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Our HeritageTelluride’s First Visitors The Utes were most likely the first human travelers to San Miguel Park, the enormous valley that is now home to the Town of Telluride. These nomadic people made their summer camps along the San Miguel River, hunting the surrounding mountains and mesas for elk, deer and Rocky Mountain bighorn. The Utes retreated to the warmer and drier lowlands in winter, finding shelter in the canyons of the red-rock deserts. For centuries, their way of life was unchanged and uninterrupted. The Explorers During the late 1700s, while searching for an overland route from Mexico to their missions and landholdings in California, Spanish explorers, led by Franciscan Friars Dominguez and Escalante, made their way north, crossing a southern range of the Rocky Mountains that they named the San Juans. While it is certain Spanish prospectors searched for gold and silver in the mountains near Telluride, they did not attempt permanent settlement in the region, leaving only the numerous place names that bear their distinctive heritage as evidence of their explorations. Fur trappers and traders were likely the first Anglos to spend time in the San Juans, but when the popularity of top hats made from beaver pelts decreased, the trappers moved on. The discovery of gold in 1858 near present-day Denver put the Colorado Territory on the map. By the early 1860s, numerous prospecting parties had made their way to Baker’s Park, near what is now Silverton. That they occupied land reserved for the Utes by treaty was of no concern to them, it seems. Only the advent of the Civil War deflected—at least temporarily—these prospectors from the precious object of their trespass. Following the war, they returned to the San Juans, and by 1873, with the rush of gold and silver seekers too great to restrain, the Brunot Treaty ceded four million acres to the United States government for an annual annuity of $25,000. This removed the Utes, once and for all, from much of their traditional hunting grounds in southwestern Colorado. The Prospectors By most accounts, Linnard (Lon) Remine and a few fellow prospectors from Kentucky were the first whites to settle down, albeit illegally, in the valley during the summer of 1872. In 1874, F.V. Hayden and his U.S.G.S survey teams mapped and publicized the beauty and vast potential of the region for eager eastern U.S. audiences. One year later, John Fallon reportedly packed out $10,000 in gold ore from the Sheridan Mine, the richest of his five registered claims in Marshall Basin. News of the strike spread, and by 1876 San Miguel Park and the surrounding hillsides were swarming with prospectors. San Miguel City arose near the 160-acre Ohio Placer owned by Frank P. Brown, where Mill Creek joins the San Miguel River. The town of Columbia was platted a mile and a half to the east (and closer to the lode mines in Marshall Basin) in July 1878. Because of potential confusion with another town of the same name in California, the Postmaster General refused to grant Columbia a post office. A name change was in order. To clarify (or confuse) matters, on July 26, 1880, the Postmaster General established a post office called “Telluride” for Columbia. Not until June 4, 1887, was the town officially and forever to be known as Telluride. The Mining Boom For years, the only reasonable access to Telluride was via Silverton by mule train over Ophir Pass. Later the Schmek, Dave Wood and Otto Mears’ toll roads provided oxcart and wagon access from Ridgway and Montrose. Otto Mears, the “Pathfinder of the San Juans,” built his Rio Grande Southern Railroad into Telluride, arriving on Thanksgiving weekend in 1890, and a golden age for the town commenced. Immigrants from Finland, Sweden, Ireland, England, France, Italy, Germany and China flocked to the Telluride mining district, swelling the population to some 5,000 souls by the turn of the century. In addition to its many saloons, gambling halls and much-heralded red-light district, Telluride boasted all of the amenities of a thriving metropolis. In the summer of 1891, Lucien L. Nunn, in partnership with George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla, revolutionized the power industry with the world’s first successful transmission of alternating current (AC) power from his hydroelectric plant in Ames to the Gold King Mine near Alta. The benefits of inexpensive power for local mining and milling concerns were immediate and substantial. From 1893 to 1929, tens of millions of dollars in gold, silver, lead, copper and zinc ore were extracted from the 350 miles of multi-level tunnels that honeycombed the interior of the mountain basins east of Telluride. From 1905 to 1911 alone, the Telluride district turned out over $16,200,000 in gold and silver: The Liberty Bell, Smuggler-Union and the Tomboy Mines accounted for 90 percent of that princely sum. Slowdowns at the mines followed WWI, and with the onslaught of the Depression, mining in Telluride came to a virtual standstill. Despite a brief reprisal in the ’50s and ’60s, by the late 1960s, the population had dwindled to less than 600 residents and Telluride was little more than a ghost town. White Gold In its own magical way, Telluride resurrected itself during the 1970s, when several of its more enterprising and forward-looking citizens recognized that the town’s history and majestic scenery attracted people and that winter recreation could provide an alternative to the unpredictable business of mining. When a small group of wishful locals, led by Billy Mahoney, Sr., joined forces with entrepreneur Joe Zoline, a ski area was literally cut out of the north face of Gold Hill’s slope down to the south side of town. During Telluride’s centennial anniversary in 1978, Telluride Ski Corp. began implementing a grand expansion plan that would soon place Telluride and Mountain Village on the map of world-class resorts, while in the east end of the valley the mines and mill closed for good. Telluride’s transformation from mining town to resort city was complete. Ore buckets gave way to gondolas. Cultural Mecca In 1963, Telluride was recognized by the secretary of the interior and processed through the National Park Service as “nationally significant in American history and culture.” Because of its nineteenth-century frontier boom-town façade and Queen Anne-style architecture, Telluride was designated a National Historic Landmark District. The turn-of-the-past-century buildings in Telluride, and mining relics in the surrounding mountains, preserve the region’s legacy, and each year thousands of visitors come to explore its past and enjoy its present. As alpine enthusiasts shaped Telluride’s winter scene, artists and culture lovers nurtured a vibrant and diverse array of summer festivals, and Telluride was reborn as a year-round resort. The longest-running events—Telluride Film Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Telluride Chamber Music and the Imogene Pass Run—all began as small grassroots efforts in the early ’70s. A host of events has since joined the celebration, including Mountainfilm, Jazz Celebration, Telluride Blues & Brews Festival, Wild West Fest, Telluride Balloon Festival, Telluride Wine Festival, Telluride Mushroom Festival, Cajun Fest, Plein Air, Tech Fest, Walking Words and Writers in the Sky. You Are Here Today, Telluride’s population of 2,200-plus residents is less than half of what it was during the mining heyday. Miners have been replaced by (or have become) skiers and snowboarders. Festivals have grown up and enhanced their offerings, but Telluride’s history is not forgotten. Look around: Whether you stumble across an old mining shack in the forest or scale a rugged peak for a majestic view, you’ll find that Telluride’s mountains are still full of riches, and the spirit of the Old West remains. Telluride Historical Museum On the National Register of Historic Places, Telluride Historical Museum was built in 1896 by Dr. H.C. Hall as the miners’ hospital. Located at the north end of Fir Street, it served as an infirmary until 1964 and reopened as a museum in 1966. After finding in 1994 that the stone building was on the verge of collapse, it was stabilized, restored and reopened seven years later with new displays. The eclectic collection is three dimensional with staged groupings and hands-on interactive features, including a hospital room, a model that shows how Nunn’s original AC power transmission worked, mining artifacts, and many historic photographs and relics from the region. Summer hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11:00 am to 5:00 p.m. with extended hours every Thursday until 7:00 p.m.; Sundays 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Call 970.728.3344 for more information, or visit www.telluridemuseum.org. |
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Copyright ©2008 Telluride Publishing |
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