The San Juan Mountains are not just a mountain range; they are the jagged, breathtaking spine of southwestern Colorado. This is a land of untamed peaks, alpine meadows and sheer rock faces. Our mighty...

Orion Catron first ran because he really, really didn’t want to walk. As a freshman at Ridgway High School, he wasn’t connecting with classmates or pushing himself. “I think my parents recognized this...

Halfway through Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, at 12:22 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time, astronomical summer officially yielded to autumn. Seasonal change has been a nagging presence. It’s nearly dark by 7 p.m O...

Like many with remote positions, Leah Klempner and her husband explored the country through their travels. They made their way to Ouray in 2020 and immediately fell in love, returning each summer afte...

When it came to planning and building Ridgway’s brand-new Cimarron Athletic Field, my wife, Leslie T. Chang, and I had very little to contribute. We aren’t engineers or contractors, and neither of us ...

Our neighborhood reservoir, Ridgway State Park, has become a popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts. The park is a modern chapter in the long and rich history of the Uncompahgre Valley. It is a s...

A lot of things can change during a high school cross country season. The course layouts and elevation can vary widely across the unique terrains of Colorado. Competition evolves week to week, with sc...

This year's missing monsoon finally showed up the night of Aug. 22. By the next morning, Saturday, a much wetter, greener, cooler world greeted Ouray County residents and summer visitors. Interestingl...

The American West, including the Western Slope of Colorado, experienced significant population growth in the latter decades of the 19th century. “Boosterism” was one of the government strategies used ...

Ouray gardeners, like their counterparts across the Four Corners states, count on the Southwest Monsoon from July to September. In the city of Ouray it brings over 30% (7.31 inches) of our average ann...

I read with interest a summer reading list published earlier this year in the Philadelphia Inquirer, and made a note to check out Andy Weir's new book since I loved "The Martian." Here's the descripti...

Dear Readers, If you’re reading this message in the e-edition of the newspaper, great. That means you probably got your paper when you wanted to read it. If you’re reading this message in the printed ...

"Are you the newspaper? Are we gonna be in the paper?" These are questions I hear when people see me taking photos at parades. I usually shrug my shoulders and smile, because the truth is I don't know...

Why did thousands of people, most of whom had never even heard of Ouray, Ridgway or Colona, come to this remote part of Colorado? The history of Ouray County follows the familiar story of the American...

When does a mining camp truly become a town? It happens legally with official documents of incorporation. It occurs economically when businesses arrive to support the mining interests. Its culture beg...

When filmmaker Heather Courtney set out to make a film about rural America, she decided to do it through the lens of a local newspaper. She visited a small-town weekly in the Texas panhandle, the Cana...

For six lovely days, June 2-7, our San Juan earth was cool and wet. Local peaks regained their winter white. Ouray days averaged 65 degrees, 11 degrees below the new normal June average, 76. Nights av...

The Plaindealer just celebrated its 148th birthday. Personally, I don't think it looks a day over 99. Still, from time to time, we need to show the paper some love and spruce it up. That's why we've b...

The newspaper you’re reading is mailed to nearly 900 post office boxes and street addresses in more than 40 states every week and sent to more than 1,300 email addresses. Once in a while, a mailed new...

A longtime goal for the Ridgway High School girls’ soccer program was to make it to the second round of the state playoffs, travel to the Front Range to take on one of the top seeds and put up a compe...