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)
Pages
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- Excursion on Marshall Pass and Mt. Ouray, 13,955 ft.
- Postcard photo taken as train was passing a bend in the tracks. Heading: Former Narrow Gauge Marshall Pass Line passing Mt. Ouray - 13,955 ft.
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- Ext. Box Canyon (Ouray, Colo.)
- Distant view of canyon in the background a small bridge crosses over a steep section of the canyon.
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- Exterior, Box Canyon and High Bridge (Ouray, Colo.)
- View of the box canyon south of Ouray, Colorado, with the bridge in the upper portion of the picture.
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- Falls Inside of Box Canon, Ouray, Colo.
- Postcard photo shows a waterfall from Box Canon, Ouray, Colo.
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- First automobile that ever climbed Red Mountain.
- A black and white postcard of the first automobile that ever climbed to Red Mountatin. Men can be seen standing next to the automobile and trees and snow can be seen in the background. On the postcard it reads, "The first automobile that ever climbed to Red Mountatin, the highest incorporated town in the world. This notable trip was made June 22nd, and this photo was made as the machine stood in a great snowbank 11,000 feet above the level of the sea, and 10 miles from Ouray, Colorado."
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- Fish Pond and City Camp Ground (Ouray, Colo.)
- Fish pond and city camp ground, Ouray, Colo. a real photo black and white postcard, produced during the White Border era.
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- Flood Damaged House in Telluride (Colo.)
- View of three houses the front of one house is a severely damaged structure with a lot of debris in the street on the back writing states "Telluride Flood" and "Next to Vunnio".
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- Flood Damaged Houses in Telluride (Colo.)
- View of two houses the front area is riddled with debris on the back writing states "Telluride Flood" illegible writing above it.
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- Fort Peabody (Colo.)
- Photograph of the ruins of Fort Peabody. Built by order of Governor Peabody during early day labor strikes against the mines in 1903. Manned with machine guns atop Imogene Pass, it governed the area above Ouray and Telluride, Colorado.
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- Foundry at Smuggler Mine.
- A black and white photograph postcard of inside Smuggler Mine. Enclosed is a note that reads, "Inside Foundry at Smuggler Mine- My grandfater Robert W. Goeglein is the man at the left in the photo. He worked the mines and also the Power Plant at Bridal Veil with my grandmother Alta Huggins-Goeglein. His father was a superintendant at the Power Plant.
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- Four Engines with a Wedge Plow Bucking Snow near Telluride, Colo.
- Image depicts a train plowing snow off tracks.Postcard addressed to Mr. Rodney S. Davis of Longmont, Colo.
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- Four miners and three horses standing in the entrance to a mine somewhere near Telluride, Colo.
- Four miners and three horses standing in the entrance to a mine somewhere near Telluride, Colorado.