Ouray - Colorado
Posted by: 
94RedRover
N 38° 01.565 W 107° 40.352
13S E 265421 N 4212080
Ouray bills itself as the "Switzerland of America" because of its setting at the narrow head of a valley, enclosed on three and a half sides by the San Juan Mountain range.
Waymark Code: WM5PV8
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 01/31/2009
Views: 19
For centuries, the Tabeguache Ute hunted the abundant forest game and soaked in what they called “sacred miracle waters”. Even they knew the therapeutic benefits of the hot springs under Ouray. The original name of the town was “Uncompahgre”, the Ute word for “hot water springs”. In 1873, Chief Ouray ceded these ancestral lands to the US Government, and the town's named was changed to Ouray in his honor.
It was the miners, searching the laden hills for silver and gold that made Ouray a booming mining town. Many of the high-country trails we road on were actually routes that the miners developed over a hundred years ago. The century-old ghost towns of Sneffels, Red Mountain Town, Animas Forks, and Mineral Point, as well as abandoned mines along the way, are undeniable evidence of this area’s roots.
OURAY, 37m. (7,800 alt., 707 pop.), seat of Ouray County, named for the great Ute chief, lies pocketed in a pear-shaped valley, with WHITE HOUSE MOUNTAIN (13,493 alt) on the west, HAYDEN MOUNTAIN (13,100 alt.) on the south, and CASCADE MOUNTAIN (12,100 alt.) to the northwest...
Ouray was founded in 1875 when rich silver lodes were discovered in the surrounding hills, and was incorporated two years later.
Colorado: A Guide to the Highest State