John LaConte on Sir St. George Gore here: APPLE or SPOTIFY

And find LaConte’s book here (also available at many other places online where books are sold)

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