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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- Smuggler Union Mills (Telluride, Colo.)
- View of the mill road with telegraph poles running next to it mountain peak in the background [writing on the back] addressed to Miss Edwina Goudy Essex Sanitarium, Middleton, Mass. Postmarked Smuggler Aug. 6 1925 two cent stamp.
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- Smuggler Union Mills, Telluride, Colo.
- Smuggler Union Mills, Telluride, Colorado.
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- Smuggler-Union Mine (above Telluride, Colo.)
- Damaged building, with snow dusted peaks in the background.
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- Sneffels Range from the Dallas Divide, between Ouray and Telluride, Colorado.
- In the foreground, there is a field with a wooden fence running through it. Several small bushes dot the landscape near the fence. In the background, the Sneffels Range can be seen.
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- Sneffels Range near Ouray, Colo.
- Black and white photograph of the Sneffels Range near Ouray, Colorado.
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- Sneffels Road (Ouray, Colo.)
- Photo of road on the right side of picture leading into a valley river on the right side mountains rise in the background photo appears to be hand colored over a b/w photo.
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- Sneffels Road, Box Canon and U. S. Mountain
- Photograph of Ouray, Sneffels Road, Box Canon and U. S. Mountain
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- Snow Blankets Ouray, Colorado. A Winter Fairyland
- A color photograph of the town of Ouray, Colorado. In the photograph the town is snow-covered and the town can be seen in the valley below the mountains.
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- Snow Cut August 4th near Ouray, Colo.
- A man wearing a hat steers his horse drawn wagon through a path cut in the snow. Both the horses and the box loaded on the wagon are white.
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- Snow Slide near Ouray, Colo. Four Men and twenty four Mules killed
- In the foreground, reins, a wooden bucket, and the remains of a wagon lie buried in the snow. A dog looks at the scene from above. In the background, spruce and snow cover the slopes further in the valley.
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- Snow Tunnel near Ouray, Colo., May 1st, 1913
- Mine workers posing outside a tunnel
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- Snow scene in Telluride, Colorado.
- Black and white photo print image of Main Street in Telluride. Piles of snow banked along the street; snow covered mountains can be seen in the background.