Volume 5: Telluride/ Ouray/ Ophir
These mountain towns are gems in Southwest Colorado. Telluride and tiny Ophir are in San Miguel County, and Ouray, not far away if unimproved roads aren’t a barrier, is located in Ouray County. Telluride is the most populous (about two thousand residents) and best known of the three, home to a famous ski resort, many well-known music festivals, and exclusive luxury homes. Telluride’s colorful history as a hard-rock mining town where gold, silver, and tellurium were extracted beginning in 1878 changed dramatically in the 1970s when the Telluride Ski Resort opened. Telluride’s elevation is 8,750 feet above sea level, a bit higher than Ouray’s 7,792. (source) Fewer than 1,000 people call Ouray home, but each year many thousands of tourists visit the charming village, nicknamed the “Switzerland of America.” Like most mountain towns in the region, Ouray was founded on mining (gold, in this case), made accessible by the railroad, and popular with visitors. (source) Ophir, Colorado, is the highest in elevation of these three towns at 9,695 feet. Gold was discovered in 1875, and the town was founded in 1881, but the mines decreased until there was only one resident in 1970! Telluride’s popularity in recent has allowed a few hundred residents to call Ophir home. (source)
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- Amphitheatre, Ouray, Colo., East View.
- Amphitheatre, Ouray, Colorado, east view
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- Approaching Ouray, Colorado
- View a highway with a red car on it leads into Ouray which is in the background cliffs are behind the town a "Ouray, Colorado " is written on the front.
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- Approaching Rico from the North
- Approaching Rico, Colorado from the north. This image is slightly out of focus.
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- Approaching Telluride, Colorado
- Approaching Telluride, Colorado by the Black Bear Jeep road near Ingram Falls.
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- Approaching Telluride, Colorado
- Two people in a Jeep driving down steep rocky trail towards valley overlooking Telluride mountain peaks on upper right side
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- At Bear Creek Falls, Ouray, Colo.
- At Bear Creek Falls, Ouray, Colorado. A real photo black and white postcard, produced during the White Border era.
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- At Bear Creek Falls. 2 1/2 Miles South Ouray Colo.
- A black and white photo of three old cars (1920s) and children looking at the waterfall (Bear Creek Falls) under the Million Dollar Highway
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- At Pandora (Telluride, Colo.)
- River running in the bottom right corner above fog covered cliffs; a pine tree stands in the middle of the view.
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- Autumn in the Valley (Ouray, Colo.)
- Autumn in the Valley: Ouray, Colorado. San Juan Mountains.
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- Autumn in the Valley (Ouray, Colo.)
- Photograph of the valley in which the city of Ouray nestles, pictured in autumn.
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- Autumn in the Valley in the San Juan Mountains (Ouray, Colo.)
- View of snow capped mountain peak overlooking a valley; trees in the valley are changing colors in the far end of the valley is a town [writing on back] addressed to Mrs. Ruth Snook Kehei Maui, Hawaii.
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- Autumn in the Valley, Ouray, Colo., San Juan Mts.
- Autumn in the valley, Ouray, Colorado, San Juan Mountains.