OURAY COUNTY

September 6, 1973 – Ouray’s new swimming pool bathhouse is underway, in some of the most beautiful weather (dare we say it) of the entire year. The sad old bathhouse was brought crashing down, into what seemed a pitifully small pile of rubble early Wednesday morning. There was little fanfare, but a few old-timers were among several on hand to watch, and to reminisce about having helped build the first bathhouse in 1929.

The same one that was just demolished to make way for the badly needed new one. Roland Hinkson had volunteered to donate his labor and his equipment to demolish the old bathhouse. That offer was accepted with considerable alacrity by the city council. Hinkson had it down in minutes and ran the heavy machine over the rubble until it was broken into bits maneuverable for the city loader, operated by Tom Workman.

40 YEARS AGO

September 8, 1983 – The chances for a new fair barn at the Ouray County Fairgrounds seem brighter thanks to the generosity of Ralph Lauren of the Double RL Ranch and several buyers at the fat stock sale this past weekend. Plans were made last spring by Larry Bovard, Larry Coulter and several others to build a 40-foot by 63-foot pole frame building with metal sides and roof. The building would include new stalls, a 15-foot concrete wash rack at the back, and a covered arena. With funding promised by several sources, the plans were enlarged to include a 28-foot by 24-foot meeting room and indoor restrooms. Everything was set to go with construction scheduled to start in June. Then some of the funding fell through and Ouray County seemed destined to do without a new fair barn.

Things got much brighter over the Labor Day weekend when Ralph Walchle of the Walchle Cattle Company purchased Gretchen Hughes’ 123-pound market lamb for $2.25 per pound and turned it back for resale with the $276.75 going to the fair barn building fund.

30 YEARS AGO

September 9, 1993 – As Ouray County sticks its big toe in the pool of affordable housing problems, many other resort communities in the state have already waded in over their heads. Pitkin County (Aspen), Eagle County (Vail), and neighboring San Juan County (Telluride) have all experienced the dilemma for years.

With varying degrees of success, they have tried to throw a life ring around their cities’ workforces to allow them the opportunity to afford housing in the communities where they work and keep their heads above the rising tide of land prices. Aspen, one of the earliest of Colorado’s resort towns to experience massive growth and the coinciding increase in the cost of land, has worked on the problem since 1978, according to Jim Curtis of the Aspen Housing Authority. Solutions have not been easy to find. Part of the problem stems from a slow community realization that the problem even existed, according to Curtis.

20 YEARS AGO

September 12, 2003 – Rain and snow in the higher elevations this week has made traveling on Ouray County’s highways and county roads soggy and in some areas, dangerous. On Tuesday, Ouray received more than 2 inches of rain in a 12-hour period and several inches of snow in the high country. Local weather spotter Ron Trujillo reported significant snowfall at elevations above 9,500 feet. Imogene Pass, at 13,114 feet, received 12-18 inches of snow by Wednesday afternoon, according to estimates of those searching the area for a couple reported missing in a fourwheel drive vehicle; drifts were up to three feet. Elsewhere, rain, sleet and snow on Tuesday and Wednesday caused hazardous conditions but were not enough to close Red Mountain Pass. The weather also caused more mudslides just north of Ouray over County Road 17, the same area that was blocked by mud two weeks ago.

10 YEARS AGO

September 12, 2013 – While the Cascade Falls Lodge still has vacancies, the property’s new owner is already looking to get rid of the hotel. Having gone to the auction block on Aug. 28, the Cascade Falls Lodge was purchased by the First State Bank of Hotchkiss for $593,000. The bank foreclosed on the hotel’s previous owners, Sandra and Ted Messier, in April this year. The Messiers owned the business for 10 years before being evicted in April. Sandra said that when the economy shifted, business started going down.

The final straw that “killed” the hotel was when the 2012 Fourth of July fireworks were canceled, she said. “We lost a bunch of people over that week and we just knew we weren’t going to catch up again,” she said. The couple originally tried to sell the property on their own for nearly a year, though they only used signage and did not advertise.