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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- Penn Tunnel, Telluride, Colo.
- Photo print image of a mine camp. Equipment suspended from the mining buildings located on the cliffs above.
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- Playing the Horses? Hell No Brother, I Make My Money in Uranium at Lake City, Colorado
- A bearded man wearing a had and suit smiles as he drinks a beer, deep crows feet at his eyes.
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- Politician Parade Red Mountain, Colorado
- A postcard of a political parade in Red Mountain, Colorado. There are people riding horses down a street holding political signs. Telegraph poles line the street on the left. Lights are strung out above in preparation for night time activities.
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- Portland Creek Flood Scene, Aug. 22, '09 (Ouray, Colo.)
- Lithograph photo print image of a street filled with rocks and cracks. Disarray in the background among buildings and streets.
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- Portrait of Lillian Russell of the Gay Nineties (Ouray, Colo.)
- Portrait of Lillian Russell painted by Joseph A. Imhof, of Taos, NM. Portrait hangs in the Grand Imperial Hotel in Silverton, Colorado.
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- Powder House Dining and Spirits (Telluride, Colo.)
- Picture of table set with food and wine at Powder House, Dining and Spirits, 226 W. Colorado Street, McIntosh-Powder House building.
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- Promontory Point 3 miles so. Ouray (Colo.)
- Promontory Point , 3 miles south of Ouray, Colorado.
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- Promontory Point, Ouray, Silverton Fall Road, Colorado
- Promontory Point, Ouray, Silverton Fall Road, Colorado.
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- Prospector (Telluride, Colo.)
- Photograph postcard depicts a person in a hat with rifle over shoulder leading a pack mule up an incline.
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- Prospector, The (Telluride, Colo.)
- Colored photograph postcard of person in hat with rile over shoulder guiding a donkey up an incline.
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- Prospectors in the Rockies near Ouray, Colo.
- Photograph postcard of two men in hats posing with prospecting tools. Postmarked March 1, 1907. Mailed to Miss Josephine Myers in Grante, Oklahoma by George in Ouray.
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- Public Buildings, Ouray, Colo.
- Public buildings at Ouray, Colorado: Beaumont Hotel, Walsh Library, Courthouse, Public School and Elks Club.