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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- Municipal Swimming Pool at Ouray (Colo.)
- Photograph of the Ouray Municipal Swimming Pool. Pool is 150 ft. by 280 ft. filled with natural, odorless, hot water. Life guards on duty during the season.
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- Natural Mineral Hot Springs Pool (Ouray, Colo.) - the Switzerland of America
- Photograph of the circular natural mineral hot springs pool in Ouray, Colorado.
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- Near Lake City, Colo.
- A photograph of Loxcomb, Wettershorn, and Uncompahgre mountains near Lake City, Colorado.
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- Near Ouray Colo.
- Near Ouray, Colorado. Note on card "Old Fashioned Saintly Women as I knew them. The Hermit."
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- Needle Mountains (Colo.)
- Mountain peak overlooking a river with trees on both sides of the river writing around the margins on front of the card on back addressed to Mr. Albert Edn Americus Kansas two postmarks one cent stamp
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- No 18 -- Carson-Hooper Co., Denver.
- The picture only takes up the left side of the front of the postal card. It's a black and white photo of an overhead view of Ouray, Colorado. The town lies sprawling below three mountains, with a view of the railroad in the lower right-hand corner.
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- No. 2. Box Canyon, Ouray, Colorado, Showing Bridge 387 Feet Above.
- Black and white vertical view of Box Canyon from Canyon Creek looking up. Left side shows canyon wall with a railed walkway. Lower right show a man fishing (?) on the bank. The words "Box Canon [sic]" are etched onto the photo, where the left cliff bottom and creek meet. White border. Back of card has an address area only, and a stamp area with postage information.
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- Nuggett Restaurant, The (Ouray, Colorado) 81427
- An inside look at a diner in Ouray.
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- Oh! Point (Colo.)
- Photograph of a green Jeep with three tourists sitting in it at Oh! Point. Oh! Point on Engineer Mountain Jeep trip out of Ouray, Colorado.
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- Oh! Point (Colo.)
- Photograph of a white Jeep and two men sitting at Oh! Point. This thrilling and spectacular view from the mountain peak on the Engineer Mountain Jeep Trail, causes the viewer to invariably exclaim, Oh! Thus the name.
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- Old Mine in Ouray, Colorado
- A photograph of an old mine in Ouray, Colorado. In the photograph the mine has collapsed and is surrounded by snow.
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- Old Reservoir (Ouray, Colo.)
- Photo of a lake surrounded by pine trees and a fence town behind and below the lake cliffs in the background a waterfall emerges from the cliffs