18 guides covering ouray mining history — written for guests staying at The Lumberyard Condos, two blocks from the Ouray Ice Park.
- Ouray, Colorado: A Complete History of the Switzerland of AmericaNestled in a dramatic box canyon at 7,760 feet, Ouray's story spans Ute tradition, silver fever, railroad ambition, and Victorian elegance — all preserved in one of Colorado's most photogenic historic towns.
- Ouray Mining History: How Ore Built a Mountain CityFrom the first silver strikes of the 1870s to the gold bonanza of the Camp Bird Mine, hard rock mining shaped every street, building, and tradition in Ouray, Colorado.
- Ouray Silver Mining: The Strikes That Built a Victorian CitySilver ore from the San Juan Mountains bankrolled Ouray's magnificent Victorian architecture, funded its railroads, and drew thousands of miners to one of the most remote and spectacular settings in North America.
- The Camp Bird Mine: Ouray's Greatest Gold BonanzaWhen silver crashed in 1893, Ouray needed a miracle. It came in 1896 when Irish immigrant Tom Walsh discovered one of the richest gold mines in American history just two miles above town.
- Ouray Historic District: A Walking Guide to Victorian SplendorListed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983, Ouray's 28-block downtown is one of the best-preserved Victorian commercial districts in the American West — entirely intact and entirely walkable.
- Ouray Victorian Architecture: Gilded Age Grandeur in the San JuansThe brick commercial blocks, ornate cornices, and Victorian hotels of Ouray's Main Street tell the story of a mining town that built for the ages — and whose architecture has survived nearly intact into the twenty-first century.
- Otto Mears: The Road Builder Who Unlocked Ouray and the San JuansWithout Otto Mears, Ouray might have remained an isolated camp accessible only by pack trail. His toll roads and narrow-gauge railroads stitched the San Juan Mountains together and made the silver boom possible.
- Ouray County History: Government, Gold, and Mountain GrandeurFormed in 1877 from the western San Juan territory, Ouray County has been the governmental and commercial hub of the northern San Juan Mountains for nearly 150 years.
- The Ute People and the Uncompahgre Valley: A History of Ouray's First ResidentsFor centuries before miners arrived, the Uncompahgre Ute called this canyon their home, returning each season to the healing hot springs, abundant game, and sheltered valley that would later become Ouray, Colorado.
- Ouray Hot Springs: A History of the Healing WatersLong before the first prospector arrived, the Uncompahgre Ute prized the mineral hot springs at the mouth of the canyon. Today those same waters flow into one of Colorado's most beloved mountain swimming pools.
- Ouray Railroad History: The Iron Road Through the CanyonWhen the Denver & Rio Grande's narrow-gauge line reached Ouray on December 21, 1887, it completed a connection to the outside world that transformed the economics of mining and the character of life in the San Juans.
- San Juan Mountains Mining History: Billions in Silver and GoldThe San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado were the richest mining district in the American West after the Comstock — a rugged, beautiful, and often deadly landscape that produced the wealth behind Ouray, Silverton, and Telluride.
- Ghost Towns Near Ouray: The Abandoned Mining Camps of the San JuansWithin a half-day's drive — or a Jeep adventure — of Ouray lie some of the best-preserved and most atmospheric ghost towns in Colorado: Animas Forks, Ironton, Red Mountain Town, and a dozen more.
- Animas Forks Ghost Town: Colorado's Highest and Most Photographed RuinAt 11,200 feet on the upper Animas River, Animas Forks sits at the crossroads of the San Juan mining universe — and its remarkably intact Victorian buildings make it the most atmospheric ghost town in Colorado.
- The Founding of Ouray, Colorado: Silver, Statehood, and a Box CanyonOuray was officially platted in 1876 — the same year Colorado became a state. Within a decade the rough mining camp had become one of the most sophisticated cities in the Rocky Mountain West.
- Chief Ouray: The Ute Diplomat Who Gave a City Its NameChief Ouray navigated the catastrophic collision between Ute sovereignty and American expansion with intelligence and dignity — earning the respect of his enemies and the enduring gratitude of the town that bears his name.
- Ouray National Historic District: Protecting a Victorian LegacyThe 1983 listing of Ouray's downtown on the National Register of Historic Places formalized what residents had long known — that their Victorian streetscape was irreplaceable, and worth protecting for generations to come.
- Western Slope Colorado History: Ute Country, Spanish Trails, and the Mining FrontierWest of the Continental Divide, Colorado unfolds into a landscape of red-rock canyons, alpine valleys, and mountain parks that has been home to Ute peoples for a thousand years and a destination for explorers, miners, and settlers for two centuries.