Abrams Mountain, also known as Mount Abram or Mount Abrams, is a mountain summit located on the shared boundary of

Ouray County Ouray County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,874. The county seat is Ouray. Because of its rugged mountain topography, Ouray County is also known as the Switzerland of America. H ...

with San Juan County in southwest

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, United States.Robert L. Brown, ''Colorado on Foot'', 2002, Caxton Press, , page 293. It is situated four miles south of the town of Ouray, on land managed by

Uncompahgre National Forest Uncompahgre National Forest is a U.S. National Forest covering 955,229 acres (1,492.55 sq mi, or 3,865.68 km2) in (in descending order of land area) parts of Montrose, Mesa, San Miguel, Ouray, Gunnison, Hinsdale, San Juan, and Delta ...

. It is part of the San Juan Mountains, which are a subset of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

, and is west of the

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

. Topographic relief is significant as the north aspect rises above Uncompahgre Gorge in 1.5 mile. Historic mines are located on the slopes of Abrams Mountain. This iconic feature of the Ouray landscape can be seen for many miles while driving Highway 550 south from Montrose toward Ouray, and it dominates the

San Juan Skyway 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, ...

from Red Mountain Pass to Ironton Park.

Etymology

The mountain's name, which has been officially adopted by the

United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal governm ...

, was in use before 1906 when

Henry Gannett Henry Gannett (August 24, 1846 – November 5, 1914) was an American geographer who is described as the "father of mapmaking in America."Evans, Richard Tranter; Frye, Helen M. (2009).History of the Topographic Branch (Division) (PDF). ''U.S. Geo ...

published it in the ''Gazetteer of Colorado''.Henry Gannett, ''Gazetteer of Colorado'', 1906, US Government Printing Office, page 12. The name commemorates Abram Cutler (born November 2, 1832), the first judge of Ouray County and notary public who administered the oath to Ouray's original town board. Originally a civil engineer, he assisted Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden with the 1874 survey of this area, so the possibility exists that Hayden named the mountain to honor Cutler. The nearby Cutler Creek which is just north of Ouray was also named for Abram Cutler, and the Cutler Formation takes its name from the creek.

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Abrams Mountain is located in an alpine

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...

zone with long, cold, snowy winters, and cool to warm summers. Due to its altitude, it receives precipitation all year, as snow in winter, and as thunderstorms in summer, with a dry period in late spring. Precipitation

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

from the mountain drains into the

Uncompahgre River The Uncompahgre River is a tributary of the Gunnison River, approximately 75 mi (121 km) long, in southwestern Colorado in the United States. Lake Como at 12,215 ft (3723m) in northern San Juan County, in the Uncompahgre National ...

Gallery

File:Abrams Mountain.jpg, Abrams Mountain File:Abrams Mountain - US Highway 550.jpg, Abrams Mountain seen from southbound US Highway 550, approaching Ouray. File:Abrams Mountain - Colorado.jpg, Abrams Mountain seen from southbound US Highway 550, approaching Ouray. File:Abrams Mtn.jpg, Abrams from Uncompahgre Gorge File:Abrams Mountain SW.jpg, Southwest aspect from the

Million Dollar Highway U.S. Route 550 (US 550) is a spur of U.S. Highway 50 that runs from Bernalillo, New Mexico to Montrose, Colorado in the western United States. The section from Silverton to Ouray is frequently called the Million Dollar Highway.

File:Abrams Mountain winter.jpg, Southwest aspect of Abrams Mountain in winter File:Abrams Mountain at Cutler Creek.jpg, Abrams Mountain seen from Hwy 550 at Cutler Creek. Both the mountain and creek are named after Abram Cutler. File:Abrams Mountain, Million Dollar Highway.jpg, Abrams Mountain from the Million Dollar Highway File:Abrams Mountain from Odom Point.jpg, East aspect of Abrams Mountain (centered, shaded) viewed from Odom Point on

Engineer Mountain Engineer Mountain is a mountain summit located in San Juan County, Colorado, United States. It is part of the San Juan Mountains range which is a subset of the Rocky Mountains, and is west of the Continental Divide. Engineer Mountain is a pro ...

References

External links

* Weather forecast
Abrams Mountain
{{Mountains of Colorado Mountains of San Juan County, Colorado Mountains of Ouray County, Colorado San Juan Mountains (Colorado) Mountains of Colorado North American 3000 m summits Uncompahgre National Forest

Etymology

Climate

Gallery

See also

References

External links