Built 1886
Abandoned 1967-1998 Restoration 1998-2003
"Presidents and Celebrities Gave It Fame, Dan and Mary Gave It Life." National Trust Awards Ceremony
2004 Inaugural Presidential Preserve America Awards
2003 Inaugural Colorado . . . — — Map (db m186920) HM
Standing here, one sees significant change across the street between the mid-1880's, 1902, and the present. In 1876 two wooden buildings were erected at the north end of this block. The next year a two-story frame building, known as the Bucket of . . . — — Map (db m294698) HM
Imagine being an early pioneer here and building a cabin on the main trail through town. You are fascinated by the passing bands of Ute Indians, and admire the cascading falls, and magnificent amphitheatre high above you to the east. Uncompahgre . . . — — Map (db m294690) HM
Picture yourself walking along the east side of Main Street between 6th and 7th Avenues during Ouray’s early times. You will meet some of Ouray's important businessmen. These men — Otto Mears, David Day, and Dr. William Rowan — were also colorful . . . — — Map (db m294939) HM
Illustrated here are two early periods of structural development across Main Street from this location. There were only four buildings occupying four of the twelve lots on the block, circa 1880-1883. The one-story building at 515 Main is thought to . . . — — Map (db m294812) HM
Looking across Main Street at part of the notorious “red light district,” called the Vanoli Block, try to visualize how it looked and hear how it sounded in the late 1890s and early 1900s. On the alley at the back of lots 23 and 24 was freighter . . . — — Map (db m294983) HM
Substantial brick buildings replaced wooden structures on this block by the 1890s. Louis King's two-story wagon and carriage shop dominated the south end when a wooden structure in the 1880s and as a brick beauty in the '90s. James Pierson's . . . — — Map (db m294976) HM
The history of the Red Mountain Mining District mirrors the story told in countless boom-and-bust mining areas throughout the West. As prospectors, miners, cooks, freighters, prostitutes, gamblers, saloon keepers, boarding house operators, and . . . — — Map (db m179030) HM
Box Canon Sign History In 1903, the city (of Ouray) decided Box Canon Park should be lighted. Community interest in the park was increasing. A year previously, the Ouray Board of Trade had requested $500 from the city to be used in beautifying . . . — — Map (db m282660) HM
The Fellin family has left a huge landmark in Ouray County In approximately 1895 Joseph Fellin, a miner from Revo, Austria, came to Ouray, Colorado. In 1902, Joseph's wife Serafina and his sons Sam, Oliver, and Angelo arrived. Five years later . . . — — Map (db m294697) HM
The history of the Idarado Mine goes back to 1896 with the creation of the Treasury Tunnel. In 1934 the San Juan Metals Company purchased the old Treasury Tunnel site and by 1937 a new 300-ton per day mill was in operation. In 1939 the Idarado . . . — — Map (db m179083) HM
You are standing at the Ouray Fault, the first step in the formation of Box Cañon Falls. Millions of years ago a deep crack in the earth caused the harder rocks to move upward, while the soft sedimentary rocks to the north moved downward. As you . . . — — Map (db m191376) HM
W.C. Davis and G.C. McGee recorded the Ida L. and Dauntless mining claims in 1888. In 1893 Davis sold his interest in these and other claims to W.F. Abrams of San Diego, California. McGee kept his interest until selling it to A.G. Bruner in 1910. . . . — — Map (db m238162) HM
Panel 1 This region was founded by gold and silver miners in the 1870s. This 17-square mile area has produced 4 million ounces of gold, 21 million ounces of silver, and 12 million tons of lead, zinc and copper. The natural resources from . . . — — Map (db m179088) HM
Ouray was just eleven years old when the Beaumont Hotel celebrated its grand opening on July 25, 1887. The building immediately gained fame as western Colorado's most elegant hotel, marking Ouray as a place of wealth, importance, and permanence. For . . . — — Map (db m186905) HM
Before...
Many of the creeks in the Red Mountain Mining District are devoid of aquatic life due to the natural geologic setting and historic mining. Within the thirty-square mile district over one hundred historic mines have been located. . . . — — Map (db m179029) HM
The San Juan Mountains have long posed a barrier to travel and, by extension, to economic development. Early miners had to transport ore via pack animals over rocky trails, a process so inefficient that it rendered many claims unworkable. Matters . . . — — Map (db m186903) HM
Joe Wood was born Howard Ellsworth Wood in Kansas City on October 25, 1889, the second son of John and Rebecca Wood. At a young age he was given the nickname of a famous circus clown “Joe” and the name stuck for the rest of his life. Joe's father . . . — — Map (db m294699) HM
Before you is the historic Red Mountain Mining District. In the early 1880s, valuable columns of silver ore called "pipes" were discovered in this valley and extraction began. By 1883, nearly forty mines were sending silver ore to smelters. . . . — — Map (db m179032) HM
The Idarado Mining Company was founded in 1939 in a consolidation of mining claims including the Black Bear, Treasury Tunnel, Barstow, and the Imogene mines. In June 1943, work began to extend the Treasury Tunnel below the Black Bear Mine to . . . — — Map (db m179028) HM
The eighteen-mile Silverton Railroad was truly a "little train that could." Incorporated by Otto Mears on July 5, 1887, this narrow gauge railroad connected the communities of Albany, Ironton, Guston, Red Mountain Town, Congress (Red Mountain . . . — — Map (db m179033) HM
This is the eastern end of the Idarado Mine. As one of the San Juans' larger mines, it contains nearly 100 miles of underground tunnels. Miners would enter here at the Treasury Tunnel and ride the underground trams to their work station. The . . . — — Map (db m179085) HM
Presented to the City of Ouray in 1900 A.D. by Thos. F. Walsh, original owner of the Camp Bird Mine. The bell hung in the City Hall bell tower until 1950, when it was cracked by fire. — — Map (db m294499) HM
Before you, on the east side of Red Mountain Creek, is the headframe of the Yankee Girl Mine.
In 1882, prospector John Robinson discovered a massive "pipe" of silver ore and staked the Yankee Girl claim. He developed an exploratory shaft and . . . — — Map (db m179031) HM
Who were swept to their deaths 1,000 feet north of this marker in the East Riverside Slide Sunday March 3, 1963 while answering the call to Christian duty of his pastorate in Silverton, Colorado
In Honor
Of the many friends & . . . — — Map (db m179139) HM
Interior courthouse scenes from the movie True Grit were shot here. Dissatisfied with the sheriff's efforts to track down her father's killer, Mattie takes matters into her own hands. Following Cogburn's testimony, she runs after him down the . . . — — Map (db m282786) HM
Restaurant owner Addie Bonatti was mortified to discover it was John Wayne calling after telling him she was too busy serving customers to put a crew member on the phone. Later when he met this saucy woman, Wayne gave her his hat, and returned . . . — — Map (db m282657) HM
Nineteenth-Century Newspapers
At one point in the 1880s, Ouray newspaper publisher David Day had forty-two libel suits pending against him-and he wore them like a row of combat medals. Day's broadsheet, the Solid Muldoon, placed less emphasis . . . — — Map (db m186909) HM
This caboose was built in Denver at the Burnham shops in 1886. It is a 17-foot caboose often called a 'crummy'. When new it was DRG 91 as seen on the west side. When it was taken out of service in 1953 it looked like it does on the east side as the . . . — — Map (db m295882) HM
This car was built in 1904 by American Car and Foundry in St. Louis, MO for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. It was one of 350 such cars built. It was built to haul cattle (16) or sheep (40 with double deck) shippers actually loaded much more . . . — — Map (db m295975) HM
• Built in Ridgway from a 1926 Model 33 Pierce Arrow Limo 5/4/32 • Weighed 14,950 lbs, was about 43 ft long and cost $2584.56 • Painted silver in 1936 • Sunset herald and centered rear doors in 1940 • Modified from 4 door Pierce Arrow to Wayne . . . — — Map (db m295799) HM
History of Ridgway The San Juan Mountains — a land of towering mountains, deep canyons, and shadowed valleys. Native peoples have lived here for thousands of years, an occupation that ended in this region only when the Utes ceded the . . . — — Map (db m282794) HM
This car was built by Jackson and Sharp in 1880 as the D&RG 'Gothic', sold to Otto Mears and lettered Rio Grande Southern 252 in 1891. It was used on the daily passenger train between Ridgway and Durango until 1932 when the passenger trains were . . . — — Map (db m295901) HM
The original RGS No. 1 was built in Ridgway in 1931 to carry mail, a few passengers, and a little express freight (up to 4000 lb). The idea was to more economically handle the daily passenger train business (including the mail) than could be done . . . — — Map (db m295899) HM
History This outbuilding was built in 1891 to service the Ridgway Depot, which was built jointly by the Rio Grande Southern and Denver & Rio Grande Railroads. One-half of the outbuilding was a coal storage facility; the other half was an . . . — — Map (db m295970) HM
Otto Mears was a Russian immigrant known as the "Pathfinder of the San Juans." He developed a network of toll roads and narrow gauge railroads that established the routes of most of this area's highways.
Mears' crowning achievement was the Rio . . . — — Map (db m199594) HM
Filmed in and around Ridgway, CO September 1968. Released 1969. This paddy wagon was built specifically for the True Grit movie by Joe English, Owen Vaughn, and Paul Gibbs. An extensive photo collection of the pre-test shots taken by Paramount of . . . — — Map (db m282801) HM
Mattie arrives at the Fort Smith train station to claim her father's body. The movie's depot was a freight storage structure modified from the original Rio Grande Southern depot, which had been moved south 100 yards. The train was a Rio Grande . . . — — Map (db m282795) HM
After finding the mortuary closed with the undertaker gone to the triple hanging, Mattie joins the enthusiastic crowd to watch. The gallows was erected just west of this sign. Although he was not listed in the credits, Jay Silverheels, who played . . . — — Map (db m282796) HM
Colonel Stonehill's livery stable and corral were constructed by local carpenters where the post office now stands. Here Mattie Ross haggles with Colonel Stonehill over the value of her father's horses and threatens to call in Lawyer Daggett. The . . . — — Map (db m282797) HM
This was the mortuary, labeled R. Ryan Embalmer on the window, where Mattie identified her father's body. The stone building west of the Sherbino at 620 Clinton St. was Chen Lee's general store/living quarters, where Cogburn boarded. There Mattie . . . — — Map (db m282798) HM
The impressive Fort Smith courthouse was a building front and entryway created for the movie. It was located where this building now stands. Interior scenes were filmed 10 miles south of Ridgway at the Ouray County Courthouse. John Wayne won his . . . — — Map (db m282799) HM
The True Grit Cafe was built in 1986 as a tribute to John Wayne and True Grit. Incorporated in the cafe's construction, the grocery store facade from next door is now the cafe south wall. Also featured are photos of Ridgway resident and . . . — — Map (db m282800) HM
