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It's believed that the Ute Indians settled in this area in the 14th Century.
The first expedition into the San Juan area was led by Don Juan Maria de Rivera, a spaniard from Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1765. The first Anglo-Saxons in the region was Captain Charles Baker and his party in the 1860's.
Many members of Baker's Party either froze to death from the bitter winters or were killed, including Baker, by the Ute Indians.
The Civil War brought and end to prospecting in the San Juans until 1871.
The San Juan mountains have the most rugged terrain and harshest winters in the Colorado Rockies. Jagged peaks, deep canyons, and sheer rock walls made it hard for those who tried to live in this inhospitable environment. In fact, during the early mining days most prospectors left their claims and headed for better climate...only returning to the San Juans for the short summer months.
Snowslides are the most dreaded of catastrophes in the San Juans. They continue to take their toll in human life even today. It's said that snowslides are more numerous here than anywhere in Colorado.
One observer said, "Its thunderous noise first attracts one's attention and then you see the mass of snow gathering underlying rocks and uprooted trees, amid a quickly gathering mist of snow particles driven fiercely by the whilwind in the rear. The rushing mass will not stop at the bottom of the slope, but its momentum will carry it some distance up the opposite side while all the forest trembles and the air is darkened with a snowy mist."
The land in the San Juan Triangle was owned by the Ute Indians and many fights ensured between indians and whites. The Brunot Treaty in 1874 forced the indians to give up their land and thereby legalized the miners rights to claim.
Later the great Chief Ouray befriended the white man and served as a go-between to settle disputes between indians and whites.
Transportation was the life-line of the area. Without roads and rails little of the precious ore could be moved from the mines to the smelters. Nor could supplies be shipped in for those trying to live in this remote region.
Otto Mears, titled the "Pathfinder of the San Juans", was responsible for building the much needed wagon roads and rail lines to the mines camps and towns in the triangle.
For personal transportation miners used what they called Norwegian snowshoes. They were actually broad skis 10 to 12 feet in length. Mules and burros, with bags of ore and supplies straped to their backs, were used as transports from and to the mining camps before the Mears' wagon toll roads were built.
One of the most prosperous areas in the region was the Red Mountain District located between Silverton and Ouray. The Denver Times called it "...the mecca for all who were allured into the San Juans by the fickle goddess of fortune." This included the towns of Ironton, Guston and Red Mountain Town...all of which only few foundations and scattered debris remain.
A miner's life was harsh in the San Juans. Most worked 12 hour shifts, 6 to 7 days a week. Ventilation was poor in the mines and many were maimed or killed by falling rock, Pneumonia was common...all this for $5 a day in wages.
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