WESTERN COUNTIES

The significance of railroads in developing the West may be overlooked today, with super highways and airlines now the primary movers. But over a century ago, railroads held significant power over the land their rails traversed. More than a few towns were founded by railroads, some having been planned or actually moved to specific locations, autocratically predetermined by railroad officials. Land speculation, as practiced by railroads, was quite lucrative, seldom failing to establish a healthy base for rail expansion. Conversely, towns dried up if the railroads departed.

The other driving force in settling the West, when mining was not involved, was agriculture. Farming and ranching continue to be significant factors in western Colorado and still support numerous thriving communities.

DELTA COUNTY

Delta County was created in 1883 from portions of central Gunnison County. In an unusual twist, the county was named for the town of Delta.

Delta

Delta is located where the Uncompahgre and Gunnison Rivers meet, just west of Black Canyon of the Gunnison, where the river has carved twenty-nine-hundred-foot gorges. It began as a trading post for Utes and whites, and every September, the Council Tree Pow Wow American Indian Cultural Festival is held at Confluence Park. The town is known for the murals on the walls of its buildings and the paintings on its canyon walls and has been called the “City of Murals.”

The Delta House transfer wagon, Main St., Delta, CO. 1896.

Fossil enthusiasts should not miss Dry Mesa Quarry, site of the first discovery of Brachiosaurus and Ultrasaurus bones. Set in the Uncompahgre National Forest, the quarry is one of the most famous dinosaur locales in the world. Seventeen different species have been discovered there since 1971 (call 970-874-6638 for information).

DELTA HOUSE: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by William Shaver in 1904.

SHEARMAN HOUSE: No information available.

Hotchkiss

The North Fork of the Gunnison River Valley was isolated until 1880, when the Ute Indian reservation was closed following the Meeker Massacre. Utes were forced to move to two small reservations in northern Utah and southwest Colorado, making way for white settlers in the North Fork area. The first to come was a small group from the Lake City area, led by Enos Hotchkiss, who discovered the Golden Fleece mine. His group secretly scouted the valley, choosing prime land illegally, prior to the Utes’ removal. In 1881, Hotchkiss returned with the two Duke brothers, four other adventurers—Clark, Angevine, Wade and Platt—and several hundred horses. These were the first legal settlers in the valley; Hotchkiss and the Dukes staked homesteads near present-day Hotchkiss.

Three of Hotchkiss’s other companions settled farther away, while Platt reportedly went insane and was either sent home or shot. Precision in news was sketchy in those days. But the area’s main source of revenue would eventually become coal mining. Since the railroad came to North Fork in 1902, coal has been significant to Hotchkiss’s economy. Local coal is hard anthracite, cleaner burning than bituminous coal and much in demand for the nation’s power plants.

DOWDY SPRINGS HOTEL: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by M. Dowdy in 1904.

HOTCHKISS HOTEL: Built before 1894, this hotel was operated by Evan Morton in 1904.

Paonia

This area was first explored in 1853 by Captain John Gunnison on an expedition to locate a pass through the Rockies. After the Ute Reservation was closed in 1880, the area was settled by Samuel Wade and William Clark, Enos Hotchkiss’s companions. Paonia was incorporated in 1902. Wade had brought peony roots with him to Colorado, inspiring him to suggest the peony’s Latin name, Paeonia, for the town’s name. The post office would not allow the extra vowel, so “Paeonia” became “Paonia.”

*THE BROSS HOTEL: 312 Onarga Street, Paonia, CO 81428; 970-527-6776; www.paonia-inn.com.

This hotel was built and run by William Bross and his wife, Laura, in 1906. The Bross was reported to be “the only really first-class hotel in the county.” This was largely due to its fireproof, triple-brick construction and the upscale amenities for its day. Located one block from the town’s main street, the hotel operated for many years under a succession of owners.

Ghost-hunting guests might experience a visit from “Mother Bross,” seen sitting on beds and moving objects. Several years ago, after an innkeeper had made a derogatory comment about Mrs. Bross, a large mirror fell to the floor without breaking. An apology to Mrs. Bross allowed the mirror to remain hanging on the wall.

The Bross Hotel. Drawing by Pam Archer. Courtesy of the Bross Hotel.

In the mid-1990s, the inn was renovated, and today it maintains the charm of an old hotel, plus modern amenities and comforts. Now a bed-and-breakfast, the Bross Hotel offers ten guest rooms, holds special Mystery Nights and afternoon teas and is once again Delta County’s premier hotel.

PAONIA HOTEL: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by C.J. Classon in 1904.

DOLORES COUNTY

Dolores County was created in 1881 from western portions of Ouray County and was named for the Dolores River. While Dolores is an economically poor county, it has a wealth of human history. It has been inhabited since at least 2500 BC, its western portions densely populated from AD 900 to 1300. Some ten thousand people are thought to have lived in area villages. But by the 1500s, this population was either destroyed or had moved away following severe drought and disturbances in its society. For centuries afterward, the county was home to nomadic tribes, including Utes and Navajos. As in much of southwest Colorado, Dolores County has many Anasazi ruins and, according to the Anasazi Heritage Center, more than eight hundred recorded sites.

The county also contains a portion of the historic Dominguez-Escalante Trail of 1776, marking the eighteen-hundred-mile trip intended to discover an overland route between Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Monterey, California. The expedition camped on Dove Creek in the western portion of the county.

White trappers were in the eastern mountains by 1832–33, and gold was discovered in 1866. But it was not until the Utes were removed by the Brunot Agreement in 1878 that legalized mining began. Nevertheless, the Pioneer Mining District was illegally established in 1876 in the Rico area, with large silver deposits found there in 1879.

By 1890, the Rio Grande Southern Railway connected Dolores County to Durango, Telluride and Ridgway, until the tracks were eventually abandoned in 1952. In the 1870s, cattle ranching began in the western part of the county, which never had rail service. Before long, overgrazing of grasses caused proliferation of sagebrush, piñon and juniper. But by 1914, as dry land farming expanded, homesteading began, and today crops of pinto beans and winter wheat are still a foundation of the local economy.

With the development of irrigation and the construction of the McPhee Reservoir, county agriculture has been given more options. Nevertheless, in 2009, Dolores achieved notoriety as the most economically depressed county in Colorado.

Rico

When Rico was originally chosen as the county seat, its first courthouse was a modest log cabin, replaced by a stone and brick courthouse in 1883. But the county seat moved to Dove Creek in 1946, and the original county courthouse in Rico became the town hall.

In 1892, its mining district held more than five thousand people, three times the current population of the county. But the silver panic hit the town hard, and by 1900, the population had shrunk to fewer than one hundred. Dolores County has seen its booms and busts. Rico counted only forty-five residents in 1974. But with the advent of skiing, the town has rebounded.

HOTEL RHODE: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by C.W. Rhode in 1904.

GARFIELD COUNTY

This county was named for President James Garfield and is known for its marble and coal mining, agriculture and tourism.

Carbondale

Located on the Roaring Fork River between Aspen and Glenwood Springs, this town takes its name from Cardondale, Pennsylvania, home of some of the town’s early founders. Once a potato-growing community to supply food to miners, it has become a bedroom community for nearby Aspen.

HOTEL CARBONDALE: Built before 1900, this hotel was operated by F.W. Lindauer in 1904 on a prominent street corner. The solid brick structure housed retail businesses, with signs advertising them and “Hotel, Strictly Modern.”

Glenwood Springs

The town of Defiance was first settled in 1881 by Isaac Cooper, whose dream of turning it into a resort did not materialize in his lifetime. The town marks the confluence of Roaring Fork and the Colorado River, 180 miles west of Denver, and is now famous for its hot sulfur springs.

In hopes of making her environment more familiar, Cooper’s wife, Sarah, struggling to adjust to frontier life, persuaded the town to change its name to Glenwood Springs for her hometown of Glenwood, Iowa. But in 1883, the town was still Defiance, a rough tent settlement near today’s Seventh Street. Although its crude structures were replaced by more acceptable ones in the early 1900s, most businesses on the block remained saloons and brothels catering to miners, and it would take Prohibition to clean up the neighborhood.

In 1904, a red sandstone and brick depot replaced the original train station on the river. The new depot was built to match the sixteenth-century Italian architecture of the Glenwood Hot Springs and Hotel Colorado. But the station’s location remained near the riverfront’s rough neighborhood, and President Taft refused to enter Glenwood from the depot due to its proximity to the infamous bar and red-light district.

Glenwood Springs’ unique location at the juncture of two rivers, and its stop on the railroad, made it a growing center of commerce. It became the first town of its size in the United States to be fully wired for electricity.

The first Colorado Hotel, 1885.

The town has seen numerous famous visitors, including Presidents Taft, Hoover and Teddy Roosevelt, who spent an entire vacation living out of the historic Hotel Colorado. Doc Holliday, Wild West legend from the OK Corral, passed the final months of his life in town and is buried in its early cemetery.

COLORADO HOTEL: This hotel was built before 1885.

*HOTEL COLORADO: 526 Pine Street, Glenwood Springs, CO 81601; 970-945-6511, 888-599-2752; hotelcolorado.com.

In 1872, Princeton engineering graduate Walter B. Devereux arrived in the mining camp of Aspen, where he and his two brothers became wealthy from silver, coal and other minerals. Devereux had been told by Kit Carson of the curative waters of Yampah Springs, used for centuries by the Ute Indians. Once Devereux came to the valley now known as Glenwood Springs, he liked what he saw and bought ten acres, including the springs. Its development would await the arrival of the railroad.

Construction on Hotel Colorado began in 1891 and was completed in 1893. Designed by Edward Lippincott Tilton from the New York firm of Boring, Tilton and Mellon, the magnificent hotel was inspired by the Villa de Medici. Sandstone from Colorado’s Frying Pan River, combined with Roman brick, gave the dramatic building its stately, singular appearance.

Located on the hill above the European-styled Hot Springs Spa, the magnificent new resort drew the wealthy as well as the ailing and became a playground for the new American aristocracy. The hotel featured a U-shaped plan with twin bell towers and a first-floor arched gallery. Opening in 1893, Hotel Colorado brought celebrities from all over the world, appealing to a diverse clientele. Devereux, the silver baron, did not stint on his “Grande Dame.” The south court, which is now a courtyard, once held a large pool with an electrically lit imported fountain, shooting a 185-foot jet of water, higher than the two bell towers. At one time, from the existing lounge, a 12-foot-wide sheet of water dropped 25 feet into a pool beneath it. Strategically placed lights and colored glass gave the appearance of falling rainbows. In mornings, guests could sit by the pool and catch trout for breakfast.

In 1905, Hotel Colorado welcomed President Theodore Roosevelt and his party for a three-week bear hunting expedition. Previously, in 1901, the then vice president had hunted mountain lion on Keystone Ranch near Meeker. It was reported that Roosevelt hung over a cliff to shoot a wounded lion between the eyes. Roosevelt was so impressed by the Glenwood Springs resort that he returned to Hotel Colorado many times, giving an address from its balcony and making the hotel his headquarters during his presidential campaign. The Roosevelt Suite is named in honor of his stay, earning the hotel the title of the “Little White House.”

According to legend, the venerable teddy bear was “born” at Hotel Colorado. To cheer Roosevelt after an unsuccessful hunt, hotel maids gave him a stuffed bear pieced from cloth scraps. Roosevelt’s daughter Alyce is reported to have said, “I will call it Teddy.” Another version says that a reporter, upon hearing of the stuffed bear, coined it the “Teddy Bear.” Either way, enter that universally appealing toy. An enterprising toy maker wrote to Roosevelt, asking for and receiving permission to use “Teddy” for marketing the bears, and Ideal Novelty and Toy began distributing them in 1903.

Glenwood had one of the first motion pictures made of a president, but it was too shocking for release because some “painted ladies of the night” managed to sneak in and be photographed meeting Roosevelt. Upon developing the film, it was discovered that one “lady” was wearing an indecent riding habit, and the film was destroyed.

In 1909, President Taft arrived, a parade of carriages bringing him and his entourage to the hotel. When offered private use of the Hot Springs pool, Taft declined, stating that it was better that a man of his size not bathe in public.

Fortunes blossomed in the West in those days. One whose wealth was the result of her husband’s gold strike was Molly Brown (who had become “Unsinkable”). She visited the Hotel Colorado to relax following her odyssey on the Titanic. One of the hotel’s Tower Suites, the Molly Brown Suite is decorated as a tribute to this dynamic woman and is appointed with her family photos, memorabilia and period furnishings.

The hotel has a long history of unexplained psychic phenomena and is a favorite spot for spook hunters. Both towers and other areas of the hotel are reportedly haunted. One invisible tenant of the Colorado likes to do interior decorating. During a 1982 renovation, new wallpaper was being installed in Room 551. The next day, the newly applied paper had been taken down and rolled neatly on the floor. The wallpaper was again placed on the walls, only to be found on the floor the next day. Eventually, several paper samples were placed on the bed. The next morning, all but one sample had been put on the floor. When that “chosen” paper was pasted on the walls, it remained in place.

During the Roaring Twenties, a cast of dubious characters, including Al Capone and Legs Diamond, found the Hotel Colorado to their liking. A special front-door awning was installed so their ilk could enter the hotel unnoticed. In 1939, President Hoover visited the hotel. In 1942, under the auspices of the U.S. Navy, the hotel was used as a hospital for injured soldiers during World War II. The hotel features the Courtyard Café, the Cedar Banks Room and Baron’s Restaurant. Delicious dishes are prepared from locally grown produce and meats; fresh Colorado trout is a favorite. Menus offer seasonal cocktails and desserts, including the iconic American red velvet cake, prepared by the hotel’s British pastry chef. The hotel has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1977.

The Hotel Colorado today. Photo courtesy of the Hotel Colorado.

For a historic journey back to the time of Teddy Roosevelt and a rare chance to experience the authentic grace and glamour of Colorado’s gilded age, the Hotel Colorado is the history seeker’s perfect destination.

*HOTEL DENVER: 402 Seventh Street, Glenwood Springs, CO 81601; 970-945-6565, 800-826-8820; thehoteldenver.com.

In 1906, young Italian immigrant Henry Bosco established a bottling company in the basement of the raunchy saloons facing the depot, where the brewery is located now. This was a strategic move, for in addition to nine saloons on his block, there were at least fourteen others within a one-block radius. Henry acquired the saloon above his business, later purchased another adjacent bar and, in 1914, built the Star Hotel. Meanwhile, at the block’s west end, the enterprising Art Kendrick opened a second-rate rooming house called the Denver Rooms to appeal to Denver clientele.

Prohibition in 1921 devastated the saloon and red-light district. But fortunately for Bosco and Kendrick, local real estate became so depressed that both men were able to add to their holdings and expand their hotels, to the point that they eventually adjoined each other. Bosco’s nephew, Mike, acquired the Star Hotel after World War I, and in 1938, he acquired Kendrick’s Denver Rooms. The two properties combined into what is now the Hotel Denver.

The hotel is in possession of a rare historic piece of art. According to Rock Island Railroad officials, fifty mother-of-pearl pictures were created shortly after the turn of the century and given to hotels such as the Hotel Denver as a promotion. Rock Island paid fifty dollars each for these pictures, made by the Western Sand Blast Company in Chicago. Each was handcrafted individually with mother-of-pearl inlay; no two were alike. Their backgrounds are also unique, as they were painted free hand. Other known locations for these pictures are the BROADMOOR Hotel in Colorado Springs and the Smithsonian Institute.

HOTEL GLENWOOD: Built before 1885, this hotel was located at Eighth and Grand and was operated by W.R. Lee in 1904.

GRAND HOTEL: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by J.R. Phillipi in 1904.

PALACE HOTEL: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by S.W. Smart in 1904.

STAR HOTEL: This hotel was built in 1914 by Henry Bosco.

New Castle

This town was founded by Jasper Ward, a freight supplier, whose dirt-floor cabin on Elk Creek became the town post office. Ward, a friend of Ute chief Colorow, became deputy sheriff, riding with a posse to calm a Ute uprising following the Meeker Massacre. He was killed at age thirty-seven during a conflict between Utes and the Colorado National Guard in 1887.

The town was first known as Grand Buttes and then Chapman, but it was incorporated as New Castle in 1888. It was named by English miners for Newcastle-on-Tyne, an English town known for its coal mines.

New Castle calls itself the “Gateway to the Western Colorado Rockies.” Located twelve miles west of Glenwood Springs, its population was eighteen hundred in the 1890s. Its active coal industry served Aspen and Leadville smelters via the Colorado Midland and the Denver and Rio Grande Railroads. Local mines produced high-quality coal but also methane gas. In 1896, the Vulcan Mine suffered a violent explosion, sending timbers into the Colorado River and killing almost fifty miners. A second devastating explosion in 1913 killed thirty-seven, ending most mining efforts in the area. Residents turned to agriculture for a living.

New Castle is the site of an underground mine fire, smoldering since 1899, known as Burning Mountain. Such fires can burn for hundreds of years, venting through natural cracks in the earth. In 2002, the 1899 fire sparked what became known as the Coal Seam Fire, burning 12,209 acres. The fire destroyed twenty-nine homes, a commercial structure and fourteen outbuildings, forcing evacuation of West Glenwood Springs and parts of New Castle. Steam coming from the vent is still visible today.

In July, New Castle hosts its annual Burning Mountain Days Festival.

ALBANY HOTEL: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by C.A. Hahn in 1904.

NOREN HOTEL: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by C.H. Noren & Son in 1904.

LA PLATA COUNTY

Named for the La Plata River and La Plata Mountains, this county is the site of the Durango Rock Shelters of the Anasazi culture. “La plata” is the Spanish word for silver.

Durango

Gold was discovered in 1860 in the San Juan Mountains north of present-day Durango. The Animas Valley swarmed with people hoping to strike it rich, and many built homes, making a living by supplying the mining camps. The Civil War slowed southwestern Colorado’s expansion, but the arrival of the railroads changed area history. In 1880, railroad officials drew plans for the town of Durango, laying out the rails, depot and rail yards, as well many of its first streets. Drawn by the abundance of silver and gold ore, the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad came to serve the San Juan mining district in 1881, organizing Durango as a town the same year. The city is named for Durango, Mexico, which in turn was named for Durango, Spain. The word “Durango” originates from a Basque word, “Urango,” which translates to “Water Town.” Within a year, Durango boasted 134 businesses, many professionals and newspapers. One of its first papers, the Durango Record, was run by fearless crusader Caroline Romney. She referred to Durango as “the wonder of the Southwest,” fiercely supporting women’s right to vote.

Of primary importance to Durango’s growth was completion of the forty-five-mile-long branch from Durango to Silverton, built in haste to transport all that “silver by the ton.” Silverton’s many mining camps were previously isolated, dependent on toll roads and pack animals to haul their ore over the Continental Divide.

Durango and its surrounding area was the location for a number of films in the 1940s and ’50s, among them Around the World in Eighty Days, Across the Wide Missouri, The Naked Spur and Night Passage. At that time, Durango was known as the Hollywood of the Rockies.

The creation of Mesa-Verde National Park in 1906 to preserve ruins of the Ancestral Puebloan culture brought Durango an influx of tourists. In the 1950s, Fort Lewis College opened in Durango and is now a four-year college. In 1965, Purgatory ski resort, now known as Durango Mountain Resort, opened north of town, helping establish the area as a vacation destination. Durango is an outdoor paradise, offering skiing, hiking, kayaking, hunting, fishing, snowshoeing and bicycling. It is also known for the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, running from Durango to Silverton on steam-powered trains dating from the 1920s and earlier.

COLUMBIAN HOTEL: This hotel was built in 1893 by Henry Strater next door to the Strater Hotel to intentionally compete with it. Operated by C.E. Applegate, it closed in 1895 due to the silver panic. Later, it joined the Strater.

The Grand Central Hotel nearing completion. It was built of brick of two different colors, circa 1889.

EDELMAN HOUSE: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by H. Edelman in 1904.

*GENERAL PALMER HOTEL: 567 Main Avenue, Durango, CO 81301; 970-247-4747, 866-538-0187; generalpalmer.com.

This Victorian hotel was named for General Palmer, who also built the Durango–Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. Palmer is also one of the founders of Colorado Springs. The General Palmer’s handsome period furnishings and historic ambiance bring the visitor back to the time of Durango’s early years. The hotel is located in the heart of Durango’s historic district and is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. For the past thirty-five years, the hotel has held a AAA rating as a Four Diamond establishment.

GRAND CENTRAL HOTEL: Originally built prior to 1880 by Thomas Rockwood, this hotel was destroyed by fire in July 1889. Rebuilt of brick, it was operated by R. Kremmling in 1904. It was considered one of the town’s better hotels.

HERMOSA HOUSE: Built before 1904, this hotel burned down in 1931. It was operated by C.C. Murray in 1904.

In 1874, Frank Trimble, suffering injuries from the Indian Wars, moved to land a few miles north of present-day Durango and began bathing in the local spring waters. Declaring that the waters had healed him, in 1882, he built a two-story hotel with fourteen guest rooms. But the first hotel burned down in 1892. T.D. Burns took over the springs and built the elegant Hermosa House in 1896, which unfortunately burned down in 1931. The springs were sold, and nine thousand bricks from the Hermosa House were used to build arched porches on a new building. In 1937, the Piccoli family purchased Trimble Hot Springs, which they ran as a popular nightclub. They also brought exotic dancers and gambling to the area, to mixed reviews.

T.D. Burns’s Hermosa House, Trimble Hot Springs, circa 1910.

During World War II, Trimble Hot Springs closed. The property changed hands many times until, in 1957, the third building burned down. The property has in recent years been reopened as a spa. Elders from the Southern Ute tribe were asked to bless this latest chapter of the springs’ history, now called Trimble Spa and Hot Springs (6475 County Road 203, Durango, CO 81301; 970-247-0111).

INTER-OCEAN HOTEL: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by Charles Fleck in 1904.

The NATIONAL HOTEL: This hotel was built before 1892.

PALACE HOTEL: Built about 1890–03 at 505 Main Street, this hotel was operated by W.D. McNuley in 1904. Its rooms have become part of the General Palmer Hotel. The Palace is no longer a hotel but is now a beautiful gourmet restaurant, the Palace Restaurant (970-247-2018).

*THE ROCHESTER HOTEL/PEEPLES HOTEL: 726 East Second Avenue, Durango, CO 81301; 970-385-4356, 800-664-1920; rochesterhotel.com.

The hotel opened in 1892 as the Peeples Hotel, named for one of the property’s early owners. It was sold a year later to Jerry Sullivan, who in turn sold it in 1905 to Mary Frances Finn, who renamed it the Rochester. Finn added indoor baths and enlarged the building.

The hotel changed hands repeatedly, gradually falling into disrepair until its present owners, Diane and Fred Wildfang, and their son, Kirk Komick, purchased it in 1992. Under their ownership, a century after its opening, the hotel was extensively rebuilt and restored. Original hardware and woodwork were retained wherever possible, and a grand lobby was created, including an open stairway with both original and replicated banisters. Its fifteen guest rooms are named for the many movies filmed in the Durango area. The Rochester is today a beautifully renovated historic hotel; its rooms offer private baths, high ceilings, period furniture and a charming courtyard.

Since the Rochester’s restoration, the Wildfangs and Komick have restored several other properties on the street and have helped to inspire the area’s revitalization.

THE SAVOY HOTEL: No information available.

*THE STRATER HOTEL: 699 Main Avenue, Durango, CO 81301; 970-247-4431, 800-247-4431; strater.com.

Cleveland pharmacist Henry Strater believed that Durango needed a grand hotel but had three strikes against him. He lacked money, had no experience and was too young to legally borrow cash. No problem. He just lied about his age and took out a loan. With the help of family and his infectious enthusiasm, Strater’s dream became a reality, and $70,000 later, the Strater Hotel opened. The extraordinary edifice was constructed of 376,000 native red bricks, ornamented by hand-carved sandstone cornices and sills.

The Strater became a winter retreat for locals, who would close their homes and move into the hotel. Rooms were equipped with wood-burning stoves and comfortable furniture; some had pianos and washstands. The washstands served double duty, their cabinets containing a “facility” that would be emptied by maids. The innovative hotel also contained a strategically designed three-story privy.

The Rochester Hotel today. Courtesy of the Rochester Hotel.

The elegant Hotel Strater in its second century. Photo courtesy of the Hotel Strater.

Strater placed his pharmacy in a prominent corner of the building, and having no desire to run the hotel, leased the Strater to proprietor H.L. Rice. But Strater soon realized he had failed to exclude his pharmacy in the lease to Rice, who charged Strater exorbitant rent. Infuriated, Strater built the competing Columbian Hotel in 1893, intending to put Rice out of business. Competition between the two hotels continued until 1895, when the silver panic put them both out of business.

Following the devastation of the silver panic, the Bank of Cleveland repossessed the Strater, selling it to Ms. Hattie Mashburn and Charles E. Stillwell, who operated the hotel until 1926, refining its appeal by offering opera and fine dining. During the Roaring Twenties, James A. Jarvis introduced the movie industry.

In 1926, a group of Durango businessmen, led by banker Earl A. Barker Sr., bought the hotel, refreshing its image. Townspeople no longer retreated to the Strater in winter, but many notables made the Strater their home away from home. Western author Louis L’Amour always asked for Room 222, above the Diamond Belle Saloon, claiming that its honky-tonk music helped set the mood for his writing. Today, Room 222 is known as the Louis L’Amour Room.

The Strater continues to upgrade with the times. Under Jentra and Earl Barker Jr., the hotel underwent “invisible” renovations, attending to details such as baths, air conditioning, heat, modern amenities and telephone service. Current president Roderick E. Barker has overseen installation of fine woodwork and authentic Bradbury and Bradbury wallpapers, reflecting the Victorian period. Windowed showcases brimming with antique collectibles are located throughout.

With elegance as a byword, the charms of the Strater have only increased with age, as in its 113^th year, this grand hotel continues to welcome guests with the grace and hospitality that have become its trademarks.

MESA COUNTY

Western Colorado was once a flood plain with a humid climate and a home to dinosaurs, whose bones are today an attraction for tourists and scientists. The first known humans in this area were the Fremont Indians, living here from AD 250 to 1300. They were hunters, farmers and artists, whose pictographs and petroglyphs remain. Mesa County, 174 miles west of Denver, was named for the area’s many large mesas, including Grand Mesa, the most extensive on earth. The county was created in 1883 from neighboring counties, with Grand Junction as its county seat.

De Beque

Located at Grand Mesa Lakes, De Beque was the historic home of the Ute Indians until whites arrived in 1880. The town was named for Dr. W.A.E. De Beque, who explored the area with a small party in 1884, seeking a location for a ranch. The town had long been a place of wild horse roundups and sales; this local history is commemorated by a mustang statue near the town hall. In 2001, De Beque became the only Wild Horse Sanctuary City in the West. The town undertakes projects in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management and private organizations to protect the area’s remaining wild horses and burros. It has constructed a public corral for the care of ailing mustangs and burros awaiting adoption. Each August, the town hosts Wild Horse Days, featuring a rodeo and parade.

HOTEL DELANO: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by F.W. Delano in 1904.

GRAND VALLEY HOTEL: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by Mrs. C.J. Smith in 1904.

Fruita

Fruita was established in 1884 by William Pabor, who probably never foresaw that his town would become the site of an annual May festival celebrating Mike the Headless Chicken, who lived for eighteen months after his head was cut off. Lloyd Olsen, chicken owner, would give him food and water with an eyedropper. Fortunately, this dubious event is balanced by Fruita’s longstanding Fall Festival in September, which began in 1910 as a harvest event and is now a major celebration.

MCGINNIS HOTEL: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by H.H. McGinnis in 1904.

OWENS HOTEL: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by N. Owens in 1904.

HOTEL PARK: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by Mrs. W.H. Pollock in 1904.

Grand Junction

Grand Junction, the Mesa County seat, is the largest city in western Colorado. Its location at the confluence of the Colorado and Gunnison Rivers has given it the nickname “River City.” Until 1821, the Grand Valley was part of Spain. When western Colorado became part of Mexico in 1821, the land was opened to trappers and traders but remained the historical home of the Utes until whites arrived in the 1880s. In recent years, several local wineries have been established. The Colorado National Monument, a dramatic series of canyons and mesas, overlooks the city.

BRUNSWICK HOTEL: Built in 1886, this hotel was later torn down.

BUENA VISTA HOTEL: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by Joseph Sanderson in 1904.

HOTEL CRANFORD: This hotel was built before 1900.

GRAND HOTEL: Built before 1887, this hotel was operated by E.W. Jordan in 1904. An 1887 trolley car advertisement snidely boasted, “The Brunswick closed! All traveling men staying at the Grand Hotel, strictly first-class.”

The New Castle Stage stopped in front of the Brunswick Hotel, 1889.

Whitewater

Whitewater is a small town outside Grand Junction, near the Colorado National Monument. It is known for inspiring canyons and high desert forests.

WHITEWATER HOTEL: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by B.T. Wright in 1904.

MOFFAT COUNTY

Moffat, created from part of Routt County in 1911 and named for David Moffat, Colorado railroad tycoon, is the farthest northwest county in Colorado. The Denver, Northwestern and Pacific Railroad attempted to build a route from Denver to Salt Lake City, but in 1913, a reorganized railroad—the Denver and Salt Lake—only reached as far Craig.

Craig

A true town of the Old West, Craig has been home to Indians, cowboys, gunfighters and mountain men. In the 1879s, Craig attracted both settlers and outlaws running from the law. Among them were Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and the Wild Bunch. Craig is the site of over three hundred ancient Native American pictographs, and one of the largest herds of elk in North America still ranges in the area.

THE BAKER: Built before 1904 on Yampa Street, this hotel was operated by C.E. Baker in 1904.

THE ROYAL: Built before 1894, this hotel was operated by E.A. Collett.

MONTEZUMA COUNTY

Montezuma County was created from La Plata County in 1889 and named for the Aztec chief Moctezuma II. It is the location of Mesa Verde National Park, the Canyon of the Ancients and the Yucca House National Monument, as well as most of the Ute Mountain Indian Reservation, home of the Weeminuche Band of Utes.

Dolores

Dolores, named for the Dolores River, is the Spanish word for “sorrow.” The town sits at the river’s mouth, where its waters begin to flow north. Established as a station on the Rio Grande Southern Railroad, it replaced an earlier town, Big Bend, now submerged beneath the nearby McPhee Reservoir. Anasazi archaeological ruins are in proximity to Dolores, and it is also the home of Dunton Hot Springs Resort and Spa, set in a carefully restored ghost town (970-882-4800).

DOLORES HOTEL: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by O.E. Puckett in 1904.

SOUTHERN HOTEL: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by J.D. McGrew in 1904.

Mancos

Many have claimed Mancos, located between Durango and Cortez on U.S. 160, five miles east of the Mesa Verde National Park entrance. The town was founded in 1894, though ranchers began settling the Mancos Valley in the 1870s. Mancos, a stop on the Denver, Rio Grande and Southern Railway, was initially the main trade center for eastern Montezuma County, rivaling the town of Dolores. The area was once part of New Spain and Mexico, inhabited by Ute and Navajo, who contested for centuries over its control. It was part of the original Ute Reservation in 1868, but today the boundary of the Ute Mountain Indian Reservation is located six miles south of town. The name “Mancos” comes from the 1776 Dominguez-Escalante Expedition, though its meaning is unclear. At one point in the town, the expedition crossed the Rio Mancos, en route to California from Mexico. There are numerous pre-contact archaeological sites in the area; their residents are thought to have been those who withdrew to the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde. In recent years, Durango has expanded to Mancos, and the town has become an art colony.

HOTEL LEMMON: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by Mrs. L.M. Armstrong in 1904.

MANCOS HOUSE: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by Mrs. Ella Ausburn in 1904.

MONTROSE COUNTY

Montrose was formed in 1883 from Gunnison County, following the Utes’ removal from the Uncompahgre Valley. The county was named for its county seat of Montrose. In 1909, the Bureau of Reclamation completed the seven-mile-long Gunnison Tunnel, bringing irrigation water to the valley and markedly changing local agriculture.

Cimarron

Cimarron is set on the Cimarron River, twenty miles east of Montrose on U.S. Highway 50. Established in the 1880s as a railroad town with a station and roundhouse, it is today a quiet community providing access to Morrow Point Dam, fishing on Cimarron Creek and boating on Crystal Reservoir. The Denver and Rio Grande trestle, crossing the Cimarron River Gorge northeast of town, is on the National Register of Historic Places.

BLACK CAÑON HOTEL: Built before 1886, this hotel was operated by the Denver and Rio Grande Railway. A subsidiary of the Denver and Rio Grande, the Rio Grande Hotel Company, established the Black Cañon Hotel and Eating House in Cimarron, which became a popular stop.

CIMARRON HOUSE: Built prior to 1904, this hotel was operated by Mrs. W.J. McNamara in 1904.

Montrose

Montrose was incorporated in 1882 after the Utes were moved to reservations in Utah. The town’s founder, Joseph Selig, is believed to have chosen the name for Sir Walter Scott’s A Legend of Montrose.

In 1905, the Uncompahgre National Forest was established to manage and protect wildlife resources. In 1909, the Gunnison Tunnel opened, delivering water from the Gunnison River to Uncompahgre Valley, transforming the semi-arid valley into an agricultural hub. Montrose is a favorite place for outdoor adventure, with five national forests, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and three ski areas.

HOTEL BELVEDERE: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by O.P. Maxfield in 1904.

MORSE’S LODGE: This hotel was built sometime in the 1920s.

SMITH CENTRAL HOTEL: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by E.H. Smith in 1904.

OURAY COUNTY

Formed from San Juan County in 1877, Ouray County is named for Chief Ouray, distinguished chief of the Uncompahgre band of Utes. For his leadership abilities, he was recognized by whites as an important ally. Ouray was a peacemaker, seeking reconciliation between the races, as he understood that war with whites might mean the end of his people. For this stand, the more militant Utes thought him a coward. The Uncompahgre Utes did not participate in the infamous Meeker Massacre; rather, Chief Ouray helped to bring about an end to the bloodshed. Though he often dressed in the white man’s clothing, Ouray never cut his long hair. In 1899, after meeting with the Ute leader in Washington, D.C., President Hayes described Ouray as the most intellectual man he had ever spoken with. Two different mountains are named in the Ute chief’s honor: Mount Ouray in the Sawatch Range and Ouray Peak in Chaffee County. Due to its rugged mountain geography, Ouray County has been called the Switzerland of America.

Ouray

Centuries before the white man’s arrival, the nomadic Tabeguache Utes traveled here in the summer to hunt and bathe in the sacred waters of the springs. The town was once called “Uncompahgre,” a Ute word meaning “hot water springs.” After respected Chief Ouray reluctantly signed the 1875 treaty relinquishing the Utes’ beloved San Juan Mountains to whites, gold and silver seekers began pouring in. At one time, Ouray had more horses and mules than people, and at the peak of its mining heydays, it had over thirty mines. The town was incorporated in 1876 and named for Chief Ouray; its population rose to over one thousand when it became the county seat and saw the arrival of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway, all in one year. The whole town is registered as a National Historic District, and most of its buildings date to the late 1800s.

*BEAUMONT HOTEL: 505 Main Street, Ouray, CO 81427; 970-325-7000, 888-447-3255; beaumonthotel.com.

This hotel was first envisioned by a partnership of five leading citizens, who engaged architect Mr. O. Bulow to design it. The Beaumont, which means “beautiful mountain,” opened in 1886 and was called the “Flagship of the San Juans.” Cascade Falls and three towering mountains are the background for this magnificent example of late Victorian Gothic architecture. The thirty-thousand-square-foot building occupies half a block on the prominent corner of Fifth Avenue and Main Street.

During its colorful history, the Beaumont has been host to many famous guests, including actress Sarah Bernhardt, who performed from the balcony; Presidents Herbert Hoover and Theodore Roosevelt; Ute Chief Ouray and his wife, Chipeta; and King Leopold of Belgium.

The hotel spent its first seventy-five years under various owners and managers, but none so perverse as Wayland Phillips of Chicago, who purchased the hotel in 1964 and was turned down by the city when she requested a designated parking area. In a fit of pique, she closed the hotel, boarded it up, painted it pink and then left it to the elements for almost thirty-five years, until part of its roof collapsed. Upon Phillips’s death, the Beaumont was in such disrepair that it was near to being razed. But in 1998, it was put up for auction and purchased by new owners, who hoped to restore its original grandeur.

The Beaumont, celebrating its handsome restoration in its 115^th year. Photo courtesy of the Beaumont Hotel.

Local workers salvaged furnishings, reclaimed floors and ceilings, updated wiring and plumbing, removed the Beaumont’s peeling pink outer skin and restored the brick and mortar. After five years of intensive restoration, the Beaumont once again opened to the public. A state-of-the-art spa now occupies the third floor, and the hotel’s Grand Ballroom, with twenty-eight-foot ceilings and thirteen-foot-high stained-glass Romanesque windows, is an inspiring place for every possible celebration and event.

The hotel is home to Bulow’s Bistro (honoring the architect), offering a casual lunch and dinner menu in the secluded, European setting of the courtyard. The second-floor Voodoo Lounge, serving cocktails and appetizers, overlooks the courtyard and surrounding mountains.

The Beaumont is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was the 2003 recipient of the National Preservation Award, the State of Colorado 2003 Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation and the 2004 Preserve America Presidential Award. Today, the magnificent Beaumont, the intrepid Flagship of the San Juans, is still welcoming guests from all over the globe.

*ST. ELMO HOTEL: 426 Main Street, Ouray, CO 81427; 970-325-4951; stelmohotel.com.

The St. Elmo Hotel, circa 1898.

The Western Hotel, one of the oldest buildings in the state and still in operation. Photo courtesy of the Western Hotel.

The St. Elmo Hotel was built in 1898 by Kittie O’Brien (later Heit), primarily as a miners’ hotel during the gold and silver boom in the San Juan Mountains. The hotel was located next door to her Bon Ton Restaurant, which began operating about 1886. O’Brien, an attractive, capable woman with an entrepreneurial spirit, came to Ouray in 1886 with her son Freddy, then twelve. In 1889, Kittie married electrician Joseph Heit, and in 1903, they adopted a boy, Francis. In 1893, following the silver crash, when many lost their jobs, Kittie offered free sleeping rooms to miners, making her a beloved local figure.

Freddy began living a dissolute life of gambling and violence, while Francis enlisted during World War I. Sadly, Kittie died of a heart attack, and for a time, Freddie ran the St. Elmo. But when he put the hotel up as collateral for a gambling debt, the hotel was auctioned off. Freddie then shot himself, and his wife somehow acquired the hotel. She transferred it to Francis in 1920. Three years later, Francis sold the hotel, and it changed hands a number of times over the years until the current owners purchased it.

The St. Elmo Hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the National Historical District of Ouray, Colorado. It has been restored into a nine-room Victorian inn, with antique furnishings in guest rooms and common areas, many of them original to the property.

The hotel’s award-winning Bon Ton Restaurant offers specialties in Italian fare, prime Angus steaks, beef Wellington, rack of lamb and fresh seafood. It has an outstanding wine list and martini bar. Now located downstairs in the St. Elmo Hotel, the restaurant is decorated with rock walls, hardwood floors and a beautiful bar.

*WESTERN HOTEL: 210 Seventh Avenue, Ouray, CO 81427; 970-325-4645, 888-624-8403; historicwesternhotel.com.

Built in 1892 by John Johnstone and Fred Mayol, the Western Hotel is one of the largest frame buildings on the western slope. The Victorian Italianate structure has its original high tin ceilings, stained glass, historic bar and lobby. Rooms are updated with private baths but retain period furnishings.

The hotel has hosted the spectacular San Juan Scenic Jeep Tour since 1946 and features a saloon and restaurant, serving lunch and dinner.

WILSON HOTEL: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by G.H. Wilson in 1904.

Ridgway

Named for railroad superintendent Robert M. Ridgway, this town was established in 1891. It is the northern entrance of the scenic San Juan Skyway. Located in the unspoiled Uncompahgre Valley, surrounded by the snow-capped Cimarron and San Juan Mountains, Ridgway is called the “Gateway to the San Juans.” This lofty position was established when the Rio Grande Southern made Ridgway a railhead center to service the mining towns of Ouray and Telluride. To preserve the town’s railroad history, the Ridgway Railroad Museum is located at the junction of U.S. Highway 550 and Colorado State Highway 62.

The region’s scenery and considerable wildlife make it a photographer’s paradise, with indigenous mountain lion, badger, deer, elk, bear, coyote and wild turkey. Bald eagles nest in century-old cottonwoods along the river in late fall, and the Ridgway Town Park offers picnicking. Ridgway’s park and the surrounding areas were locations for the movies How the West Was Won and John Wayne’s True Grit.

LA VETA HOUSE: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by Mrs. H. Lynch in 1904.

MENTONE HOTEL: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by P.F. Brockway in 1904.

RIO BLANCO COUNTY

Rio Blanco County was created in 1889 from Summit County. The county is named in the Spanish language for the White River, which runs through it.

Meeker

A terrible massacre also bears the name of this town. In 1878, Nathan Meeker, founder of Greeley, Colorado, was appointed Indian agent at the White River Indian Reserve. He believed he owed Horace Greeley a debt and sought the agency job to repay his old mentor. Meeker’s actions would bring disaster. His contact with Indians was minimal, and he was insensitive to Ute culture. He moved the agency eleven miles down the White River to Powell Park, three miles from present-day Meeker. Both the move and Meeker’s ideas were unpopular with the Indians, who pastured large herds of ponies in the meadows of Powell Park. To prove their value as Indian men, they would race the ponies and hunt with them to feed their families. Meeker believed the ponies were major obstacles to his intentions of making the Utes into farmers, so he decided to plow up their racetrack.

His plan was met with outrage from the Utes, so Meeker asked for troops to protect the agency. When the government finally sent Major Thornburg and troops from Fort Steele, this served to further enrage the Indians, who did not appreciate soldiers on their reservation. A battle ensued between the Utes and the army at Milk Creek. Reinforcements in the form of Captain Dodge and his few Buffalo Soldiers arrived later. One Buffalo Soldier, Sergeant Henry Johnson, distinguished himself in the rescue by obtaining water for the wounded from Milk Creek, at great risk to himself. He was the first black man to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

But the Utes also attacked the Indian agency. By ignoring warnings from knowledgeable ranchers, as well as direct warnings from the Utes, Meeker doomed the agency men and himself. White River Utes killed them all, burned the agency and captured the women and children. The Utes did not want to surrender their captives, but Chief Ouray’s sister, Susan, convinced them to do so, and the women and children were released after twenty-three days. Despite his unfortunate choices, Nathan Meeker is honored by the town’s bearing his name.

Following the 1879 massacre, the army moved to the present site of Meeker, where it established a permanent military camp with barracks, barns, officers’ quarters and other buildings. In 1883, the government auctioned off all its buildings to settlers, and the town was incorporated in 1885. In 1900, Theodore Roosevelt, then governor of New York and vice president elect, stayed at the Meeker Hotel, which became the starting point of his hunt for mountain lions. Meeker is the Rio Blanco County seat.

The first Meeker Hotel, a converted adobe army barracks, circa 1884–85.

Reuben Sanford Ball, owner and proprietor, sits at a table in the lobby of the new Meeker Hotel, sometime between 1896 and 1910. The hotel was noted for its unique foyer, with relics of many hunts.

*MEEKER HOTEL: 560 Main Street, Meeker, CO 81641; 970-878-5255; themeekerhotel.com.

A partnership between Charlie Dunbar and Susan Wright established the Meeker Hotel sometime before 1884, but Dunbar was shot and killed over a card game only months after the hotel and café opened. Wright is acknowledged as one of Meeker’s town founders. Rueben Sanford Ball, Wright’s brother, went to work for his sister in 1891. When Susan Wright died of illness in 1893, she willed the property to her brother. Under Ball’s ownership, the new Meeker Hotel and Café was constructed in 1896 on the site of the present historic Meeker Hotel. In 1904, east and west wings were added. The stone building, currently housing the Meeker Café, was, in 1891, Meeker’s new post office, and in 1904, it became the First National Bank Building. In 1918, Ball moved the café from the hotel to the stone building.

SAN JUAN COUNTY

This county’s river and surrounding mountain range were named for Saint John by early Spanish explorers. Silverton is the county’s only municipality and is the county seat.

Silverton

When the Brunot Treaty opened the San Juan valley for settlement in 1873, settlers streamed in for various purposes. Many were drawn by gold and silver. Some sought to escape their pasts, while others hoped to earn money to send home to families. Seeking cheap labor, mining companies advertised overseas, promising jobs and opportunities to become landowners. In the mid-1880s, large numbers came from Austria, Italy, Serbia, Croatia, Cornwall, Ireland, Wales, France, Germany, Russia, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. These hopefuls made the exhausting ocean voyage in unpleasant conditions, only to arrive in America and have to cross the continent to reach Silverton. Very few spoke English.

Set in the San Juan Mountains, at an elevation of 9,318 feet, in its heyday, Silverton boasted twenty-seven saloons and two bona fide hotels that were not brothels. Rooms were hard to find, liquor flowed like rivers and the town was anything but quiet. The town’s name describes its major resource: “Silver by the Ton.” A typical mining camp, Silverton was rife with bordellos, gambling dens and dance halls. And according to one 1884 local newspaper article, Silverton also swarmed with dogs, which invaded hotels and came to meals with their masters. The dogs fought publicly amongst themselves, mirroring human activity in the bars and streets.

But times change, and so has Silverton. It is now a quaint mountain town with a colorful history, vivid memories and some lively—and likely lurid—tales to whisper of its past.

The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad operates forty-five miles of track between the two towns. In 1882, the rails from Durango to Silverton were completed, and although the line had been initially constructed to haul gold and silver ore from the San Juan Mountains, the train soon began hauling both freight and passengers, who sought the dramatic views. The historic train has been in continuous operation for 128 years. Though it’s now a tourist and heritage line, it is one of the few still carrying passengers behind vintage steam locomotives on rolling stock original to the line.

COMMERCIAL HOUSE: This hotel was built sometime in the 1890s.

THE COTTON HOUSE: This house was built before 1883.

GOLD KING HOTEL: This hotel was built between 1870 and 1890, near Silverton in San Juan County.

*GRAND IMPERIAL HOTEL: 1219 Greene Street, Silverton, CO 81433; 970-387-5527, 800-341-3340; grandimperialhotel.com.

This hotel was built in 1882 by W.S. Thompson, an Englishman, and his partner, Dr. S.H. Beckwith, and designed by a French architect. Thompson, who owned interest in a local smelter, elegantly fitted out his new hotel with fine carpets and marble-topped furniture. Its second floor held eighteen generous rooms, with thirty-eight more on the third floor. The hotel’s bar, originally the Hub Saloon, located in the lobby, became the favored watering hole of the silver kings, boasting that it never shut its doors. The hotel still has its beautiful bar with a bullet hole in it, a souvenir of Silverton’s wilder days, though its source is not clearly remembered. The favored tale is that the bullet hole was made by Bat Masterson while attempting to arrest someone. Of course, Masterson’s trusty sidekicks, Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, also hung out at the saloon with him, so the door to speculation is wide open.

The saloon’s mirrors came from France and are nearly an inch thick; no one has shot them yet. The bar itself was one of three pieces made in England. Its two end pieces are still in use, one in Telluride and the other located in Tombstone, Arizona.

The Grand Imperial’s early clientele drew from the roster of silver barons and railroad magnates. Since the Grand Imperial’s saloon was on the respectable side of the street, it remained relatively free of the moral stigma attached to its neighbors. But across the street from the hotel was the “liquor side” of town, as nine out of twelve city lots held saloons. One street over from the Grand Imperial was the notorious Blair Street, Silverton’s red-light district. There is rumor of a tunnel beneath the Grand Imperial leading to Blair Street, but it has not been verified. The reported tunnel would allow gentlemen staying at the hotel to come in the front entrance with respectable ladies and step out through the tunnel for brandy and cigars—or whatever—getting back before anyone was the wiser.

Before the advent of indoor plumbing, the hotel’s third floor was rented as guest rooms, and water for the rooms had to be hauled in from Anvil Mountain, located behind the hotel. The second floor was utilized as offices for doctors, lawyers, the town hall and the post office.

But Prohibition cut drastically into the Grand Imperial’s finances, and for years the hotel struggled, on the brink of closing. In the 1950s, it was rescued and renovated, presenting a fresh face and forty rooms with private baths for visiting tourists.

In 1956, Barbara Stanwyck starred in the movie The Maverick Queen, filmed in the Grand Imperial. The hotel also has its share of ghost stories. There was a fellow named Luigi, a doctor apparently unable to cure his own broken heart. He was staying in Room 28 when he shot himself in 1890. The poor man was reportedly tormented, possibly over a Blair Street woman. He has since been seen in a top hat, leaning over the beds of guests as they sleep, as if checking in on patients.

A postcard of the Grand Imperial Hotel. In 1904, it was operated by C.L. Petherbridge.

Today, the hotel is home to Grumpy’s Saloon and Restaurant, which offers a varied menu, including excellent chili and world-famous French onion soup, with a live honky-tonk piano on the side. It is open year-round, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, and has a full bar with microbrews on tap.

Sitting proudly on the main street of town, close to the terminus of the scenic railroad, the hotel is a gem cradled in the San Juan Mountains. A tenacious survivor, this mansard-roofed granite structure maintains its elaborate fourteen-foot ceilings, ornate chandeliers and, of course, its ghosts. The Grand Imperial is still welcoming guests today.

THE MELTON: This hotel was built before 1904.

THE SILVERTON HOTEL: This hotel was built before 1883.

WALKER HOUSE: This hotel was built before 1883.

SAN MIGUEL COUNTY

This county was created in 1883, and given the Spanish name of Saint Michael for the nearby San Miguel River. The area is known for its stunning mountain scenery, mining history and the town of Telluride, the county seat, famous for its world-class ski resorts.

Ames: Ghost Town

Ames began in 1880 when Otto Mears built a toll road connecting Telluride and Ouray. He used this location as a stage stop and post office, but the railroad did not pass nearby. Ames might have simply faded into oblivion but for one Lucien L. Nunn from Ohio. In 1890, this short-lived, now-forgotten town near Ophir made history as the first place that commercial alternating current (AC) electricity was extensively used in mining. Ames is located below the Gold King Mine at twelve thousand feet. Its power plant was the creation of Nunn, who was lured west by the Colorado mining boom. Nunn was an admirer of Nikola Tesla, developer of AC, a form of electric power that could be transmitted across long distances with less loss of energy than direct current.

Nunn had practiced law, and by 1888, he bought control of the San Miguel County Bank, which was robbed by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid the next year. Nunn persuaded principal stockholders of the Gold King Mine to back AC current, and he then managed to meet with Westinghouse and convince him to invest in his venture using AC current. Westinghouse bought patents from Tesla to build AC generators and motors, costing $1 million. Nunn became manager of the Gold King, recruiting his brother, Paul, to help design the Ames Power Plant. Students from Cornell University and locals were hired for construction of the facility. Water flumes built from local creeks above the power plant provided elevation that ran the generator. In June 1891, the Nunns unleashed water from Howard and Lake, tributaries of the San Miguel’s South Fork below the mine, to a big wheel belted to a generator. Once the power plant was completed, lines were strung to the mine, and electricity was transmitted two and a half miles over rugged terrain to a motor-driven mill at Gold King. This cut down on the expense of fuel, and after the Nunns’ success with this experimental technology, power lines were soon strung to mines throughout the region.

Ames Hotel, circa 1880s.

From his successful Ames venture, Lucien Nunn would become highly respected in the field of power generation, helping to build the first Canadian AC hydroelectric power plant at Niagara Falls. Public Service Co. acquired the Ames plant in 1992 in a bankruptcy proceeding. The original wood structure housing the water wheel has been replaced by a granite building, and according to the plant’s operators, if properly maintained, the Ames plant could run for another hundred years.

AMES HOTEL: This hotel was built before 1880.

Norwood

This town is built on top of Wrights Mesa. There were no white settlers until 1879, when Edwin Joseph first homesteaded the area. Norwood was eventually a ranching community, and when mining was introduced, the town became a significant supply town. Norwood is today known for its cattle ranches and is a destination for outdoor enthusiasts.

NORWOOD HOTEL: This hotel was built before 1898 on Main Street.

Ophir

Named after an Arabian city rich in gold, Ophir was born in 1875 when gold was discovered in the area. It is located a few miles from the site of the world’s first commercial system to generate and transmit alternating current electricity: the Ames Hydroelectric Plant.

HOTEL ELLIOTT: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by Mrs. Martin Hisey in 1904.

OPHIR HOTEL: This hotel was built before 1920.

SILVER MOUNTAIN HOTEL: Built before 1890, this hotel was operated by Mrs. Ella H. Dinan in 1904.

VICTOR HOTEL: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by Mrs. G. Willis in 1904.

WOODSON HOUSE: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by Mrs. A.W. Woodsonin 1904.

Placerville

The town was originally a small mining camp named for placer gold mines on the San Miguel River and Leopard Creek. Its original location became known as Old Placerville, after the Rio Grande Southern Railroad built a depot and sidings west of town, calling the new area Placerville.

In the 1890s, A.B. Frenzel discovered vanadium ore in the sandstone east of Placerville. Although of inferior grade, a determined Frenzel drove one tunnel eighteen feet into rock, and by 1901–02, he was excavating thousands of tons meant for Europe. But as the ore was too low grade to justify shipment cost, in 1905 the Vanadium Alloys Co. built an ore-processing mill southeast of Placerville to recover ferrovanadium, which it sold. Frenzel, not a man to easily give up, was justified.

20^TH CENTURY HOUSE: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by Mrs. E.E. Elliot & Son in 1904.

Telluride

At 8,750 feet of elevation, Telluride nestles in a box canyon in an isolated spot in the Four Corners region, where Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona join. Steep mountains and cliffs surround the town, with Bridal Veil Falls at the head of the canyon. It was once a summer camp for the Ute Indians until the San Juan Mountains lured fortune hunters with promises of silver and gold. About 1875, the Sheridan Mine was the first of numerous local claims. Initially a tent city first called Columbia, the mining camp became a town in 1878, changing its name to Telluride. The town takes its name from an element called Tellurium, a metalloid associated with gold and silver deposits—although Tellurium was never found in the area.

With the railroad’s arrival in 1890, the remote town prospered. Immigrants seeking fortunes turned Telluride into a community of five thousand, until the silver crash of 1893, followed by World War I. Miners moved on, and the town’s population dwindled to hundreds. But in the 1970s, Telluride made a new discovery—powder snow, as good as gold! That started a new boom, and when the Telluride Ski Resort opened in 1973, the town’s renaissance began. A free gondola connects the town with its neighbor, Mountain Village, at the base of the ski area. The Telluride Historic District includes a significant part of town and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is also one of Colorado’s twenty National Historic Landmarks.

THE NEW COLORADO HOUSE: Built in 1899, this hotel was gone by 1910.

*NEW SHERIDAN HOTEL: 231 West Colorado Avenue, Telluride, CO 81435; 970-728-4351, 800-200-1891; newsheridan.com.

The New Sheridan was built in 1895. As Telluride grew, so did its need for lodging. Like the town itself, the hotel was built with riches from gold and silver strikes in the surrounding San Juan Mountains.

The original Sheridan Hotel was a three-story frame structure, built at 233 West Colorado Avenue, east of the courthouse. In 1894, the original building was destroyed by fire. The present brick building at 231 West Colorado Avenue was erected next door to the burned lot, opening in 1895 as the New Sheridan Hotel (the Sheridan has remained “new” ever since). L.L. Nunn, Ames power plant genius, was instrumental in bringing AC electric power to Telluride, and the hotel has been lit by electricity from its beginning.

In 1899, a two-story brick addition was built on the site of the original hotel, but for a second time it was destroyed by fire. No more attempts were made to build on the original lot for nearly a century; the land appears in historic photos as a grassy yard. It was not until 1994 that a two-story building housing the New Sheridan Restaurant, additional hotel rooms and a sun deck above was constructed there. In 1994, the hotel also underwent a metamorphosis from a miners’ hotel to twenty-six luxury hotel rooms and suites, complete with Victorian antiques.

In the 1890s, the hotel was the town’s social center. Its Continental Room Restaurant held sixteen velvet-curtained booths, each equipped with a button to discreetly summon a waiter when needed. Its adjoining American Room was said to have rivaled the Brown Palace in Denver in service and cuisine. It has been reported that in those days, it was possible for a man to enjoy dinner with his mistress in the Continental Room and his wife in the American Room, at the same time—though why any man would find such stress enjoyable is hard to imagine.

The New Sheridan today. Beautifully restored, the hotel and its fine restaurant are still welcoming skiers and tourists to the historic heart of Telluride. Photo courtesy of the New Sheridan Hotel.

Music was discreetly hidden behind doors near the ceiling (still evident), where a small trio or quartet could be seated in the mezzanine of the bar. With the doors opened out, musicians could play for guests of both dining rooms and the bar simultaneously.

For a brief period early in the 1900s, the New Sheridan Bar was converted into a grocery store (H.H. Walrod & Co. Grocers) and was boycotted by local miners during labor disputes. The hotel, bar and restaurants were then owned by the Sheridan Mines Company. After labor issues were settled, the old saloon reverted back to its proper function. During Prohibition, liquor service was curtailed but not entirely terminated. The New Sheridan Bar, the town’s oldest, remains much as it was in 1895, with a handsomely carved mahogany bar from Austria, room dividers of leaded and beveled glass panels and ornate light fixtures.

The New Sheridan is home to the world-renowned restaurant The Chop House and the Parlor Bar, both offering fine foods, rich history and superior service. The New Sheridan Hotel has been welcoming guests for over one hundred years and is just getting started.

SAN JUAN HOTEL: This hotel was built sometime before 1904.

VICTORIA HOTEL: Built before 1904, this hotel was operated by J.E. Marchland in 1904.