Ouray County

Ouray courthouse 1901The town of Ouray was named after the Ute Chief Ouray, who worked for years to find a peaceful resolution to the escalating conflicts that were occurring as more and more white people poured into the region in the 1860's and 1870's. Prospector's first arrived in the Ouray area in 1861.

Ouray County was founded in 1877 when it was carved out of Hinsdale and San Juan Counties. It was the first county created under the statehood of Colorado. It covers 542 square miles and has an estimated population of 3,742. The county seat, also named Ouray, was incorporated in 1876 and has a year round population of a little over 800 (2020 census). Ridgway is the only other still incorporated town with a year round population of 1,183 in 2020. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries mining was the chief beaumont hotel, ouray coloradoindustry. Today, although there is still some mining, the chief industry is tourism.

It is little wonder tourists are attracted to this area, with the San Juan range, known as the "shining mountains" to the Ute Indians, the youngset and most rugged of the Colorado Rockies covering the southern part of the county. The county has the 28th (Mount Sneffels, 14,150 ft) and 48th (Wetterhorn Peak 14,015 ft.) highest peaks of Colorado's 14ners Club. Not to mention another ten 13,000 feet or higher mountains within the county borders.

 

Letters of Ayn Rand:

(Ouray is the town which Ayn Rand used as a model for the utopian city of Galt's Gulch in her book Atlas Shrugged.)

". . .Speaking of Atlas Shrugged, I was amused (benevolently) to hear that you chose Ouray as your favorite spot in Colorado. That is the little town I had picked for Galt's Gulch. To be exact, I marked it on a map as the right location long before I saw it. Then, when I went to Colorado for research purposes and discovered Ouray, I fell in love with it. It is the most beautifully dramatic spot in the whole state, and it's even surrounded by a ring of mountains."

This page was last updated