Author - News

Columns, Feature

Chimney Rock stands as sentinel in smoke

If you look east from Ridgway, the view of the Cimarron Range is usually a masterpiece of sharp, clear angles. At the center of it all stands the unmi...

July 15, 2026

Columns, Feature

Anniversaries a reminder of power of this place

The "power of place" is the theory that physical locations shape our lives, identities and ultimate destinies. This concept suggests that a geographic...

June 17, 2026

Columns, Opinion

War to peace: rebranding the San Juans

For decades, the San Juans were valued primarily for what could be pulled out of them. These mountains were a brutal, dangerous locale defined by the ...

May 13, 2026

Columns, Feature

A valley of broken promises and bitter water

For anyone driving the lonely stretch of Colorado Highway 141 through the West End of Montrose County, the sign for “Disappointment Valley” usually pr...

April 8, 2026

Columns, Opinion

Wyatt Earp’s brief, quiet chapter in the San Juans

Wyatt Earp wasn’t born a legend. He was an opportunist, a man with a keen eye for the next horizon and a knack for finding — or perhaps stirring up — ...

March 11, 2026

News

Crews working to fill 1950s-era well along U.S. 550

Reclamation part of orphaned and abandoned well program

By Chart Riggall

September 4, 2026

It’s not what you think. A towering steel drill rig that’s been perched along the side of U.S. Highway 550 in recent weeks isn’t probing for gas, or oil, or even a route to the Far East. The operation...

Main, News...

Trump declares disaster for Gold Mountain, Aspen Acres fires

By Chart Riggall

September 4, 2026

President Donald Trump has signed off on a major disaster declaration for the Gold Mountain and Aspen Acres fires that unlocks millions of dollars in Federal Emergency Management Agency relief funds f...

Main, News...

Hickenlooper hopeful for fire disaster order

Senator tours flood-damaged areas, surveys planned fire mitigation efforts

By By Chart Riggall chart@ouraynews.com

September 2, 2026

U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper said Friday he was optimistic the Trump administration will declare the Gold Mountain Fire a federal disaster, arguing Congress “wouldn’t settle for” the White House withho...

Main, News...

County employees remain on paid leave

EMS paramedic, deputy emergency manager sent home days after fire started

By By James Hanlon james@ouraynews.com

September 2, 2026

Ouray County has had two emergency-related employees on paid administrative leave since the early days of the Gold Mountain Fire. A third employee, Road and Bridge Superintendent Ty Barger, was placed...

News

Businesses share struggles with senator

'You guys are in crisis,' Hickenlooper tells proprietors wrestling with aftermath of Gold Mountain Fire

By Mike Wiggins mike@ouraynews.com

September 2, 2026

Ouray County business owners bent the ear of U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper on Friday, sharing stories of declining profits and mass cancellations in the wake of the Gold Mountain Fire in the hopes the D...

Carolyn Snowbarger

Remote-triggered avalanche in San Juan Mountains

First responders receive first COVID-19 vaccines