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

: Vista of Telluride from Black Bear Pass, Colorado; Vista of Telluride from Black Bear Pass, Colorado.

: Wagon Train, Telluride, Colo. About 1880.; Photo print image of ox drawn wagons loaded with large pipe segments. The second floors of wood frame business buildings can be seen behind the leading oxen team.

: Water line pipe for Thistledown Mill; Photo print image of pack mules, each carrying 2 big pipes on their backs through a town street. Roof tops of buildings and mountain cliff edges are visible in background.

: Waterfalls in Box Canon (Ouray, Colo.); A waterfall from the right side flows inside a canyon. Stalagtites hang above and to the right of the waterfall.

: Western Hotel (Ouray, Colo.); The caption reads, "Nestled in the heart of 'The Switzerland of America', built in 1890 as a Miner's Palace, it still has the original furniture. Now it is operated in the Spirit of the Gay Nineties."

: Western Hotel Museum, Ouray, Colorado; The cards have been dealt around a green poker table surrounded by five chairs. Two mounted mule deer heads adorn the green walls, and a pot bellied stove sits in the corner,.

: Western Hotel museum (Ouray, Colo.); Image of building with "Western Hotel Museum" sign. to the left of the museum are a handful of scattered cabins; to the right of the museum is the "Museum Shop". Two mountain slopes lined with pines in background.

: White Horse Mountain (Ouray, Colo.); Photo of snow capped mountain peak on upper left; on the right, a man on horse-back leads another horse on a trail overlooking a valley

: Wiesbaden Motel & Health Resort (Ouray, Colo.); A lodging place is pictured in front of a forested slope and rocky cliffs beyond. Five people relax in chaise lounge chairs around a swimming pool in the foreground.

: Wiesbaden Motel and Spa; A resort is pictured against a backdrop of a pine covered slope and steep cliffs behind. In the foreground, people are swimming and sitting in a pool.

: Wild elk at Ouray, Colo.; A wild elk is pictured standing in snow against bare trees with a conifer forest in the distance.

: Wild mountain sheep (Ouray, Colo.); Photograph print image of a herd of over 20 mountain sheep on a snow covered hill at close range.

Pages