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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- Molas Lake and Needle Mountains, on Durango-Silverton-Ouray Million Dollar Highway
- Molas Lake and Needle Mountains, on Durango-Silverton-Ouray Million Dollar Highway
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- Monarch Pass - Lake City, Colo. 1614
- A postcard photograph of Monarch Pass, in Lake City, Colorado.
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- Monument to Ouray and Chipeta near Ouray Spring on Million Dollar Highway
- Monument to Ouray and Chipeta near Ouray Spring on Million Dollar Highway
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- Moonlight view Camp Bird Mill Fire, following snowslide of March 17, 1906
- A real photo view of the Camp Bird Mine, Ouray, Colorado, at night, with clouds of smoke arising from fire in the buildings to the right.
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- Mount Abram from the Ouray Toll Road (Colo.)
- Mount Abram, from the Ouray Toll Road, Colorado.
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- Mount Abram on Million Dollar Highway south of Ouray, Colo.
- Photograph of the Million Dollar Highway south of Ouray with Mt. Abram in the background.
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- Mount Abram, from the Ouray Toll road, Col.
- Mount Abram from the Ouray Toll Road, Litho-Chrome color
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- Mount Abrams
- View of Mt. Abrams on a clear day with a reflection shown in the lake in the foreground of the picture.
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- Mount Sneffles (Colo.)
- View of a mountain peak along a mountain range overlooking green hills.
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- Mount Sneffles and Twin Falls (Colo.)
- View of two mountain peaks along overlooking a green valley two small waterfalls are in the valley.
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- Mount Sneffles from Dallas Divide, Ouray, Colo.
- A real photo view of a mountain range with rolling mountain meadows in the foreground.
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- Mount Sneffles, 14,143 Ft., and aspen viewed from Dallas Divide (Colo.)
- View of mountain range with patches of snow; trees with orange colored leaves are in the foreground.