Attractions (in subcategory: Mining)
"All Aboard" on the Narrow Gauge Railroad to take a trip to the past. Experience the adventure of traveling by a steam-powered, coal-fired locomotive on the same tracks miners and settlers of the Old West took over a century ago. Wind through spectacular and breathtaking canyons in the remote wilderness of the San Juan National Forest for an unforgettable year-round adventure.
This gasoline-powered narrow gauge railroad car, constructed in 1933, provided the Rio Grande Southern Railroad with a cost saving alternative to the more expensive steam locomotive passenger trains and allowed the company to continue operating in the San Juan Mountains until 1952.
Ouray's Hot Springs Pool is a 150' x 280' pool fed by natural hot springs that provide water, most of which comes out of the ground at about 150 degrees, but cooled to a pleasant bathing temperature. Open year-round, the pool brings welcome relief to tired muscles after a day of hiking, skiing, or ice climbing. During the summer, two new slides at the pool add to the kid-friendly atmosphere on one section, but other areas give adults plenty of solitude, mountain views, and relaxing, soothing mineral waters.
Housed in a replica of the original Delores depot, the museum is dedicated to telling the interconnected story of the town and the Rio Grande Southern Railroad and features exhibits on the Galloping Goose rail cars. Built in 1928, the Galloping Goose was a hybrid between a car and a bus running on railroad tracks.
Experience the life of Ouray miners and ranchers at the former Miners' Hospital. View the museum's 27 rooms of exhibits displaying mining history, gem and mineral collections, transportation history, a simulated mine and many more exhibits about early life in Ouray County.
One can't enjoy Ouray to the fullest without taking the historic walking tour. Beginning and ending at the Ouray County Museum, 420 6th Ave., you will see beautiful Victorian homes, two churches, public buildings, and numerous historic business properties, including the incomparable Beaumont Hotel, restored to its original grandeur. The tour can be done by walking or driving following the "Walking Tour of Ouray" pamphlet available at the Museum, Ouray Visitor's Center or online. More detailed information and other books on Ouray history are available at the local book stores or at the Museum.
Board a mine train called a "trammer" on the Bachelor-Syracuse Mine Tour and travel 1,800 feet horizontally into Gold Hill, rich in gold, silver, and other precious metals. Guests are at all times accompanied by a thoroughly trained guide who has first-hand experience working the mine. The guides are prepared to answer questions and eager to share the legend and lore of the mine.
Discover the history of the people and heritage of Gunnison at the Gunnison Pioneer Museum. The museum grounds consist of 16 buildings, 12 of which are historic, including an 1876 Gunnison Post Office and a 1905 rural school house. Among the artifacts and memorabilia are a Denver & Rio Grande narrow gauge train, Engine #268 and over 60 antique cars.
In 1886, a courthouse was erected on the south side of West Colorado Avenue. This building burned shortly after construction, but the bricks were saved to build the present courthouse less than a year later on the opposite corner of the original site. Recently renovated, it is still used today.
Once one of Telluride's oldest bars, this building contains a period piece downstairs an 1860 Brunswick-Balke-Collener Company bar of carved walnut, with exquisite 12-foot French mirrors on the back bar. The Roma was one of the wildest and most raucous saloons in town. It was renovated in 1983, and again in 2006 to become a Pan-Asian restaurant called Honga's Lotus Petal.
Charles Waggoner, president of the Bank of Telluride, contrived a scheme purportedly to save his bank in the Wall Street Crash of 1929. By siphoning money from New York banks, he possibly kept most Telluride depositors in the black. Waggoner testified in court, "I would rather see the New York banks lose money than the people of Telluride, most of whom have worked all their lives for the savings that were deposited in my bank." Waggoner was sentenced to 15 years in prison but was paroled after six years. He never returned to Telluride.
On the corner of Fir Street and Columbia Avenue is Telluride's first schoolhouse. This one-room building was built in 1883 for the sum of $3,000. The first class held there had 53 students and one teacher. After a new school was built, the town offices occupied the building. The tower for drying fire hoses was added at that time.
Built in 1900, this house was a survivor of the 1914 flood. A spring cloudburst caused the usually gentle Cornet Creek to turn into a torrent of mud and rocks that swept through town, depositing five feet of mud and debris from the Liberty Bell Mine to Colorado Avenue. One woman was killed, and the Sheridan Bar was filled with mud halfway to the ceiling. This house has been completely restored to its original condition, enabling it to be on the National Register of Historic Homes.
This stately brick house was built by E.L. Davis in 1894. Davis was a mining and real estate entrepreneur, owner of the Mayflower, Nellie, and Etta Gold mines in the Ingram-Bridal Veil Basin and Bear Creek area. He owned all the land where the Rio Grande Southern Train Depot stands, as well as one-third interest in West Telluride. Davis sought to bring business to the town as vice president of the Telluride Board of Trade. After Davis' death, the house was sold to Dr. Oshner, who used it as a hospital, particularly during the 1918 flu epidemic. The house was renovated in 1983.
This white Victorian was bought by L.L. Nunn for his Telluride Institute, where "pinheads" from Cornell University came to expand their knowledge of the production of power. Today, Cornell University has a "Telluride House" funded by Nunn's estate. Next door, on the corner of Columbia and Aspen Street is the house Nunn lived in, which was built in 1887 and remodeled extensively in 1980.
This area was bustling, noisy and exciting after the railroad reached Telluride in 1891. The depot was surrounded by boardinghouses and warehouses, some of which are still standing on San Juan Avenue. In 1991, the depot was renovated. Today, it is home to Telluride's Ah Haa School for the Arts.
On the Southside of W. Pacific Ave. is Finn Town Flats (originally a boardinghouse), Finn Hall and the smaller Swede Finn Hall (now the Elks Lodge). The two halls were the center of social life for Finnish immigrants. During parties and gatherings, each family brought food, a band played and people danced and socialized.
The Senate, Silver Bell, Cribs make up the restored buildings of the "sporting district". The Senate was one of the many "female boarding houses" that was bustling with business between the 1880's and 1930's. The Silver Bell, built in 1890, operated as one of Telluride's many "Soda Parlours" during Prohibition, and its numerous entrances hint at the other services offered there. The three small Victorian houses standing in a row on Pacific Street, known as the Cribs, are all that remain of similar structures that lined both sides of the street all the way to Telluride Town Park.
This is one of Telluride's oldest main-street buildings. Mr. Pekkarine immigrated to the U.S. from Finland and opened a boot shop in the basement. On the second floor, he later operated a mercantile store. The Pekkarines lived on the third floor. At the settling of the Pekkarine estate in 1974, valued turn-of-the-century artifacts were donated to the Telluride Historical Museum.
This stone jail is thought to have been built in 1885 and was once occupied by the public library. The community's first jail, a wooden structure, was built in 1878 and is now located in Telluride Town Park.
Patrons were treated to music, food, wine and ladies in this "parlour house" in Telluride's red light district.
In Lone Tree Cemetery, glimpse the perils of Telluride's mining-boom era when avalanches, flu epidemics, mining accidents and labor strikes took many lives.
Walk through an exciting part of America's past while enjoying the architectural character of Crested Butte. Born out of the gold and silver booms of the last 1800's, Crested Butte was and is a workingman's town. In 1974, the town was designated a National Historic District, Colorado's largest.
The Town of Crested Butte is one of Colorado's larger Registered National Historic Districts. Many of the buildings in Crested Butte are the original structures from the bustling mining days of the late 1880s. Pick up a free self guided walking tour brochure available at the Crested Butte Heritage Museum and explore the town on your own or schedule a guided tour through the museum.
The Museum is home to a number of exhibits with something to interest almost anyone. The front of the building, which served as a hardware store from 1883-1996, features all the original cases filled with a sampling of the merchandise sold in the building historically. The rear of the building, originally a 1930's working garage, houses exhibits including a functioning model railroad, a life sized mining diorama, one of Crested Buttes original gondolas, and sections on domestic life in Crested Butte. The Museum also houses the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame.
