SOUTHWEST ED-VENTURES 

Program Date: July 13 - 15, 2012

2 days/3 nights: Starting and Ending in Durango, CO
Group Size:  Minimum: 9 and Maximum: 18
Co-Sponsor: Ft. Lewis College Culture Quest
Expert Staff: Dr. Duane Smith 

Highlights

Join us to explore mine camps and towns in the San Juan Mountains, a high and rugged mountain range in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Colorado. The area is highly mineralized (the Colorado Mineral Belt) and figured in the gold and silver mining industry of early Colorado. Major towns, all old mining camps, include Creede, Lake City, Silverton, Ouray, and Telluride. Large scale mining has ended in the region, although independent prospectors still work claims throughout the range. The last large scale mines were the Sunnyside Mine near Silverton, which operated until late in the 20th century and the Idarado Mine on Red Mountain Pass that closed down in the 1970s. Famous old San Juan mines include the Camp Bird and Smuggler Union mines, both located between Telluride and Ouray.

One of the greatest problems of living and working in the gold and silver mines of the southern San Juan Mountains was getting supplies into the camps and towns and ore to the mills and smelters. In the mid-1860s, Otto Mears sought to remedy the transportation problems by beginning the construction of a series of toll roads between the various mining towns of southwestern Colorado. In all, Mears was responsible for the construction of at least 12 wagon roads. His greatest achievement, and a monument to human ingenuity, was building a stretch of road between Ouray and Silverton along the steep walls of the Uncompaghre Gorge. Known as the "Million Dollar Highway," this shelf road between Silverton and Ouray, was constructed 500 feet above the floor of the canyon and covered a length of eight miles. The road, which took three years to complete, was finished in 1884. The road provided yet another artery of commerce and greatly enhanced the economic development of the region and its people.

Program Features

   ¶ Enjoy spectacular mountain scenery and wildflowers

   ¶ Learn through exploration and outdoor experiential activities

   ¶ Visit unique mine sites, learn the mining history of the area 

   ¶ Retire each night to a motel with meals in restaurants plus picnic lunches

DAILY ITINERARY

Day 1- Friday July 13 Depart Durango at 9am by. Drive to Silverton Co for a walking tour featuring history of the business district, red light district, prominent individuals, importance of churches, smelters, fraternal lodges, women, geography, etc., role of mining and district, and the effect of weather on mining and towns. Also a lot of personal stories about people and the mining era.

Then drive to Ouray for a walking tour featuring history of the business district, red light district, prominent individuals, importance of churches, smelters, fraternal lodges, women, geography, etc., role of mining, and the effect of weather on mining and towns. Also a lot of personal stories about people and the mining era. Motel accommodations. L,D

Day 2: Saturday July 14 Drive to Lake City for a walking tour featuring history of the business district, red light district, prominent individuals, importance of churches, smelters, fraternal lodges, women, geography, etc., role of mining, and the effect of weather on mining and towns. Also a lot of personal stories about people and the mining era. Motel Accommodations. B,L,D

Day 3: Sunday July 15 Drive to Telluride for a walking tour featuring history of the business district, red light district, prominent individuals, importance of churches, smelters, fraternal lodges, women, geography, etc., role of mining, and the effect of weather on mining and towns. Also a lot of personal stories about people and the mining era. Then home via Rico, Dolores, and Cortez to Durango by 6pm. B,L

Activity Level: Requires fitness adequate for day hiking up to 2 miles round-trip, over high altitude terrain (10,000 feet), and readiness to enjoy a group experience.  

Cost:  $942 Costs include all food from lunch on Day 1 through Lunch Day 3, 1 expert staff, group equipment, transportation from Durango to Durango in a 15 passenger van, and supplies.  Personal items, sodas, and transportation to and from Durango are not included.  If you request a roommate every effort will be made to find you one. If no roommate is available you will be charged the single supplement fee. Single Supplement is $130.

Expert Staff

Duane Smith received his academic degrees from the University of Colorado and completed his Ph.D. in 1964. 
That year he began to teach at Fort Lewis College where he is a Professor of Southwest Studies. 
His areas of research and writing include Colorado history, Civil War history, mining history, urban history and baseball history. 
He is an extremely popular professor at Fort Lewis, and he is the author of over thirty books on a variety of subjects including Rocky Mountain Mining Camps: The Urban Frontier; A Colorado History; Horace Tabor: His Life and the Legend; Silver Saga: The Story of Caribou Colorado; Colorado Mining: A Photographic History; Fortunes Are for the Few: Letters of a Forty-niner; Rocky Mountain Boom Town: A History of Durango; A Land Alone: Colorado’s Western Slope; Song of the Hammer and Drill: The Colorado San Juans, 1860-1914; Mining America: The Industry and the Environment, 1800-1980; Mesa Verde National Park: Shadows of the Centuries; The Birth of Colorado: A Civil War Perspective; and Sacred Trust: The Birth and Development of Fort Lewis College.