San Juan Skyway Scenic Byway
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San Juan Skyway Scenic Byway
The San Juan Skyway Scenic and Historic Byway is a All-American Road, National Forest Scenic Byway, and Colorado Scenic and Historic Byway located in Dolores, La Plata, Montezuma, San Juan, and San Miguel counties, Colorado, USA. The byway forms a loop in southwestern Colorado traversing the heart of the San Juan Mountains. The San Juan Skyway reaches its zenith at Red Mountain Pass at elevation . Mesa Verde National Park was one of the original UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Silverton Historic District and the Telluride Historic District are National Historic Landmarks. It roughly parallels the routes of the narrow gauge railways: Rio Grande Southern (US 160, SH 145 and SH 62); and the unconnected Ouray and Silverton Branches of the Denver & Rio Grande along US 550 with the Silverton Railroad bridging a part of the gap. Its origin can be traced to the Around the Circle Route promoted by the D&RG. The San Juan Skyway overlaps with the Trail of the A ...
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UNESCO World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, scientific or other form of significance. The sites are judged to contain " cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity". To be selected, a World Heritage Site must be a somehow unique landmark which is geographically and historically identifiable and has special cultural or physical significance. For example, World Heritage Sites might be ancient ruins or historical structures, buildings, cities, deserts, forests, islands, lakes, monuments, mountains, or wilderness areas. A World Heritage Site may signify a remarkable accomplishment of humanity, and serve as evidence of our intellectual history on the planet, or it might be a place of great natural beauty. A ...
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Placerville, Colorado
Placerville is a census-designated place (CDP) and post office in and governed by San Miguel County, Colorado, United States. The Placerville post office has the ZIP Code 81430 ( post office boxes). At the United States Census 2010, the population of the 81430 ZIP Code Tabulation Area was 727 including adjacent areas. History Placerville was originally established as a small mining camp, named after the placer gold mines located on the San Miguel River and Leopard Creek. The location became known as Old Placerville after the Rio Grande Southern Railroad constructed a depot and several passing sidings west of the original settlement, calling it Placerville. A. B. Frenzel discovered vanadium-bearing sandstone near Placerville in the late 1890s. The ore was in strataform bodies in the Entrada Sandstone (Jurassic) east of the town. The principal mineral was roscoelite, with minor montroseite and carnotite. By the fall of 1899, development was described as "of the most sup ...
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Unaweep Tabeguache Scenic Byway
The Unaweep Tabeguache Scenic Byway is a Colorado Scenic and Historic Byway located in Mesa, Montrose, and San Miguel counties, Colorado, USA. The byway explores the Colorado Plateau canyon country of far western Colorado. The Unaweep Tabeguache Scenic Byway connects with the San Juan Skyway Scenic and Historic Byway at Placerville. Route Gallery See also *History Colorado *List of scenic byways in Colorado *Scenic byways in the United States Many roads and highways in the United States are labeled scenic byways for having exceptional scenic, historical, archaeological, natural, cultural, or recreational significance. These scenic routes are usually formally designated by national, stat ... Notes References External links America's Scenic Byways: ColoradoColorado Department of Transportation


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Alpine Loop Back Country Byway
The Alpine Loop Back Country Byway is a rugged Back Country Byway and Colorado Scenic and Historic Byway located in the high San Juan Mountains of Hindale, Ouray, and San Juan counties, Colorado, USA. The byway connects the mountain towns of Lake City, Ouray, and Silverton. The route ranges in elevation from (a mere) in Ouray to at Engineer Pass. The byway features high mountain passes, alpine tundra, beautiful mountain meadows, ghost towns, and relics of the silver mining era. While the meadows and tundra are accessible to ordinary passenger vehicles, a high-clearance 4-wheel drive vehicle is required to travel the entire route. The Silverton Historic District and the Shenandoah-Dives (Mayflower) Mill are National Historic Landmarks. The Alpine Loop connects with the San Juan Skyway Scenic and Historic Byway at Ouray and Silverton. __TOC__ Route The Alpine Loop is generally considered to begin and end at Lake City. From there the route commonly follo ...
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Tracks Across Borders Scenic And Historic Byway
The Tracks Across Borders Scenic and Historic Byway is an Colorado Scenic and Historic Byway located in La Plata and Archuleta counties, Colorado, USA. From Durango, Colorado, the southern terminal of the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, a National Historic Landmark, the byway follows the roadbed of the historic narrow-gauge Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad through the Southern Ute Indian Reservation to the New Mexico state line. At the state line, the byway connects with the Narrow-Gauge Scenic Byway which continues on through the Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation to Dulce, New Mexico. New Mexico plans to continue the byway on to Chama, New Mexico, the southern terminal of the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, another National Historic Landmark, reconnecting the historic railway between Antonito, Colorado and Silverton, Colorado. The byway connects to the San Juan Skyway Scenic and Historic Byway at Durango. Route Gallery See also *Histor ...
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Colorado State Highway 184
State Highway 184 (SH 184) is a long state highway in the southwestern corner of Colorado. SH 184's western terminus is at U.S. Route 491 (US 491) near Lewis, and the eastern terminus is at U.S. Route 160 Business (US 160 Bus.) in Mancos. Route description SH 184 begins in the west at its junction with US 491 near Lewis and travels ESE to Mancos. The highway has a one mile (1.6 km) overlap with SH 145 just south of Dolores which is not technically part of SH 184 making the actual driving distance from Lewis to Mancos just over . It also intersects US 160 near Mancos, near its eastern terminus at US 160 Bus. History The route was established in 1939, when it connected US 160 at Arriola to Mancos Mancos is a statutory town in Montezuma County, Colorado, United States. The population was 1,196 at the 2020 census, down from 1,336 in 2010. The town is in southwestern Colorado, at the base of Mesa Verde National Park, and holds the trademar .... Most of the route ...
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Colorado State Highway 145
State Highway 145 (SH 145) is a state highway in western Colorado. It runs for between U.S. Route 160 (US 160) in Cortez and SH 141 near Naturita. Route description The route begins in the south at its intersection with US 160 in the eastern portion of the city of Cortez. The route winds northward through the towns of Dolores, Rico, Sawpit, Placerville, Norwood, and Redvale before terminating at the junction with SH 141 about east of Naturita. Just north of its midpoint between Rico and Sawpit, the road also passes very near and provides access to the town of Telluride as well as Trout Lake. History On May 24, 2019, a large boulder fell onto a section of SH-145 near Dolores Dolores, Spanish for "pain; grief", most commonly refers to: * Our Lady of Sorrows or La Virgen María de los Dolores * Dolores (given name) Dolores may also refer to: Film * ''Dolores'' (2017 film), an American documentary by Peter Bratt * ' ... and covered the roadw ...
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Trail Of The Ancients Scenic And Historic Byway
A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. The term is also applied in North America to routes along rivers, and sometimes to highways. In the US, the term was historically used for a route into or through wild territory used by explorers and migrants (e.g. the Oregon Trail). In the United States, "trace" is a synonym for trail, as in Natchez Trace. Some trails are dedicated only for walking, cycling, horse riding, snowshoeing or cross-country skiing, but not more than one use; others, as in the case of a bridleway in the UK, are multi-use and can be used by walkers, cyclists and equestrians alike. There are also unpaved trails used by dirt bikes and other off-road vehicles, and in some places, like the Alps, trails are used for moving cattle and other livestock. Usage In Au ...
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Silverton Railroad
The Silverton Railroad, now defunct, was an American narrow gauge railroad constructed between Silverton, Colorado and mining districts near Red Mountain Pass, Colorado. The Silverton Railroad is remembered for the innovative solutions to difficult engineering problems presented by the steep, mountainous terrain which were devised by the railroad's chief locating engineer, Charles Wingate Gibbs – the Chattanooga Loop, the depot in a wye at Red Mountain, and a covered turntable on the main track at Corkscrew Gulch – and for the unusual and expensive annual passes presented by the owner, Otto Mears. *Chattanooga Loop – Gibbs achieved a 550-foot rise in the line over a quarter-mile straight-line distance by a detour from Mineral Creek up Mill Creek gulch, with in a 30-degree (194-foot radius) curve looping 200 degrees at the end, and returning to Mineral Creeek, all on a 5-percent grade. *Red Mountain Wye – extremely limited level space and hard rock at Red Mountain ...
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Denver & Rio Grande
The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad , often shortened to ''Rio Grande'', D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a narrow-gauge line running south from Denver, Colorado, in 1870. It served mainly as a transcontinental bridge line between Denver, and Salt Lake City, Utah. The Rio Grande was also a major origin of coal and mineral traffic. The Rio Grande was the epitome of mountain railroading, with a motto of ''Through the Rockies, not around them'' and later ''Main line through the Rockies'', both referring to the Rocky Mountains. The D&RGW operated the highest mainline rail line in the United States, over the Tennessee Pass in Colorado, and the famed routes through the Moffat Tunnel and the Royal Gorge. At its height, in 1889, the D&RGW had the largest narrow-gauge railroad network in North America with of track interconnecting the states of Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. Known for ...
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Rio Grande Southern
The Rio Grande Southern Railroad (reporting mark RGS, also referred to as "The Southern") was a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge railroad which ran in the southwestern region of the US state of Colorado, from the towns of Durango to Ridgway, routed via Lizard Head Pass. Built by Russian immigrant and Colorado toll road builder Otto Mears, the RGS operated from 1891 through 1951 and was built with the intent to transport immense amounts of silver mineral traffic that were being produced by the mining communities of Rico and Telluride. On both ends of the railroad, there were interchanges with The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad (reporting mark D&RG(W), later known as the Denver and Rio Grande Western), which would ship the traffic the RGS hauled elsewhere like the San Juan Smelter in Durango. For the first few years of its life, the RGS would have fallen under the definition of a "Bonanza Railroad" which meant it was an instant success, quickly generating more than enough m ...
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