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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- Mt. Sneffels (Colo.), elevation 14,143 ft.
- Mt. Sneffels, altitude 14,143 feet, and range from the Uncompahgre River Valley on U.S. Highway 550, the Million Dollar Highway, between Montrose and Ouray, in Souwestern Colorado.
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- Mt. Sneffles, Colo.
- Like a spider, the main mining building sits in the middle of a web of trails that crisscross the rocky mountain slope. Conifers line the richer layers of the mountain with snow taking over the mountain peak high above. A river valley is at the foreground of the picture, with the river lined with tall, wispy grasses and spiky bushes. A tree is obscuring the lower left-hand view. In the background of the picture, snow-capped mountains can be seen peeking above ranges of rolling hills.
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- Mt. Sunshine - Ophir, Colo.
- Photo print image of trees surrounding a snowy meadow in the foreground of snow covered mountains. A deep trail has been made through the snow towards the peak.
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- Mt. Wilson
- Patches of meadows and confers wend their way up the slopes to Mt. Wilson - until rock and snow top the peak. Cumulus clouds top the mountain, possible the start of a summer squall.
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- Mt. Wilson & Lizard Head from Alta Lake (Colo.)
- Photo print image of Mt. Wilson and Lizard Head in the distance from Alta Lake in foreground. Pine trees and snags circle the lake.
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- Mt. Wilson & Wilson Peak near Telluride, Colo
- Photo print image of a meadow surrounded by forest with two mountain peaks visible in the distance.
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- Mt. Wilson, Telluride Colo. Altitude 14400 ft.
- Three horseback riders are following a meadow trail in front of an aspen forest. In the distance, snow and clouds adorn the peaks of Mt. Wilson.
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- Mule Train Ouray, Colorado
- A line of mules hitched together, each with two wooden pole guides are led by two men on horseback. A striated rock cliff and telegraph line care seen on the right with a pine covered slope on the left.
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- Mule Train, Nellie Mine near Telluride, Colo.
- Photo print image of a mule train, loaded with goods,walking down from a mountain slope. Above, another line of mules stand unburdened. Steep mountain slopes dominate the landscape.
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- Mules in Telluride, Colorado.
- A black and white photograph postcard of mules packed with long wood poles tethered across their backs. A man on horseback stands above the trail switchback, a second saddled horse appears to graze along the edge at right.
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- Municipal Golf Course (Telluride, Colo.)
- Municipal golf course (Telluride, Colo.).
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- Municipal Swimming Pool at Ouray (Colo.)
- Photo of oval-shaped pool with several swimmers in it. A fence surrounds the pool; mountain peaks overlook the pool.