50 YEARS AGO May 24, 1973 - The Plaindealer has obtained reports of the amount of snowfall this winter from the Camp Bird Mine. At the Camp Bird, snow this year measured 404 inches, which is 80 to 90 ...

Spring finally showed up this merry month of May, bringing some of the changeable weather normally associated with March and April. A months-old pattern of below-normal temperatures continues, with Ma...

50 YEARS AGO May 17, 1973 - Editorial: Ma Bell’s gone around the bend again, to the point where there’s no living with her. The decline has become too severe. Every week there’s a new aberration. A fe...

50 YEARS AGO May 10, 1973 - Postal Service Week was commemorated at the Ouray Post Office this past week by honoring a uniquely outstanding postal customer: Dora S. Merling, who has used the Postal Se...

As you’re making your summer plans, don’t forget Creede. Located on Colorado’s Silver Thread, Highway 149, it’s a place where you can still see into the past. The Utes knew this land well. They had hu...

It seems the only constant is change, doesn't it? We're about to have some of that here at the Plaindealer I wanted to let you know about. I'll warn you, it's bittersweet news. Liz Teitz, who has repo...

50 YEARS AGO May 3, 1973 - Bob Larson, an engineer at Idarado Mining Company in Ouray, was injured Tuesday when an estimated five tons of rock fell on and around him. Larson was working in the 2254 st...

Winter 2022-23 slammed much of Colorado’s Western Slope with a remarkable five months (out of seven, so far) of below normal temperatures. A bonus of monotonous gray days, plentiful snow, and bountifu...

Why are you spending time on this? Why is this a story? Why don’t you write about something "more positive?" It’s not unusual for journalists to field these questions, even among ourselves. We regula...

50 YEARS AGO April 12, 1973 - Greatly to her surprise, Miss Emma Lou Wilder, indefatigable secretary of the Ouray County Chamber of Commerce, was named Distinguished Citizen of the Year by Ouray Elks ...

50 YEARS AGO March 29, 1973 - A wrecker towing a car went out of control last Saturday night and tore out the bridge that crosses Skyrocket Creek just north of Ouray. The wrecker, a 1957 International...

“WOMAN FREE. Man Is Convicted of Manslaughter” was the lead story in the Silverton Standard on Sept. 28, 1912. The Dallavalles immigrated to southwest Colorado from Austria in the early years of the 2...

Dear Editor: My wife and I have owned a home in Ridgway since 2004. We occupy our home approximately four to five months a year. The remainder of the year is spent at our home in Tampa. We rent the Ri...

Dear Editor: A thank you to the Ouray City Council for not voting themselves raises. And I know that they do spend many unseen hours outside of the council meetings working for the citizens of Ouray. ...

A date to keep in mind during these fierce, late winter snowstorms is March 20, the first day of astronomical spring, the vernal equinox. An even closer date, March 1, ushers in climatological spring....

What do banks in Denver, Telluride and Delta have in common? Tom McCarty robbed them in the late 1800s. Tom was the oldest child of Dr. Alex McCarty and his wife, Mary. The family of six started out i...

50 YEARS AGO February 1, 1973 - The fits and starts of the Dallas Project (Ridgway dam) have come to a screeching halt, for the moment at least. There is no money in President Nixon’s budget, even pla...

It’s a welcome relief to see the daylight getting longer and brighter. January’s first 24 days were mostly gray and cold: eight cloudy, seven mostly cloudy, four partly cloudy. Three days were mostly ...

The glow of the holidays has worn off and the gray of winter has settled in, which means it’s the perfect time for a little pickme- up. It’s time for our 2023 Best of Ouray County readers’ choice comp...

Fort Uncompahgre was THE place on the Western Slope from 1828 until 1844. Like many “forts” in the West, including Bent’s Fort in southeastern Colorado, this wasn’t a military installation. It was a t...