Red Mountain Town, Colorado
ghost town in Ouray County, Colorado, United States
Red Mountain Town is a silver-mining ghost town in Ouray County, Colorado, United States, south of Ouray along the "Million Dollar Highway" (U.S. Route 550).
History
While there were gold mining efforts near Red Mountain during the 1870s, it was not until silver discoveries in 1882 that a more permanent population arrived, seeing the foundation of a town. Red Mountain Town, as it would become known, formed part of the Red Mountain Pass mining district between Silverton and Ouray. Alongside the Ironton, Guston, Sweetville, Rogerville, and Park City, Red Mountain Town formed a corridor through which the Silverton Railroad narrow-gauge ran, delivering ore to be processed in and transported from Silverton. These communities eventually consolidated until almost all residents of the area lived within Red Mountain Town, Ironton, or Guston. The townsite was moved during its first year due to the discovery that the unfrozen spring around which the first townsite was constructed turned the area into an uninhabitable marsh.
The communities in the Red Mountain mining district had a long-running rivalry that saw frequent brawls between residents of the neighboring towns. In 1892, English congregationalist preacher Rev. William Davis attempted to found a church in Red Mountain Town, but the townsfolk rejected him. However, Guston residents accepted Davis and a church was opened that same year.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Red Mountain Town, Colorado” as ghost town in Ouray County, Colorado, United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as ghost town in Ouray County, Colorado, United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q106130574. The first chronological checks are 1882 and 1892.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Red Mountain Town, Colorado”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Red Mountain Town, Colorado primary sources, Red Mountain Town, Colorado archive and Mountain research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Red Mountain Town, Colorado”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Red Mountain Town, Colorado” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.