In the 1880s the mines in the northern San Juan Mountains were thriving. People, equipment and supplies were heading up daily to those high-altitude camps, and the mines were sending tons of ore down ...

50 YEARS AGO April 5, 1973 - At a special meeting Monday night, the Ridgway School Board decided to reduce the teaching staff by two teachers and combine grades 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6, in order...

Goodbye La Niña, it’s been a heckuva ride! To be fair, she brought Ouray two normal snow years (178.4 inches in 2020-21, 149.9 inches so far in 2022-23) and one dry stinker (128.9 inches in 2021-22)....

50 YEARS AGO March 22, 1973 - Voting for rain, snow or sunshine could someday be as commonplace as electing a president, senator or mayor. Campaigns would be run by proponents and opponents of various...

Birds of all shapes and sizes Have special adaptations for living, For living in cold, frigid temperatures. – Tina Shaw, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service What a bitter cold winter we have had, especiall...

50 YEARS AGO March 15, 1973 - Editorial: The March 6th news story from the Montrose Daily Press is reprinted, page five, this week, not for sympathy but because some letters to the editor in this issu...

50 YEARS AGO March 8, 1973 - Police Blotter: Feb. 26— Terry Kishbaugh reported six boards broken out at the Ouray bathhouse. March 2—Al McCoy reported vandalism to the house west of the Episcopal Chur...

50 YEARS AGO March 1, 1973 - Personalities and tempers clashed a little last week throughout the Ridgway School District, but the boiling kettle appears to have been set back on simmer as regards one ...

50 YEARS AGO February 22, 1973 - Fire of undetermined origin totally demolished buildings and property valued at approximately $60,000 at the Camp Bird Mine, six miles south of Ouray Sunday night. Two...

The bird world offers many surprises — Anonymous A birding group led by Bill Harris was treated with a surprise at Elk Meadows on Jan. 28 when visiting Rebecca Kindred's home. They spotted many differ...

February 17, 1972 - Ouray’s first condominium units will be built this spring. Construction will begin soon on the Krisken Chalets, 36 condominium units, where the Elvan Marshall family formerly had E...

A bill currently before the Business Affairs and Labor committee in the Colorado House would provide tax credits directly to small businesses for advertising in local news and to taxpapers who subscri...

50 YEARS AGO March 9, 1972 — License plate sales in Ouray County during the first two months of this year show great increase over the same period a year ago, according to Clerk and Recorder Addie Sim...

Ridgway, our little mountain town, is known for many things – our San Juan Mountains, the home of the Grammy, and a vibrant art community. Our town’s history is equally broad – ranching, trains, and m...

Dolgio Nergui came to Colorado with a goal of becoming a ski bum, but she instead joined a community where she found a desire to help others in the outdoors. Dolgio is originally from Mongolia and cam...

50 YEARS AGO July 8, 1971 - It would cost $1 million, assuming today’s price estimates of $200,000 per mile, to rebuild the five-mile stretch of U.S. 550 from the swimming pool at Ouray on north to th...

“That dog hated me,” Ridgway’s Elizabeth Kirwin remembers, “but I was determined to make her love me because she had no place else to go.” The beginning of her passion for shelter work began with an a...

When we were on a book tour in New Zealand, we came across a country inn marquee advertising the “Best Muscles in the World,” green-lipped ones. We pulled in. Mussels (not muscles), beer and a band -w...

5O YEARS AGO August 20, 1970 - An intensive effort by Game, Fish and Parks personnel is currently underway in the San Juan Mountains to determine whether or not the "Great White Bear,'' found to be so...

I'm a retired horse trainer living in my beloved childhood home town of Ridgway. The national forests are my playground and every day is a holiday. I have a wonderful wife, Sandy, and I've got countle...