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| Mesa Verde National Park |
Courtesy, Bud Rath
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San Juan Skyway
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Segment 1: Introduction
Standards-Based Themes: Check chart
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Summary
The San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado cover an area of over 12,000 square miles. Described by many as a mountain “paradise,” the region is made accessible to residents and visitors by the San Juan Skyway, a 236-mile stretch of highway that has been called the most scenic drive in America. In addition to their magnificent beauty the San Juan Mountains also encompass a tremendous amount of history. Traveling the San Juan Skyway is a journey through time. |
| In the 1870s word spread throughout the nation that fortunes were to be made in the San Juan Mountains. Camps became filled with people lured by gold and silver, and towns grew up almost overnight. Hoping to get rich with the turn of a shovel, the miners had arrived in the San Juan Mountains. |
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Finding gold or silver is one thing, transporting it from sites located 12-13 thousand feet high in the mountains is another. In 1874, a Russian immigrant named Otto Mears sought his fortune by constructing a series of toll roads throughout the region. His greatest challenge was an eight-mile stretch along the Uncompaghre Gorge between the towns of Ouray and Silverton. In 1884 Mears and his crew completed the road that, even today, is thought to be an engineering triumph. Because of Mears' ingenuity and the sacrifices and hard work of the road builders, arteries of commerce were opened and the San Juan Mountains became one of the richest mining regions in the United States.
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| The history of the San Juan Mountains is also the history of a group of indigenous people known as the Utes. While the early-day miners came to the area with an intent to conquer, the Ute people had always sought to live in harmony with the area. With the arrival of miners and settlers, the Utes entered a period of extreme hardship. Thought to be in the way of progress and viewed by many of the miners and settlers as savages, the Utes were targeted for removal from their ancestral homelands. In 1868, Ouray, Chief of the Utes, negotiated a treaty with the U.S. government in which the Ute people were granted all lands in the western third of Colorado. Five years following the treaty, Chief Ouray, pressured by the U.S. government, ceded more land. The settlers, however, wanted all of the Ute lands and looked for any excuse to push the Utes out once and for all. In September 1878, a group of Ute warriors angry at having been forced to live on reservation land in northern Colorado, killed their oppressive Indian agent Nathan Meeker. The Indian agent's death was the catalyst for the permanent removal of the Utes from Colorado. In 1881, the Utes signed a treaty permanently removing them from Colorado. While a few Ute people were able to maintain land in extreme southern Colorado, most were removed to reservation lands in the Utah desert. |
| The Red Mountain Mining District was the site
of the region’s most prosperous silver mines. It was also the
location of the town of Silverton, today the oldest continuous settlement
in the San Juan Mountains, and Ironton, now a ghost town. Ironton,
once home to more than 300 people and possessing schools, a post
office, general stores, and numerous saloons, relied solely on silver
mining for its economic well-being. When the price of silver collapsed
in 1893, Ironton lost its economic base and hardships ensued. By
1910 only 40 people remained in Ironton. Gradually the town, with
the exception of the skeletons of a few buildings, faded from existence.
Silverton, on the other hand, had created a diversified economy.
Besides the silver industry, Silverton had railroads and was home
of the county government. When the price of silver crashed, Silverton,
although greatly affected, was able to survive because it had created
a variety of economic activities. |
| In the late 1800s, gold mining resulted in prosperity for the town of Telluride. Known as “the golden gem of the silvery San Juans,” Telluride was also the site of a series of tragic labor disputes. Underground mining was a dangerous and physically demanding occupation. Gravestones in and around Telluride attest to the hardships of life underground. In May 1901, union miners at the Smuggler mine, hoping for better working conditions and a pay increase, went on strike demanding $3 a day for an eight-hour shift. The mine owners refused and hired non-union workers at a salary of $3 for an eight-hour shift. On July 3, 1901, 250 strikers converged on the Smuggler mine to confront the non-union workers. Company guards opened fire on the union miners, killing three. Again in September 1903, miners went on strike. On behalf of mine owners, the governor of Colorado declared martial law and brought in the Colorado National Guard. Striking miners were rounded up and deported out of the region, causing many to question if "Colorado is in the United States." |
| In the southwest region of the San Juans, where mountains give way to canyons, are the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde. These dramatic remnants of a pre-Colombian civilization first came to the public's attention in 1888. Finding a market for relics and pottery that had laid untouched in the ruins for centuries, pottery collectors arrived to scour the area. Fearing destruction of the fragile environment and wanting to preserve the ruins for generations to come, Virginia McClurg, an east coast journalist, made it her life’s work to save Mesa Verde. In the early years of her effort, her pleas to protect Mesa Verde fell on deaf ears. However, she persisted in her struggle and in the early 1900s found an ally in President Theodore Roosevelt. In June 1906, the U.S. Congress officially designated Mesa Verde as a national park. Because of Virginia McClurg’s hope, vision, and tenacity, more than 700,000 people are able to visit and experience Mesa Verde each year. |
| Anyone who travels the San Juan Skyway cannot help but be impressed with its scenic beauty. Those who take time to learn the stories of the people who lived in and settled the San Juan Mountains, must also appreciate the hope, hardships, and human ingenuity that distinguish the history of the region. It is these stories that add special meaning to the beauty. It is these stories that the San Juan Skyway will keep alive forever. |
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