The scenic grandeur of the Crystal River cannot be excelled; sometimes narrow canyons, precipitous cliffs and steep waterfalls; sometimes broad valleys heavily wooded with stately ponderosa pine, Engelmann spruce, Colorado green spruce, blue spruce, Douglas fir, the narrow leaf cottonwood, and the quaking aspen; carpeted with waist high ferns, Oregon grapes, and kinnikinnick (sometimes called Indian tobacco) interspersed with brilliant flowers of every hue, and often rare plants found only in much warmer climes. The reason? Perhaps they are remnants of earlier geological ages; perchance the great combination and variety of rainfall, heat and cold, shade and sunshine, and slope exposure have their influences. The natural resources are unsurpassable. It is an often stated fact that the Crystal River area from Schofield to Redstone bears the heaviest concentration of known minerals in the United States. Millions of dollars worth of coal deposits, undeveloped; billions of dollars worth of pure white marble waiting to be made into buildings, memorials, and statuaries; gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc deposits that haven’t been scratched. Yes, Mother Nature has been very generous in this fabulous valley. In its Aug. 25, 1917 issue the _Marble Booster_ had this to say just before it permanently closed its doors: “Some day this valley will come into its own. Nature has certainly been very bountiful in its distribution of resources up and down the Crystal River Valley, but man has been lame, mighty lame, in developing the same. The right man may yet come along. Speed the day is our fervent wish.” Perhaps this man has come along in the person of Frank E. Kistler who has purchased the Osgood Estate and is busily engaged restoring the property and making it into an all-year resort. He has added 36 rooms to the already 40-room inn, built a glass enclosed swimming pool, and constructed a children’s playground. He is selling home sites, erecting homes, building a ski course, golf course, tennis courts, and minor auxiliary recreational facilities. Four miles below Redstone the Crystal River runs through a district that contains several hot mineral springs that have medicinal value comparable to any in the United States. Soon the canyon widens, sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other, into fertile meadows especially adapted to raising strawberries, raspberries, cherries, and apples. A little farther on there are large ranches bordering it. These raise potatoes, oats, alfalfa, and hay; they all depend on the never failing Crystal River for irrigation. It also runs through several stock (sheep and cattle) ranches before it reaches the Roaring Fork River below Carbondale, then, on to join the Colorado River below Glenwood Springs, thence to the Pacific Ocean.