Itineraries with SW Colo Travel Region

Here are the itineraries being developed in conjunction with the SW Colo Travel Region:

1. Scenic Byways
1. Craving recreation at high elevation? Travel to the top of the world and back in time on the San Juan Skyway. Discover history and high times in the streets, gold mines, and railway stations of towns like Durango, Ouray, and Telluride. Enjoy rafting and water sports on the Animas River, or fish and boat on McPhee Lake, the second largest lake in Colorado. The byway is your open invitation to five million acres of the San Juan and Uncompahgre National Forests. Experience the ancestral homes of the Puebloan Indians at Mesa Verde, once voted the number one historic monument in the world. Enjoy it all on this 236-mile sampler of the best the southwest has to offer.
   
2. Colorado Heritage Timeline: Native American Culture, Mining,
   Frontier Life, Ranching, Viticulture
1. The Red Mountain area was one of Colorado’s richest and most productive mining districts. During its heyday, approximately 3000 people lived in the mining towns of Red Mountain, Ironton, Guston, Chattanooga and numerous cabins and dugouts scattered throughout. To service the numerous mines, a wagon road connecting the district to Ouray and Silverton was completed in 1885, and the Silverton Railroad traversed the rugged pass by 1889.

   Although most of the physical features of the district have disappeared, the area contains several excellent examples of mining headframes, cabins, boarding houses and railroad features that represent a very important part of our heritage.

3. Transportation Heritage: Railroads, trails, tramlines, stagecoaches
1. The road we know today as the Million Dollar Highway was started in 1880 by the Ouray and San Juan Wagon Road Company. In 1882 Ouray County took over construction from the Engineer Pass turnoff to Ironton but not much progress was made. In 1883 Otto Mears bought the wagon road company and finished the toll road to Red Mountain. His tollbooth was at the very narrow crossing of Bear Creek Falls. A year later he completed a second toll road from Silverton to Red Mountain thus completing the Ouray to Silverton Road. The road reverted to Ouray and San Juan Counties in 1900 when the toll road charter expired. The Million Dollar Highway got its name in 1922 during the conversion of the road for auto traffic when it was noticed that the separate contracts to rebuild the Ouray to Red Mountain Pass portion of the road totaled almost exactly a million dollars.
   
4. Architecture: Residential, commercial, industrial, pre-historic
1. The town of Ouray is a real treasure for a Victorian architecture buff. Here one can stay in the award-winning, beautifully restored Beaumont Hotel, 1887, or the authentic St. Elmo Hotel,1898, stroll the Ouray National Register Historic District and dine in a historic restaurant. Containing a large collection of Mesker Brothers iron facades, the Main Street beckons history lovers and shoppers alike. Off Main Street you will find beautifully restored "painted ladies" of the Queen Anne, Edwardian, Italianate,and Dutch Colonial Revival styles, historic churches, and the "best little Museum in the West."
5. Brothels and Outlaws of the Old West
1. Ouray had two red light districts that flourished in the 1880s and 1890s as well as in the early decades of the 20th century. The earliest district was located along Main Street north of 8th Ave where John Vanoli operated the Gold Belt Theater and several other “Female Boarding Houses.” The Goldbelt provided first class entertainment in addition to its second floor cribs.
   The second red light district in Ouray stretched along second street between 7th and 8th avenues. By 1908 the number of separate houses of ill repute had reached 16 which included The Temple of Music, the Bon Ton and the Bird Cage where liquor, gambling, prostitution and loud music continued far into the night.
   
2. Ouray ordinances specifically prohibited houses of prostitution but they were thriving businesses for more than 30 years. The prosperity of these establishments rose and fell with the mining industry. Most prostitutes did not stay in Ouray long but there was a constant supply to replace those who left. A significant number also committed suicide or were killed by customers. A lucky few married local men and became respectable.
   
   
6. Native American presence on the Colorado Landscape
1. The Uncompahgre Band of Utes had a special relationship with Ouray’s copious hot springs, which they called “sacred miracle waters.”

   They came here for ceremonial and healing purposes, even bathing their beloved horses in the steaming waters. In the late nineteenth century, the famous and controversial Chief Ouray built a small adobe “summer home” at hot springs where the Wiesbaden Spa is now located.

7. Preservation and Stewardship: Land use, sites, stabilization projects and visitor ethics
1. The Red Mountain Project began in 1998 as a regional effort to protect 10,500 acres of scenic and historic landscapes, preserve numerous historic mining and railroad sites, and provide enhanced recreation and interpretive opportunities along the San Juan Skyway.
   
2. The goal of this project is to acquire from willing sellers 10,500 acres of historic landscapes and structures within and around the historic Red Mountain Mining District. Once purchased, they are being added to the adjacent Uncompahgre and San Juan National Forests and Ouray County Parks for public use and enjoyment through perpetual conservation easements. In the meantime historic structural assessments, stabilization projects, installation of interpretive signs and improvements to historic trails for recreational use are ongoing.
   

We need to compile 3-5 sentences that will whet the appetite for the traveller. We will need corresponding photos for the things we choose.

Ideas needed soon, sentences & photos needed in the next week or so.

The obvious suggestions are:

1. Scenic Byways: SAN JUAN SKYWAY
2. Colorado Heritage Timeline: Native American Culture, Mining, Frontier Life, Ranching, Viticulture USE A LOCAL MINE
3. Transportation Heritage: Railroads, trails, tramlines, stagecoaches THE MILLION DOLLAR HIGHWAY OR OTTO MEARS
4. Architecture: Residential, commercial, industrial, pre-historic THE BEAUMONT
5. Brothels and Outlaws of the Old West: YOU COULD TALK ABOUT THE TUNNEL UNDER TOWN
6. Native American presence on the Colorado Landscape THE USE OF THE HOT SPRINGS BY THE NATIVES WOULD BE GREAT
7. Preservation and Stewardship: Land use, sites, stabilization projects and visitor ethics. POINT TO A SITE THAT IS GETTING SOME PRESERVATION OR TALK ABOUT THE WATER USE AND YOUR BOTTLING PLANT OR EAGLE HABITAT ALONG THE RIVER.