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It's hard to imagine that the bustling town of Telluride of today was once a lush valley used as a summer camp by Ute Indians before a mining boom drew fortune seekers to southwest Colorado in 1840. Back then, the verdant valley floor turned into a primitive tent colony on 25-foot lots – temporary homes for miners – as they sought to make a living extracting copper lead and zinc.
It seems like a romantic story from the past, but from 1870 to 1940, there was definitely "gold in them hills." Miners were a tough lot, not afraid of the hard and hazardous work that brought them there, but looking up at the snow-covered San Juan mountains, a few realized there was also some fun in those hills…with skiing. In 1937, an enterprising local ... |