Telluride
www.visittelluride.com
Above photo from: Downtown Telluride: The city. (Doug Berr) ~ www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-10-10/46852.html
Nestled in a box canyon surrounded by 13,000-foot peaks of the San Juan Mountains, the Town of Telluride is just six blocks wide and
twelve blocks long. A National Historic Landmark District with Victorian-era architecture, Telluride rests at the base of the Telluride Ski
Mountain. Located mid-mountain at 9,500 feet above sea level, Mountain Village overlooks some of Colorado's most beautiful landscapes.
www.telluride.com/around-town.html
Telluride sits along the scenic San Juan Skyway Scenic Byway, a 233-mile loop that connects a variety of iconic attractions in Cortez,
Durango, Silverton and Ouray. From Telluride, the scenery along the San Juan Skyway is lined with mountain landscapes, vast ranchland
and mountain passes. In late September, the fall foliage provides a signature show, creating yellows and golds as far as the eye can see.
History of Telluride:
The great valley where the Town of Telluride now exists was once home to nomadic tribes who followed the San Miguel River. Used as a
summer camp for centuries by Ute Indians, the area provided ample hunting grounds for elk, deer and Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep.
The Utes would retreat to lower elevations and warmer locales in the winter season and return with spring. For centuries, their way of life
was unchanged.
In the late 1700s, Spanish explorers discovered the San Juan Mountains, which they named after the river that ran through them. They
reached the area via Santa Fe, New Mexico along what is now known as the Old Spanish Trail, a 1,200-mile route used primarily for trade
and exploration. No permanent settling took place during this time, and the trappers and traders most likely moved on for greener pastures
farther west toward the coast of California.
By historic standards, Telluride is a fairly modern town. With gold found near present day Denver in 1858, the Colorado Territory once
again received attention, and the San Juan Mountains lured fortune seekers with visions of silver and gold. Once gold was discovered
here, the boom was on. By the mid-1870s, the Sheridan Mine was the first in a string of local claims, and a tent camp was established in
the valley below.
Originally called Columbia, the rowdy mining camp became a town in 1878 and changed its name to Telluride because the name
“Columbia” was already taken. The name Telluride probably comes from the chemical element “Tellurium,” which was actually never found
in the region.
With the coming of the railroad in 1890, the remote boomtown flourished. A melting pot of immigrants seeking their fortunes turned
Telluride into a thriving community of 5,000. Prosperity abounded, and Telluride was full of thrilling possibilities. On June 24, 1889, before
becoming associated with his gang, "The Wild Bunch,” Robert Leroy Parker made his first major heist by robbing the San Miguel Valley
Bank with the help of two friends. He “withdrew” $24,580, and later became the famous Butch Cassidy. Contrary to popular belief, the
Sundance Kid was not a part of this heist.
Due to the mining boom, in a short span of twenty years the town grew from a hodgepodge of cabins and shacks to rows of elegant
Victorians and stately brick buildings. Telluride’s most famous historic mines are the Tomboy, Pandora, Smuggler-Union, Nellie and
Sheridan mines. From 1905 to 1911 alone, more than $16 million in gold and silver was extracted from the collective mines in the Telluride
area. But, with the crash of silver prices, followed by the First World War, the mining boom collapsed. Miners moved on, and the town’s
population gradually dwindled from thousands to hundreds resulting in a ghost town.
In the 1970s, Telluride reinvented itself. Legendary powder—a different sort of gold—was mined.
When the Telluride Ski Resort opened in 1973, the character of the community changed, and the town spun back into high gear.
It was, again, a time of thrilling possibilities.
The Telluride Ski Resort is renowned for its world-class slopes and stunning mountain scenery. Born of the same adventurous spirit that
birthed the Telluride ski community, many cultural, music and art events and festivals were also founded during the town’s renaissance of
the 1970s. From jazz to film, these cultural extravaganzas have grown over the last three decades into modern-day celebrations that draw
world-renowned artists and talent. From Memorial Day to October, there is a festival or event almost every weekend.
www.visittelluride.com/discover-telluride/our-two-towns/heritage
Above photo from: www.telluride-co.gov/index.aspx?page=191
About the above photo: In the winter of 1895-96, a wagon sleigh drawn by two horses was photographed sitting in deep snow in the
middle of Colorado Avenue. Men in suits stood on the cleared boardwalk on the sunny north side of the street, while others shoveled snow
on the south side.
Courtesy of the Denver Public Library Western History Collection.
From the Town of Telluride website
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Annual Lone Tree Cemetery Tours
Summer 2010 dates:
Saturday, July 10th, 2010
&
Saturday, August 28th, 2010
Lone Tree Cemetery Tour with local historian Andrea Benda. Explore the disasters, dramas, heroes and heritage of Telluride’s past.
Rendezvous at 3:45p.m. at the Telluride Historical Museum. No dogs please. $10/members. $15/non-members.
www.telluridemuseum.org
info@telluridemuseum.org
201 W. Gregory, Telluride
(970) 728-3344
www.tellurideinside.com/community-calendar.html
About the Lone Tree Cemetery:
.......It has more than one tree nowadays - the original "lone tree" shades the grave of a baby buried in 1895 - and offers a quick trip
through Telluride region history, what with mass graves from a turn-of-the-century avalanche to a mine fire to union battles that led to
gunfire. Look for the graves of two brothers who fought on opposite sides of one another in the American Civil War.
www.telluridewatch.com
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NEW!! The Telluride Horror Show
Oct 15th, 2010 -to- Oct. 17th, 2010
The Telluride Horror Show is a three-day horror, sci-fi and fantasy film festival!
The inaugural Telluride Horror Show will take place October 15, 16, and 17 of 2010.
For three days, horror fans and filmmakers are invited to experience the best and latest in the genre in Telluride's historic movie houses:
the Nugget Theater and Sheridan Opera House. For tickets and information, visit www.telluridehorrorshow.com
www.visittelluride.com/festivals-events/calendar/2010-10-15/telluride-horror-show
Read the article in the Telluride Watch: www.telluridewatch.com/view/full_story/8112951/article-Telluride-Horror-Show-Coming-This-Fall?
instance=local_news&sms_ss=facebook
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Ghosts of the Telluride Historical Museum
When Telluride's first post office put it on the map in 1880, the town was called Columbia—but with a California town by the same name
already in existence, postal workers became quickly confused. While the town is supposedly named after an ore of the non-metallic
element Tellurium, legend has it that it was derived differently—because of the Native American presence throughout the land, settlers
were forced to enter the town by riding over a rickety bridge, fearing that they would plummet into the gorge below. The bridge was said to
shake so aggressively that "To hell you ride!" quickly became common cowboy credence, hence the contraction Telluride.
It is still believed that assorted saloons in the town of Telluride possess hidden rooms below their bars—perhaps now used for storage,
these rooms were home to distilleries of moonshine during the days of prohibition.
In 1965, the San Miguel County Historical Society set up shop at what is presently the Telluride Historical Museum.
Housed in an 1896 historic landmark hospital building, the museum is said to be haunted by the ghosts of patients past.
Among other historical photographs and exhibits, there is a chest x-ray of a miner’s lung, showing the scarring due to consumption from
years spent underground—the x-ray box is often found with its light off, even when it has been deliberately left lit.
Visitors to the museum regularly report hearing a voice while walking up the stairs to the third floor. A little girl greets them with a quiet
"hello" as they ascend.
When working at the museum alone, the staff reports hearing the footsteps of former patients whose ghosts dwell overhead, where the
operating room of the hospital used to exist.
Source: Telluride & Mountain Village Convention & Visitors Bureau
History of the museum:
Established in 1965 as the San Miguel County Historical Society, the Museum operated for more than 30 years within an 1896 historic
landmark hospital building.
A meticulous restoration project was funded in 1995 through a Town of Telluride voter-approved bond measure and several historical
grants.
In 2001, the Museum was the recipient of the Steven H. Hart Award, the Colorado Historical Society’s highest honor for outstanding
contribution to historical preservation. Today the Museum serves as a cultural and historical anchor for the town, providing a sense of
community in the face of the town’s unprecedented growth and change.
During the six-year closure to restore the old hospital building, the board and staff created a blueprint for using the eclectic collection of
20,000 artifacts and 2000 historic photographs in contextual settings to tell the story of Telluride’s history.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
This fine museum should be the first stop in Telluride for anyone interested in learning about the history of the Old West and seeing its
fascinating Victorian architecture.
Built in 1896 as the community hospital, this beautifully restored facility contains a collection of some 9,000 artifacts and 1,400 historic
photos that show what Telluride was like when the likes of Butch Cassidy stalked the streets.
Exhibits include hard rock mining, with displays of mining equipment and models of mines and mills; the narrow-gauge railroad; the area's
Ute Indian heritage; the history of medical facilities and treatments in Telluride (this was the town hospital, after all); and the development
of the town's AC electric power -- the world's first AC-generating plant was built here in the 1890s.
There is also a replica of a local mining family's cabin in the early 1900s, plus exhibits on the town's Victorian architecture and Telluride's
emergence as a major outdoor recreation destination.
You'll learn about train and bank robber Cassidy and other historic figures from Telluride's past, and see some of the fancy dresses worn
by Big Billie, one of the community's leading madams during the town's red-light days. The museum store is a good source for books on
the area's history -- an especially good local read is Tomboy Bride by Harriet Backus -- and you can rent equipment for a self-guided
audio tour of Telluride . Allow 1 to 2 hours.
(From Frommer's)
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Contact info:
Telluride Historical Museum
201 West Gregory Avenue
P.O. Box 1597
Telluride, Colorado 81435
www.telluridemuseum.org
info@telluridemuseum.org
Phone: (970) 728-3344
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11am - 5pm; Extended Hours Thursday till 7pm
Summer only: Sunday 1 - 5pm
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Shadows from the Past ~ First-Hand Accounts of Local Hauntings
The source of this article is from: the Telluride Magazine
(In the Winter 08-09 issue)
By Andrea Benda
www.telluridemagazine.com
I squinted in the dark. My heart raced as I turned to my husband beside me in bed. “What do you see?” My voice was a choked whisper.
“There’s a girl there—there in the bay window. She’s dressed in white.” All I could see was black night and a few stars
through the skylight. Something wasn’t right: My husband doesn’t believe in ghosts. “Maybe it’s a dream.” My voice was thin. “I’ve
closed my eyes twice, but she’s still there,” came his reply.
Only the courageous could sleep after that. I tossed fitfully, but Terry fell into a deep slumber. The next morning, he explained that
the ghost had been sweet and smiling, almost like she was happy and telling him so. He was content; I was nervous. What did this
spirit want?
It is one thing to believe, like I do, that many spirits haunt Telluride. After all, the Utes spent ten thousand years in the valley only to
be driven out by prospectors in the 1880s. Miners swarmed from 25 different countries to seek their fortunes, bringing with them
superstitions and lurid tales of tommyknockers and evil. Their lives were fraught with danger, violence and heated emotions. They
were ousted first by the hard times of the 1920s through the ’40s, and then by a new wave of young counterculture “immigrants”
when the ski area was developed in the 1970s. These changes were abrupt and traumatic. No wonder spirits from those transitions
could not rest.
Holiday bustle took my mind off the vaporous little girl in our bedroom. A few weeks later, my contractor husband had his crew over to
celebrate the season. During dinner, Terry told the story of the little ghost girl and her appearance. After a moment of silence, a
client, whose house on Galena Street Terry was remodeling, spoke up, “When did this ghost appear?” Terry gave the date as a few
weeks before. “Weren’t you working on my house that week?” the man queried. “Of course,” Terry replied. “That’s the week we took
out the walls by your upstairs landing to open up that tiny room.”
The silence was long and heavy. Softly the remodel’s owner said, “That small room has been haunted for years. A long time ago,
there was a fire next door. A young girl was burnt badly and died, but her widowed mother, brothers and sisters survived. Many say
that the little girl’s spirit flew from the fire into that room at the top of my stairs, where she’s been stuck looking for her mother. A few
weeks ago you took those walls down.” I looked around the room at the wide-eyed faces and said, “Oh, that’s why she seemed
happy! She’s been released from her prison. She came to thank you, Terry.” The little ghost girl never appeared again. But this wasn’
t our last ghost…
It was 2 a.m. when I raced to the Telluride Historical Museum to meet the alarm company representatives and a Telluride marshal.
We tromped through the snow looking for evidence of a break-in, and then entered the building, a former miners’ hospital. During the
day, the old hospital’s past—deaths, accidents, sorrows—seemed dim, but this night every shadowy space was crowded with
phantoms. I followed the police into the room where the woven basket coffin, which had held injured or dead miners as they were
carried down the mountain, was propped. Our search revealed nothing missing, nothing amiss. What tripped the alarm? I fidgeted
the rest of the night and the following day at my job as the museum’s director.
When the alarm raised us all at 11 p.m. the next night, I faced the search with trepidation. This was frightening: Some unseen,
unknown force was triggering the alarm. Once again, the chilly black spaces provoked goose bumps and a pounding heart, but there
wasn’t a trace of anything. The alarm specialists agreed to meet with me the next morning for a thorough investigation. The museum
building had been recently restored, and hospital artifacts had been moved carefully off premises during rebuilding. I was leading the
charge to reintroduce treasures to tell Telluride’s story in exhibits, but at this time, the building was virtually empty. Only one exhibit
about healthcare was installed. Board member Carol Kammer had been searching for an x-ray of a lung with scars from silicosis, also
known as “miners’ consumption.” No one wanted to donate the x-ray: Miners’ consumption is a fatal condition that resulted from
inhaling dust and shards of rock and was a stigma to a miner and his family. But Carol had prevailed and found a doctor in Arizona
who forwarded an x-ray for our antique x-ray machine.
When I greeted the alarm company representatives the next morning, they asked if I had done anything differently in the section of
the museum where the alarm had registered. I couldn’t think of a thing. But wait a minute! The x-ray had arrived the day of the first
alarm. I had loaded it in the machine, turned it on to make sure the image was clear, and then turned it off and unplugged it. How
could that have set off an alarm?
One young man from the alarm company told me that his grandfather had died from miner’s consumption and been ashamed of the
disease until the end. How many miners had suffered in this very hospital in the same way? How many had felt it the gravest sign of
weakness to die from scarred lungs? Would any of their spirits protest the x-ray by haunting the museum? We never did explain the
alarms, but after we discussed the terrible disease with compassion for its victims and my desire to share the story of their suffering
through the x-ray exhibit, the alarms ceased.
Not all ghosts are wispy phantoms or alarms. For years, I led schoolchildren on tours of the local Lone Tree Cemetery. We always
started at the first burial site, where Edwin S. Andrus was laid to rest. I’d heard that he was the son of George Andrus, the man who
had sold some of his land for the cemetery. More research unfolded that George Savage Andrus was an assayer and
superintendent of the Pandora Mill and owned four acres of land, known as the St. James Placer, during Telluride’s early settlement.
He was one of the founders of the Masons of Telluride, and his wife, Mary, raised funds for the first church built here. From
newspapers, town histories and headstones, I put the story together. The epitaph on their child’s grave states that he was one year,
seven months and 11 days old when he died. No cause of death is indicated, but health conditions were poor in those days. Many
children were susceptible to scarlet fever, whooping cough or pneumonia. I wished I had found a photograph in my research, but the
possibility of a picture surviving from the 1880s was slim. I imagined that grief for his boy inspired Andrus to sell the St. James Placer
to the Town of Telluride for use as a burial ground. I told that story to hundreds of children over the years as we gazed at the tiny,
unassuming headstone.
Quite some time after I began these tours, I was hired to be the executive director of the Telluride Historical Museum. I knew there
were thousands of old photos in random order, waiting for the project and grant that would instigate organizing and digitizing them.
But I dared not peek at any of these pictures: I knew I would be tempted to neglect my other must-do tasks for the pleasure of
perusing these black-and-white glimpses of Telluride’s past. I stayed away from the files until, one day, I couldn’t resist: I decided to
look at just one photograph. The very first photo I pulled from the file drawer showed an ornate wicker baby carriage with a floral-
print fringed top. A cherubic, plump-faced baby with bangs, big eyes and an impish smile peered out from under a blanket. I flipped
the photo over to read the scrawled writing on the back:
Died April 4, 1885
Edwin Andrus (Little Ned)
Born in Telluride, Colorado.
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KOTO Annual Halloween Party
Held around Halloween-time each year
At the Conference Center, Mountain Village
Event Hours: 8pm - 1:30am
Celebrate Halloween Telluride style!
A wild and woolly party sponsored by KOTO, the local radio station.
970-728-4334
koto@telluridecolorado.net
www.koto.org
Back to home page
www.visittelluride.com
Above photo from: Downtown Telluride: The city. (Doug Berr) ~ www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-10-10/46852.html
Nestled in a box canyon surrounded by 13,000-foot peaks of the San Juan Mountains, the Town of Telluride is just six blocks wide and
twelve blocks long. A National Historic Landmark District with Victorian-era architecture, Telluride rests at the base of the Telluride Ski
Mountain. Located mid-mountain at 9,500 feet above sea level, Mountain Village overlooks some of Colorado's most beautiful landscapes.
www.telluride.com/around-town.html
Telluride sits along the scenic San Juan Skyway Scenic Byway, a 233-mile loop that connects a variety of iconic attractions in Cortez,
Durango, Silverton and Ouray. From Telluride, the scenery along the San Juan Skyway is lined with mountain landscapes, vast ranchland
and mountain passes. In late September, the fall foliage provides a signature show, creating yellows and golds as far as the eye can see.
History of Telluride:
The great valley where the Town of Telluride now exists was once home to nomadic tribes who followed the San Miguel River. Used as a
summer camp for centuries by Ute Indians, the area provided ample hunting grounds for elk, deer and Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep.
The Utes would retreat to lower elevations and warmer locales in the winter season and return with spring. For centuries, their way of life
was unchanged.
In the late 1700s, Spanish explorers discovered the San Juan Mountains, which they named after the river that ran through them. They
reached the area via Santa Fe, New Mexico along what is now known as the Old Spanish Trail, a 1,200-mile route used primarily for trade
and exploration. No permanent settling took place during this time, and the trappers and traders most likely moved on for greener pastures
farther west toward the coast of California.
By historic standards, Telluride is a fairly modern town. With gold found near present day Denver in 1858, the Colorado Territory once
again received attention, and the San Juan Mountains lured fortune seekers with visions of silver and gold. Once gold was discovered
here, the boom was on. By the mid-1870s, the Sheridan Mine was the first in a string of local claims, and a tent camp was established in
the valley below.
Originally called Columbia, the rowdy mining camp became a town in 1878 and changed its name to Telluride because the name
“Columbia” was already taken. The name Telluride probably comes from the chemical element “Tellurium,” which was actually never found
in the region.
With the coming of the railroad in 1890, the remote boomtown flourished. A melting pot of immigrants seeking their fortunes turned
Telluride into a thriving community of 5,000. Prosperity abounded, and Telluride was full of thrilling possibilities. On June 24, 1889, before
becoming associated with his gang, "The Wild Bunch,” Robert Leroy Parker made his first major heist by robbing the San Miguel Valley
Bank with the help of two friends. He “withdrew” $24,580, and later became the famous Butch Cassidy. Contrary to popular belief, the
Sundance Kid was not a part of this heist.
Due to the mining boom, in a short span of twenty years the town grew from a hodgepodge of cabins and shacks to rows of elegant
Victorians and stately brick buildings. Telluride’s most famous historic mines are the Tomboy, Pandora, Smuggler-Union, Nellie and
Sheridan mines. From 1905 to 1911 alone, more than $16 million in gold and silver was extracted from the collective mines in the Telluride
area. But, with the crash of silver prices, followed by the First World War, the mining boom collapsed. Miners moved on, and the town’s
population gradually dwindled from thousands to hundreds resulting in a ghost town.
In the 1970s, Telluride reinvented itself. Legendary powder—a different sort of gold—was mined.
When the Telluride Ski Resort opened in 1973, the character of the community changed, and the town spun back into high gear.
It was, again, a time of thrilling possibilities.
The Telluride Ski Resort is renowned for its world-class slopes and stunning mountain scenery. Born of the same adventurous spirit that
birthed the Telluride ski community, many cultural, music and art events and festivals were also founded during the town’s renaissance of
the 1970s. From jazz to film, these cultural extravaganzas have grown over the last three decades into modern-day celebrations that draw
world-renowned artists and talent. From Memorial Day to October, there is a festival or event almost every weekend.
www.visittelluride.com/discover-telluride/our-two-towns/heritage
Above photo from: www.telluride-co.gov/index.aspx?page=191
About the above photo: In the winter of 1895-96, a wagon sleigh drawn by two horses was photographed sitting in deep snow in the
middle of Colorado Avenue. Men in suits stood on the cleared boardwalk on the sunny north side of the street, while others shoveled snow
on the south side.
Courtesy of the Denver Public Library Western History Collection.
From the Town of Telluride website
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Annual Lone Tree Cemetery Tours
Summer 2010 dates:
Saturday, July 10th, 2010
&
Saturday, August 28th, 2010
Lone Tree Cemetery Tour with local historian Andrea Benda. Explore the disasters, dramas, heroes and heritage of Telluride’s past.
Rendezvous at 3:45p.m. at the Telluride Historical Museum. No dogs please. $10/members. $15/non-members.
www.telluridemuseum.org
info@telluridemuseum.org
201 W. Gregory, Telluride
(970) 728-3344
www.tellurideinside.com/community-calendar.html
About the Lone Tree Cemetery:
.......It has more than one tree nowadays - the original "lone tree" shades the grave of a baby buried in 1895 - and offers a quick trip
through Telluride region history, what with mass graves from a turn-of-the-century avalanche to a mine fire to union battles that led to
gunfire. Look for the graves of two brothers who fought on opposite sides of one another in the American Civil War.
www.telluridewatch.com
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NEW!! The Telluride Horror Show
Oct 15th, 2010 -to- Oct. 17th, 2010
The Telluride Horror Show is a three-day horror, sci-fi and fantasy film festival!
The inaugural Telluride Horror Show will take place October 15, 16, and 17 of 2010.
For three days, horror fans and filmmakers are invited to experience the best and latest in the genre in Telluride's historic movie houses:
the Nugget Theater and Sheridan Opera House. For tickets and information, visit www.telluridehorrorshow.com
www.visittelluride.com/festivals-events/calendar/2010-10-15/telluride-horror-show
Read the article in the Telluride Watch: www.telluridewatch.com/view/full_story/8112951/article-Telluride-Horror-Show-Coming-This-Fall?
instance=local_news&sms_ss=facebook
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Ghosts of the Telluride Historical Museum
When Telluride's first post office put it on the map in 1880, the town was called Columbia—but with a California town by the same name
already in existence, postal workers became quickly confused. While the town is supposedly named after an ore of the non-metallic
element Tellurium, legend has it that it was derived differently—because of the Native American presence throughout the land, settlers
were forced to enter the town by riding over a rickety bridge, fearing that they would plummet into the gorge below. The bridge was said to
shake so aggressively that "To hell you ride!" quickly became common cowboy credence, hence the contraction Telluride.
It is still believed that assorted saloons in the town of Telluride possess hidden rooms below their bars—perhaps now used for storage,
these rooms were home to distilleries of moonshine during the days of prohibition.
In 1965, the San Miguel County Historical Society set up shop at what is presently the Telluride Historical Museum.
Housed in an 1896 historic landmark hospital building, the museum is said to be haunted by the ghosts of patients past.
Among other historical photographs and exhibits, there is a chest x-ray of a miner’s lung, showing the scarring due to consumption from
years spent underground—the x-ray box is often found with its light off, even when it has been deliberately left lit.
Visitors to the museum regularly report hearing a voice while walking up the stairs to the third floor. A little girl greets them with a quiet
"hello" as they ascend.
When working at the museum alone, the staff reports hearing the footsteps of former patients whose ghosts dwell overhead, where the
operating room of the hospital used to exist.
Source: Telluride & Mountain Village Convention & Visitors Bureau
History of the museum:
Established in 1965 as the San Miguel County Historical Society, the Museum operated for more than 30 years within an 1896 historic
landmark hospital building.
A meticulous restoration project was funded in 1995 through a Town of Telluride voter-approved bond measure and several historical
grants.
In 2001, the Museum was the recipient of the Steven H. Hart Award, the Colorado Historical Society’s highest honor for outstanding
contribution to historical preservation. Today the Museum serves as a cultural and historical anchor for the town, providing a sense of
community in the face of the town’s unprecedented growth and change.
During the six-year closure to restore the old hospital building, the board and staff created a blueprint for using the eclectic collection of
20,000 artifacts and 2000 historic photographs in contextual settings to tell the story of Telluride’s history.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
This fine museum should be the first stop in Telluride for anyone interested in learning about the history of the Old West and seeing its
fascinating Victorian architecture.
Built in 1896 as the community hospital, this beautifully restored facility contains a collection of some 9,000 artifacts and 1,400 historic
photos that show what Telluride was like when the likes of Butch Cassidy stalked the streets.
Exhibits include hard rock mining, with displays of mining equipment and models of mines and mills; the narrow-gauge railroad; the area's
Ute Indian heritage; the history of medical facilities and treatments in Telluride (this was the town hospital, after all); and the development
of the town's AC electric power -- the world's first AC-generating plant was built here in the 1890s.
There is also a replica of a local mining family's cabin in the early 1900s, plus exhibits on the town's Victorian architecture and Telluride's
emergence as a major outdoor recreation destination.
You'll learn about train and bank robber Cassidy and other historic figures from Telluride's past, and see some of the fancy dresses worn
by Big Billie, one of the community's leading madams during the town's red-light days. The museum store is a good source for books on
the area's history -- an especially good local read is Tomboy Bride by Harriet Backus -- and you can rent equipment for a self-guided
audio tour of Telluride . Allow 1 to 2 hours.
(From Frommer's)
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Contact info:
Telluride Historical Museum
201 West Gregory Avenue
P.O. Box 1597
Telluride, Colorado 81435
www.telluridemuseum.org
info@telluridemuseum.org
Phone: (970) 728-3344
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11am - 5pm; Extended Hours Thursday till 7pm
Summer only: Sunday 1 - 5pm
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Shadows from the Past ~ First-Hand Accounts of Local Hauntings
The source of this article is from: the Telluride Magazine
(In the Winter 08-09 issue)
By Andrea Benda
www.telluridemagazine.com
I squinted in the dark. My heart raced as I turned to my husband beside me in bed. “What do you see?” My voice was a choked whisper.
“There’s a girl there—there in the bay window. She’s dressed in white.” All I could see was black night and a few stars
through the skylight. Something wasn’t right: My husband doesn’t believe in ghosts. “Maybe it’s a dream.” My voice was thin. “I’ve
closed my eyes twice, but she’s still there,” came his reply.
Only the courageous could sleep after that. I tossed fitfully, but Terry fell into a deep slumber. The next morning, he explained that
the ghost had been sweet and smiling, almost like she was happy and telling him so. He was content; I was nervous. What did this
spirit want?
It is one thing to believe, like I do, that many spirits haunt Telluride. After all, the Utes spent ten thousand years in the valley only to
be driven out by prospectors in the 1880s. Miners swarmed from 25 different countries to seek their fortunes, bringing with them
superstitions and lurid tales of tommyknockers and evil. Their lives were fraught with danger, violence and heated emotions. They
were ousted first by the hard times of the 1920s through the ’40s, and then by a new wave of young counterculture “immigrants”
when the ski area was developed in the 1970s. These changes were abrupt and traumatic. No wonder spirits from those transitions
could not rest.
Holiday bustle took my mind off the vaporous little girl in our bedroom. A few weeks later, my contractor husband had his crew over to
celebrate the season. During dinner, Terry told the story of the little ghost girl and her appearance. After a moment of silence, a
client, whose house on Galena Street Terry was remodeling, spoke up, “When did this ghost appear?” Terry gave the date as a few
weeks before. “Weren’t you working on my house that week?” the man queried. “Of course,” Terry replied. “That’s the week we took
out the walls by your upstairs landing to open up that tiny room.”
The silence was long and heavy. Softly the remodel’s owner said, “That small room has been haunted for years. A long time ago,
there was a fire next door. A young girl was burnt badly and died, but her widowed mother, brothers and sisters survived. Many say
that the little girl’s spirit flew from the fire into that room at the top of my stairs, where she’s been stuck looking for her mother. A few
weeks ago you took those walls down.” I looked around the room at the wide-eyed faces and said, “Oh, that’s why she seemed
happy! She’s been released from her prison. She came to thank you, Terry.” The little ghost girl never appeared again. But this wasn’
t our last ghost…
It was 2 a.m. when I raced to the Telluride Historical Museum to meet the alarm company representatives and a Telluride marshal.
We tromped through the snow looking for evidence of a break-in, and then entered the building, a former miners’ hospital. During the
day, the old hospital’s past—deaths, accidents, sorrows—seemed dim, but this night every shadowy space was crowded with
phantoms. I followed the police into the room where the woven basket coffin, which had held injured or dead miners as they were
carried down the mountain, was propped. Our search revealed nothing missing, nothing amiss. What tripped the alarm? I fidgeted
the rest of the night and the following day at my job as the museum’s director.
When the alarm raised us all at 11 p.m. the next night, I faced the search with trepidation. This was frightening: Some unseen,
unknown force was triggering the alarm. Once again, the chilly black spaces provoked goose bumps and a pounding heart, but there
wasn’t a trace of anything. The alarm specialists agreed to meet with me the next morning for a thorough investigation. The museum
building had been recently restored, and hospital artifacts had been moved carefully off premises during rebuilding. I was leading the
charge to reintroduce treasures to tell Telluride’s story in exhibits, but at this time, the building was virtually empty. Only one exhibit
about healthcare was installed. Board member Carol Kammer had been searching for an x-ray of a lung with scars from silicosis, also
known as “miners’ consumption.” No one wanted to donate the x-ray: Miners’ consumption is a fatal condition that resulted from
inhaling dust and shards of rock and was a stigma to a miner and his family. But Carol had prevailed and found a doctor in Arizona
who forwarded an x-ray for our antique x-ray machine.
When I greeted the alarm company representatives the next morning, they asked if I had done anything differently in the section of
the museum where the alarm had registered. I couldn’t think of a thing. But wait a minute! The x-ray had arrived the day of the first
alarm. I had loaded it in the machine, turned it on to make sure the image was clear, and then turned it off and unplugged it. How
could that have set off an alarm?
One young man from the alarm company told me that his grandfather had died from miner’s consumption and been ashamed of the
disease until the end. How many miners had suffered in this very hospital in the same way? How many had felt it the gravest sign of
weakness to die from scarred lungs? Would any of their spirits protest the x-ray by haunting the museum? We never did explain the
alarms, but after we discussed the terrible disease with compassion for its victims and my desire to share the story of their suffering
through the x-ray exhibit, the alarms ceased.
Not all ghosts are wispy phantoms or alarms. For years, I led schoolchildren on tours of the local Lone Tree Cemetery. We always
started at the first burial site, where Edwin S. Andrus was laid to rest. I’d heard that he was the son of George Andrus, the man who
had sold some of his land for the cemetery. More research unfolded that George Savage Andrus was an assayer and
superintendent of the Pandora Mill and owned four acres of land, known as the St. James Placer, during Telluride’s early settlement.
He was one of the founders of the Masons of Telluride, and his wife, Mary, raised funds for the first church built here. From
newspapers, town histories and headstones, I put the story together. The epitaph on their child’s grave states that he was one year,
seven months and 11 days old when he died. No cause of death is indicated, but health conditions were poor in those days. Many
children were susceptible to scarlet fever, whooping cough or pneumonia. I wished I had found a photograph in my research, but the
possibility of a picture surviving from the 1880s was slim. I imagined that grief for his boy inspired Andrus to sell the St. James Placer
to the Town of Telluride for use as a burial ground. I told that story to hundreds of children over the years as we gazed at the tiny,
unassuming headstone.
Quite some time after I began these tours, I was hired to be the executive director of the Telluride Historical Museum. I knew there
were thousands of old photos in random order, waiting for the project and grant that would instigate organizing and digitizing them.
But I dared not peek at any of these pictures: I knew I would be tempted to neglect my other must-do tasks for the pleasure of
perusing these black-and-white glimpses of Telluride’s past. I stayed away from the files until, one day, I couldn’t resist: I decided to
look at just one photograph. The very first photo I pulled from the file drawer showed an ornate wicker baby carriage with a floral-
print fringed top. A cherubic, plump-faced baby with bangs, big eyes and an impish smile peered out from under a blanket. I flipped
the photo over to read the scrawled writing on the back:
Died April 4, 1885
Edwin Andrus (Little Ned)
Born in Telluride, Colorado.
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KOTO Annual Halloween Party
Held around Halloween-time each year
At the Conference Center, Mountain Village
Event Hours: 8pm - 1:30am
Celebrate Halloween Telluride style!
A wild and woolly party sponsored by KOTO, the local radio station.
970-728-4334
koto@telluridecolorado.net
www.koto.org
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