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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- Snow slide near Ouray, Colo. Four men and twenty four mules killed
- Winter view of a snow-covered road with a power line crossing it, and men with cars stopped in the snow.
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- Snow tunnel (Ouray, Colo.)
- Snow tunnel, Ouray, Colorado
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- Snowslide in Ouray, Colorado.
- Photographic print postcards of an avalanche across a railroad line near Ouray, Colorado. Image depicts a snowbound train with workers and horses posed between snow clearing.
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- South Fall 184 Ft. Silver Creek Falls, Silverton, ORE
- Postcard of South Fall Waterfall with trees and a picnic table on one side in Silverton.
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- Southern Colorado Scenic Wonderland
- Lithograph print image of cattle heard grazing in a flat pasture in the foreground; fall foliage and mountain peaks in background. Photo print has a graphic read and orange overlay that reads: "Colorado US 50, Southern Colorado Scenic Wonderland".
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- Southwestern Colorado
- Color photographic print postcard of vehicles traveling at a bend in the road.
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- St. Daniel's Catholic Church (Colo.)
- Color photographic print postcard of church at center; cliff and mountain ledges in background.
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- St. Daniel's Catholic Church (Ouray, Colo.)
- Color photographic print of St. Daniel's Catholic Church.
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- St. Daniel's Catholic Church, Ouray, Colo.
- black and white photographic print postcard of church with path at foreground left and mountain ridges in background.
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- St. Joseph's Hospital (Ouray, Colo.)
- Photo of a structure; to the right of it is a church; in the background are cliffs and an overlook.
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- Street scene (Silverton, Colo.)
- Street in Silverton showing storefronts and several cars parked diagonally in front of the store. Mountains are in the background of the photograph. Card is addressed to Hillcrest Auto, Inc., in Medfield, Mass .
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- Summertime in the mountain meadows (Colo.)
- View of a meadow covered with flowers of different colors a mountain peak with patches of snow overlooks the meadow on back states that this area is the Yankee Boy Basin.