In the late 1800s, when Red Mountain Town and Red Mountain City fought for supremacy in the mining district just south of Ouray, Bart Young made a name for himself in a fight all his own.

Young, already known as a tough desperado in the San Juans. was in Richard Hodge’s saloon in Red Mountain City in late July 1897 when he became entangled in a quarrel with Henry Peartree, a barber, and William Skelton, a miner.

Accounts in the July 22 edition of the Ouray Herald that year don’t give d...