19th October Grand Junction to Silverton

19^th October.

Had quick walk round Grand Junction, it were closed.  We didn’t miss a lot by not getting here on time. 

Back on the coach and “take to the hills”.  The drive to Silverton was spectacular, mountains looming in the background all the way.  We stopped for coffee at Ouray, named after a Ute Indian chief, the Wild West preserved but not just for tourists, fabulous buildings, businesses and the bank was just as you would imagine it would have been in the 19^th century.  When we went in they were still using a typewriter,’ hey how quaint is that?’

Then onto Silverton with a stop at Red Rock on the way to see the old mine workings, my god how much more exciting can it get I hear you say!!  A few interesting facts about Silverton.  Its name is a corruption of Silver by the ton.  They mined millions of tons of silver in this town in 19^th and early 20^th century.  At its peak it had a population of 5000, mainly male although 1500 prostitutes were also in residence, they were known as the ‘soiled doves’ a term which seems to have a real pathos about it.   High in the San Juan Mountains, Silvertons streets are lined with buildings that look as though they were plucked from an old John Wayne western film.

We boarded the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad at 2.15; it came straight in through the middle of the town, no station.  The trip to Durango took 3.5 hours and the train travelled slowly & at times precariously, along the 45 mile trip, through the canyons and remote wilderness of the San Juan National Forest, following the Animas river.   We arrived in Durango and checked in to the Doubletree Hotel before dining with a few of our group at the Strater Hotel, a typical Wild West hotel.

 

Western Hotel at Ouray

 

Silverton