San Juan Mountains

The San Juan Mountains is a high and rugged mountain range in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. 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.

San Juan Mountains
Uncompahgre Peak
Highest point
PeakUncompahgre Peak
Elevation14,309 ft (4,361 m)
ListingMountain ranges of Colorado
Coordinates38°04′18″N 107°27′14″W
Geography
San Juan Mountains is located in Colorado
San Juan Mountains
San Juan Mountains
CountryUnited States
StateColorado, New Mexico
Parent rangeRocky Mountains
san jauns mountain map
The San Juan Mountains in southern Colorado

The Summitville mine was the scene of a major environmental disaster in the 1990s when the liner of a cyanide-laced tailing pond began leaking heavily. Summitville is in the Summitville caldera, one of many extinct volcanoes making up the San Juan volcanic field. One, La Garita Caldera, is 35 miles (56 km) in diameter. Large beds of lava, some extending under the floor of the San Luis Valley, are characteristic of the eastern slope of the San Juans.

Tourism is now a major part of the regional economy, with the narrow gauge railway between Durango and Silverton being an attraction in the summer. Jeeping is popular on the old trails which linked the historic mining camps, including the notorious Black Bear Road. Visiting old ghost towns is popular, as is wilderness trekking and mountain climbing. Many of the old mining camps are now popular sites of summer homes. Though the San Juans are extremely steep and receive much snow, so far only Telluride has made the transition to a major ski resort. Purgatory Resort, once known as Durango Mountain Resort, is a small ski area 26 miles north of Durango.[1] There is also skiing on Wolf Creek Pass at the Wolf Creek ski area. Recently Silverton Mountain ski area has begun operation near Silverton. The range is also a popular destination for endurance sports like trail running and mountain biking; Silverton is home to the Hardrock 100 Endurance Run one of the most difficult and technical ultra marathons in the world.[2]

The Rio Grande drains the east side of the range. The other side of the San Juans, the western slope of the continental divide, is drained by tributaries of the San Juan, Dolores and Gunnison rivers, which all flow into the Colorado River.

The San Juan and Uncompahgre National Forests cover a large portion of the San Juan Mountains. The Continental Divide Trail, a long-distance hiking trail follows the crest of the San Juan Mountains. The Weminuche Wilderness, Colorado's largest wilderness area, with an area of 499,771 acres (202,250 ha) is in the San Juans.

The San Juan Mountains are also distinctive for their high altitude plateaus and peaks. As a result, facilities in the towns and cities of the region are among the highest in the nation. Telluride Airport, at an elevation of 9,070 feet,[3] is the highest in the United States with regularly scheduled commercial service.

Prominent peaks
San Juans in the fall of 2008, viewed from north of Durango
Sneffels Range viewed from Ridgway, Colorado
Red Mountain Pass
Trout Lake near Telluride
Twilight Peak
Bridal Veil Falls near Telluride
Remains of an abandoned house in Eureka
Abandoned house in the ghost town of Gladstone
  • Note: This is only a partial list of important peaks in the San Juans, listing peaks by prominence only. There are dozens more summits over 12,000 feet.
The 28 peaks of the San Juan Mountains with at least 500 meters of prominence
Rank Mountain Peak Elevation Prominence Isolation
1 Uncompahgre Peak NGS 4365 m
14,321 ft		1304 m
4,277 ft		136.9 km
85.1 mi
2 Mount Wilson[4] 4344 m
14,252 ft		1227 m
4,024 ft		53.2 km
33.1 mi
3 Mount Sneffels NGS 4315 m
14,158 ft		930 m
3,050 ft		25.3 km
15.73 mi
4 Mount Eolus[4] 4294 m
14,089 ft		665 m
2,183 ft		40.5 km
25.2 mi
5 Handies Peak NGS 4285 m
14,058 ft		575 m
1,888 ft		18 km
11.18 mi
6 San Luis Peak NGS 4274 m
14,022 ft		949 m
3,113 ft		43.4 km
27 mi
7 Vermilion Peak[4] PB 4237 m
13,900 ft		642 m
2,105 ft		14.6 km
9.07 mi
8 Rio Grande Pyramid NGS PB 4214 m
13,827 ft		567 m
1,861 ft		17.31 km
10.76 mi
9 Mount Oso[4] 4173 m
13,690 ft		507 m
1,664 ft		8.81 km
5.47 mi
10 Tower Mountain[4] PB 4132 m
13,558 ft		504 m
1,652 ft		8.62 km
5.36 mi
11 Sultan Mountain[4] PB 4076 m
13,373 ft		569 m
1,868 ft		7.39 km
4.59 mi
12 Summit Peak NGS PB 4056 m
13,307 ft		841 m
2,760 ft		64.2 km
39.9 mi
13 Dolores Peak[4] PB 4053 m
13,296 ft		594 m
1,950 ft		8.02 km
4.98 mi
14 Lavender Peak[4] PB 4037 m
13,245 ft		872 m
2,860 ft		39.9 km
24.8 mi
15 Bennett Peak[4] PB 4026 m
13,209 ft		531 m
1,743 ft		27.5 km
17.1 mi
16 Conejos Peak NGS PB 4017 m
13,179 ft		583 m
1,912 ft		13.12 km
8.15 mi
17 Twilight Peak[4] 4012 m
13,163 ft		713 m
2,338 ft		7.86 km
4.88 mi
18 South River Peak[4] PB 4009 m
13,154 ft		746 m
2,448 ft		35.3 km
22 mi
19 Peak 13,010[4] PB 3967 m
13,016 ft		546 m
1,790 ft		15.39 km
9.56 mi
20 Lone Cone[4] PB 3846 m
12,618 ft		693 m
2,273 ft		14.97 km
9.3 mi
21 Graham Peak NGS PB 3821 m
12,536 ft		778 m
2,551 ft		16.78 km
10.43 mi
22 Elliott Mountain[4] PB 3763 m
12,346 ft		683 m
2,240 ft		8.26 km
5.13 mi
23 Cornwall Mountain[4] PB 3746 m
12,291 ft		532 m
1,744 ft		8.37 km
5.2 mi
24 Sawtooth Mountain NGS PB 3704 m
12,153 ft		587 m
1,927 ft		28.3 km
17.57 mi
25 Chalk Benchmark NGS PB 3669 m
12,038 ft		601 m
1,971 ft		11.68 km
7.26 mi
26 Little Cone NGS PB 3654 m
11,988 ft		561 m
1,841 ft		9.7 km
6.03 mi
27 Cochetopa Dome 3395 m
11,138 ft		537 m
1,762 ft		9.9 km
6.15 mi
28 Horse Mountain[4] PB 3033 m
9,952 ft		575 m
1,887 ft		22.5 km
13.96 mi
Hayden Geological Survey, 1870s

History of the area

Mining operators in the San Juan mountain area formed the San Juan District Mining Association (SJDMA) in 1903, as a direct result of a Western Federation of Miners proposal to the Telluride Mining Association for the eight-hour day, which had been approved in a referendum by 72 percent of Colorado voters.[5] The new association consolidated the power of thirty-six mining properties in San Miguel, Ouray, and San Juan counties.[6] The SJDMA refused to consider any reduction in hours or increase in wages, helping to provoke a bitter strike.

360° panorama of the northwestern San Juans, photographed from the Gold Hill Ridge of the Telluride Ski Resort. Ridgeline annotation indicates the names and elevations of 43 visible peaks

See also

References
  1. Slothower, Chuck (25 Feb 2015). "It is 'DMR' No Longer". Durango Herald. No. 26 Feb 2015. Archived from the original on 5 June 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  2. "Hardrock 100 | Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run". hardrock100.com. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  3. "Welcome to Telluride Regional Airport - TEX - Sits atop Deep Creek Mesa and is North America's highest commercial airport. Provides airline information and flight schedules, as well as details for pilots". www.tellurideairport.com. Archived from the original on 24 March 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  4. The elevation of this summit has been converted from the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD 29) to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88). National Geodetic Survey Archived 2011-10-19 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Roughneck—The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood, Peter Carlson, 1983, page 65.
  6. The Corpse On Boomerang Road, Telluride's War On Labor 1899-1908, MaryJoy Martin, 2004, page 201.

Further reading
  • Bove, D. et al. (2001). Geochronology and geology of Late Oligocene through Miocene volcanism and mineralization in the western San Juan Mountains, Colorado [U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1642]. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.
  • Lipman, P.W. (2006). Geologic map of the central San Juan Caldera Cluster, southwestern Colorado [Geologic Investigations Series I-2799]. Reston, VA: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.
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