by Sue Hirshman
with Kent Nelson

Every turn out-of-doors becomes
  full of delight and surprises
     about birds.
   —Birds in the Bush

by Dalton Carver
dalton@ouraynews.com

Inspired by the reemergence of history at Blue Mesa Reservoir in Gunnison County, the Plaindealer was interested to know what may sleep beneath the pool of our local water reserve, Ridgway Reservoir. This story, focusing on the history of the reservoir and dam, is the second of three that will revisit the reservoir’s impact and history on Ouray County.

by Sue Hirshman
with Kent Nelson

Living on the tundra makes them
 Optimistic little creatures
 Living the gospel of,
 “Come storm or sunshine all is well”
       --From Birds of America—

by Sue Hirshman
with Kent Nelson

 Miracles come in
 Small Packages
 —Anonymous

Old Mine, New Tricks

Prospecting for Innovation at the Idarado Mine

Part 10 in “The Mine Next Door” Series

by Samantha Tisdel Wright

The mining camps of the San Juans were the innovation boot camps of the late 1800s – the Silicon Valley of their time. The mountains, and the mines, were full of challenges looking for solutions.

Like Water for Power
Building Bridges (and Pipelines) at Bridal Veil Falls

Part 9 in The Mine Next Door series

by Samantha Tisdel Wright

A Legacy of Land
… And Other Perks of Having a Mining Giant in Your Back Yard

Part 8 in “The Mine Next Door” Series

by Samantha Tisdel Wright

Just past a tight S-curve at mile post 82 on Red Mountain Pass – up above Idarado’s old company houses – there’s a little hill that the Idarado Mine blasted flat for a scenic overlook.

Windows in Time
Historic Preservation at the Idarado Mine

Part 7 in The Mine Next Door series

By Samantha Tisdel Wright

Master carpenter Loren Lew balanced on the steep, ramshackle roof of the old Lewis Mill, chainsaw in hand, on a summer morning in 2002. His mission: to stabilize this marmot high-rise at the head of Bridal Veil Basin, even as it was falling apart in slow motion all around him.

Grass on Gray Mountain

Adventures in Tailings Remediation

by Samantha Tisdel Wright

Every workday morning back in the 1970s, Joe Smart would kiss his wife and little son goodbye, step out into the bracing dawn, and tune his ear to the rhythm of the Pandora Mill, a mile and a half up the valley from his company house in Telluride.

A Tale of Two Watersheds

by Samantha Tisdel Wright

Deep inside the guts of the San Juan Mountains, thousands of feet beneath the ragged ridge line that parts the mighty San Miguel and Uncompahgre river watersheds, two headlamps bobbed along like buoys in an inky sea – Alfred Berry in front, George Cappis right behind him – on the abandoned 2000 level of the Idarado Mine.