Telluride Environmental History
Mikayla Anderson
Dr. Thomas Finger
HIS 397
April 16, 2017
Local Environmental History of Telluride, Colorado
“If you want to find a species wholly new to science and have your name inscribed Latinly in some secular version of an eternal rollbook, then your best bet is to come to the southern Appalachians, climb some obscure and snakey mountain where, as the saying goes, "the hand of man has never set foot," and start turning over rocks” (Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek). Telluride, Colorado, a city that began its journey in 1875 as a mining town, is now one of the most populous cities in San Miguel County, located in the Southwestern portion of Colorado. This small town has been manipulated by humans for the past century in hopes to extract
…show more content…
Very quickly, the population soared to nearly 5,0000 residents, including many very diverse groups of immigrants. The Telluride Basin became a melting pot for Chinese, Irish, French, Germans and Swedes. This quick influx of population quickly depleted much of the local wildlife, as the town was stripped to establish housing and local animals were hunted for their food or subsistence. Miners also rapidly established an upwards of 350 miles of multi-level tunnels in the far east end of town, near Bridal Veil Falls. Telluride was originally named "Columbia", but there was high confusion with another similar mining town in California under the same name, so the name was changed to be more fitting. The town was named after valuable ore compounds of the chemical element tellurium, a metalloid element which forms natural tellurides, the most notable of which are telluride ores of gold and silver. Although genuine gold telluride minerals were never located in the mountains near Telluride, the area's mines were rich in other valuable resources, including zinc, lead, copper, and silver.
Telluride took time to establish as a large, flourishing city because of its isolated and hard to reach location, which is still true for today. In 1881, a toll road was opened by Otto Mears which allowed wagons to go where only pack mules could go before, which increased the number of people in Telluride, but it was still extremely expensive to get gold-rich ore out of the valley for use in trade and
Railroad Tycoons: Henry Villard, Jay Cooke And James Hill
363 Words | 2 PagesThere were 3 railroad tycoons that helped grow Washington state. These tycoons were Henry Villard, Jay Cooke and James Hill. All of these men helped build a railroad to Washington in some way or another. Building a railroad was important because it meant that people could travel easier and faster to Washington. This made Washington’s population grow.
How Did The Yuma Project Have Both Positive And Negative Effects On Yuma County?
1448 Words | 6 Pages“Heavy localized rain flooded both the Colorado River as well as the Gila River, which used to empty into the Colorado next to Prison Hill where the Yuma Territorial Prison now sits.” At this time the river were larger and had n dams. Millions of years the Colorado would flow 1,400 miles from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California. It would carry water to the Arid West so they would be able to produce food and for human life. For the longest time before the Europeans arrived on the American continent Quechan indians already established agriculture in the desert Southwest they relied on floods to irrigate their fertile crops.
How Did Portland's Culture Affect The Culture And Economy Of The Pacific Northwest?
567 Words | 3 PagesRailroads is also the key to Seattle's success. For instance, they helped to link Seattle to the coal mines East and South of Lake Washington and to farms in Eastern Washington. Moreover, during the 1890s and 1900s, when gold was found around Yukon and Alaska, railroads would ensure that Seattle became the metropolis for those hinterlands, although its connections to the North were made by sea rather than by
Summary Of A Place Of Extremes By Susan Rhoades Neel
1070 Words | 5 PagesSusan Rhoades Neel - A Place of Extremes: Nature, History, and the American West In her essay, Susan Rhoades Neel examines the significance of the environment of the American West when shaping western history by referring to and analyzing regional approaches claimed by Webb, Limerick, Worster, and White in order to deemphasize Frederick Jackson Turner's frontier thesis. In fact, most historians may regard Turner's theory as the most influential and adequate one in attempting at giving meaning to the mythical territory of western America as it offers a common sense for the entire American nation. Nonetheless, because of the particular emphasis on nature and the human - nature relation, new approaches have been developed in order to outline
Summary Of Killing For Coal By Thomas G. Andrews
810 Words | 4 PagesThe rail road and fossil fuels are the keys to Palmer’s vision for an industrialized Colorado. The increasing demand for energy from the populous tinkled up to business like Colorado Fuel and Iron Company to minimized cost. However, the side effects of bring the rail road and coal mining to the beautiful Colorado included destroying the landscape and polluting the living condition to citizens of Colorado. The growing cost of labor paved away to immigrant labor to enter into the coal mining industry instead of the experienced and more expensive colliers.
Transcontinental Railroad Dbq Essay
415 Words | 2 PagesThe railroad turned the city into a mining agriculture and a retail center (Doc D). This shows that the Transcontinental Railroad
Essay On Post Civil War Dbq
846 Words | 4 PagesA series of geological surveys allowed for unknown western terrain to be charted and resources cataloged. In order to encourage the development of western resources, Congress passed the General Mining Act of 1872, allowing anyone who discovered minerals on
A Comparison Of The Lewis And Clark Expedition
1887 Words | 8 PagesThe migration of Americans to the west was a good thing for innovation and building up the United States as a country, but the Native Americans who lived in these lands were changed forever. Any Native Americans found in lands where United States citizens wanted land was immediately excavated from their land and brought to an Indian reservation of some kind. Overtime though, these Indian reservations began to limit due to the rising population in Americans during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. “They [Lewis and Clark] provided valuable information about the topography, the biological sciences, the ecology, and ethnic and linguistic studies of the American Indian. The mysteries of
The North's Economy In The Late 19th Century
815 Words | 4 PagesBefore these innovations, most people used wagons and horses to travel across land. However, traveling by wagons and horses were quite difficult. Traveling 363 miles could take as long as three weeks. Because of this, private companies saw value in building turnpikes, or toll roads. These roads often had a base of crushed stone, and corduroy roads were built where the land was muddy.
Essay On The Sand Creek Massacre
903 Words | 4 PagesTitle: The Sand Creek Massacre Research Question: What were the reasons behind the gold rush in Colorado in the 19th century and the war atrocities committed by United States Government towards the culmination of the Sand Creek Massacre? Though Colorado was not yet a state in the 1950s, the gold prospects within the territories which were still under Kansas at the time led to an influx of emigrants in a land that was originally occupied by Native Indians. The Colorado gold rush to this day is considered to have been the largest in the United States in the 19th century forming an intricate description of the country’s history in general. Following the discovery of gold in 1859 thousands of people descended towards the Rocky Mountains of Colorado,
Oak Ridge Advantages
997 Words | 4 PagesThe land had to be procured from farmers before building the worksites and the new town where the workers would live: Oak Ridge. When this new town was built on its swampy footing, it was a total secret. The rest of the world had no clue that Oak Ridge, Tennessee existed, and those working there couldn’t
Transcontinental Railroad Research Paper Outline
1080 Words | 5 PagesCentral Pacific Railroad started from San Francisco, and used Chinese laborers for their work, pushing through the Sierra Nevada mountains. In 1867, to encourage quick progression, Congress deemed the land remaining between the two companies, which was the Utah plains, to be paid at mountain rate. This motivated the Union Pacific crew to lay 360 miles of track, and the Central Pacific crew to lay 425 miles of track within the year (Stockwell, 2011). Unfortunately, this hasty pace came at a cost.
Why Is The Nevada Constitution Longer Than The Us Constitution
1300 Words | 6 PagesMining was the first profession that started the state up and for decades after continued to do so. For example, in article ten section five sub section three of the Nevada Constitution it states, “Each patented mine or mining claim must be assessed and taxed as other real property is assessed and taxed, except that no value may be attributed to any mineral known or believed to underlie it, and no value may be attributed to the surface of a mine or claim if one hundred dollars’ worth of labor has been actually performed on the mine or claim during the year preceding the assessment” (Bowers 113). This is to inspire people and companies to seek out mining privileges rather than
How Did The Transportation Revolution Affect American Society
478 Words | 2 Pages“In 1820, about 58 towns more than 2500 inhabitants; by 1840, there were 126 such towns, located mostly in the Midwest and Northeast.” The fastest growth occurring in areas were near canals, railroads, and roads because of the easy access of raw and manufactured materials. Toward the later 19th century, the settlers began to move west for cheaper property because the land inhabited near the town built around transportation was getting
Transportation In The 1800s Essay
558 Words | 3 PagesBefore the 1800s, there were two early roads, Forbes and Wilderness Road. In 1811, the National Road known as Cumberland Road was built to reach Western settlements, because they needed a road to ship farm products that connect East and West. The National Road passed thousand of wagons and coaches. John F. Stover states in American Railroads, “The rich agricultural production of the country, the small but expanding factories of eastern cities, and the largely untapped natural resources of the nation-all of these called for improvements in transport. ”(Stover1)
More about Telluride Environmental History
Railroad Tycoons: Henry Villard, Jay Cooke And James Hill
363 Words | 2 PagesHow Did The Yuma Project Have Both Positive And Negative Effects On Yuma County?
1448 Words | 6 PagesHow Did Portland's Culture Affect The Culture And Economy Of The Pacific Northwest?
567 Words | 3 PagesSummary Of A Place Of Extremes By Susan Rhoades Neel
1070 Words | 5 PagesSummary Of Killing For Coal By Thomas G. Andrews
810 Words | 4 PagesTranscontinental Railroad Dbq Essay
415 Words | 2 PagesEssay On Post Civil War Dbq
846 Words | 4 PagesA Comparison Of The Lewis And Clark Expedition
1887 Words | 8 PagesThe North's Economy In The Late 19th Century
815 Words | 4 PagesEssay On The Sand Creek Massacre
903 Words | 4 PagesOak Ridge Advantages
997 Words | 4 PagesTranscontinental Railroad Research Paper Outline
1080 Words | 5 PagesWhy Is The Nevada Constitution Longer Than The Us Constitution
1300 Words | 6 PagesHow Did The Transportation Revolution Affect American Society
478 Words | 2 PagesTransportation In The 1800s Essay
558 Words | 3 Pages