Telluride Colorado Mine Tour

2016 Mining History Association Tour

Walking Tour of Historic Telluride
Sponsor: Telluride Historical Museum
June 11, 2016

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The Walking Tour of Historic Telluride had to contend with a late afternoon rain storm; however the rain stopped in time for the MHAers to ride the gondola back to Mountain Village. Note the Mining History Association banner over Colorado Avenue.

The downtown core of Telluride has been designated a National Historic Landmark District. The Telluride Historical Museum is located in the Hall’s Hospital (ca 1896, AKA the Old Miners Hospital) building at the top of Fir St. The interior exhibits cover the district’s mining and electrical power history as well as many aspects of life in a mining town. A special exhibit, “Treasure Maps, Cartography of the American Southwest,“ opened at the time of the MHA conference. The maps on display included one by Emil Fischer.

Equipment exhibits outside the museum include mine cars, an Emico loader, a vertical boiler, a circular stamp mill, and two wooden headframes. A detailed gold stamp mill model is on display inside the museum. More examples of mining equipment are on display throughout the town including a tramway tower and bucket at the Gondola Station. The Galloping Goose, a narrow gauge, self-propelled rail car from the Rio Grande and Southern Railroad has been restored and is on display on Colorado Avenue.

(Above) The WFM Miners’ Union Hospital building (ca1902) at the corner of Pine Street and East Columbia Avenue, has been repurposed into apartments.

(Left) The view down East Galena Street includes many restored miners’ houses now converted to modern residences, and the far canyon wall with Ingram and Bridal Veil Falls and the switchbacks leading to the Black Bear Pass Road. The MHA Sunday tours visited this end of the valley.

Undaunted by a persistent drizzle, the MHA tour group pauses along Colorado Avenue in front of the drug store.

The First National Bank building (ca1892) constructed from red sandstone is one of the most substantial in Telluride.

A view to the west from the corner of Fir St. and Colorado Avenue. The New Sheridan Hotel (ca1895) is located mid-block. Most of the historic buildings in Telluride have been restored.

A view from the same point looking to the east. The repurposed buildings now cater to the skiers and tourists who flock to Telluride. A video by the Telluride Historical Museum tells more of the story of the National Historic Landmark District.