A Brief history of Ouray County, Colorado.

Little-publicized or long-forgotten fringes of Colorado history - unique to Colorado lore.

This is a thoroughly revised edition of the Historical Atlas of Colorado, which was coauthored by Tom Noel and published in 1994. Chock-full of the best and latest information on Colorado, this new edition features thirty new chapters, updated text, more than 100 color maps and 100 color photos, and a best-of listing of Colorado authors and books, as well as a guide to hundreds of tourist attractions. Colorado received its name (Spanish for “red”) after much debate and many possibilities, including Idaho (an “Indian” name meaning “gem of the mountains” later discovered to be a fabrication) and Yampa (Ute for “bear”). Noel includes other little-known but significant facts about the state, from its status as first state in the Union to elect women to its legislature, to its controversial “highest state” designation, elevated by the 2013 legalization of recreational cannabis. Noel and cartographer Carol Zuber-Mallison map and describe Colorado’s spectacular geography and its fascinating past. The book’s eight parts survey natural Colorado, from rivers and mountains to dinosaurs and mammals; history, from prehistoric peoples to twenty-first-century Color-oddities; mining and manufacturing, from the gold rush to alternative energy sources; agriculture, including wineries and brewpubs; transportation, from stagecoach lines to light rail; modern Colorado, from the New Deal to the present (including politics, history, and information on lynchings, executions, and prisons); recreation, covering not only hiking and skiing but also literary locales and Colorado in the movies; and tourism, encompassing historic landmarks, museums, and even cemeteries. In short, this book has information—and surprises—that anyone interested in Colorado will relish.

Wild characters, diverse cultures, spooky myths and slippery sales schemes color Colorado's past. In a place where shameless showdowns and dusty shootouts over money, drink and women were once standard procedure, storytelling around campfires became an integral part of a rich heritage. From the jackalope and vampires to Indian curses and snake oil salesmen, the Centennial State has it all. Weirder still are the strange but true stories like that of the first body buried in La Junta's Fairview Cemetery, a man who landed there for refusing alcohol to a kid, and that of the hotel in Telluride that once offered a promotion that included funeral costs with your stay. While history may have neglected these silly, seedy and salacious stories, author Stephanie Waters has rediscovered Colorado's best forgotten tales.

The journey of fourteen year old Kristin Tabor as she travels across the country and deep within the Rocky Mountains in search of her mother. The journey will uncover her ancient Ute heritage as well as lead her to love, reunification and hope.

Ute Chief Ouray was important in early Colorado history, working to moderate the inevitable conflicts between the Utes, original "owners" of much of Colorado, and the flood of incoming white miners, ranchers and settlers. The Colorado Historical Society appropriately has a museum honoring Ouray; the county, city and mountain in Colorado named for Ouray further demonstrate his importance. This book depicts the Chief as seen by the Indian agents, Territorial Governors, and others who actually knew and wrote about him. The activities of Porter Nelson in Colorado, particularly of a business nature, are spelled out here more fully than in Houston's bare-bones chronology, The Battle Over Silver: Porter Nelson in Aspen, published by the Professional Press in 1997. Porter Nelson came to Colorado only after Ouray's death, but Nelson's activities were constrained by what had happened to Ouray and his Utes. Linking, as this book does, the story of a Colorado Indian leader with that of a not atypical white settler arguably results in a broader, double-barreled portrayal of Colorado in the late 1800's and early 1900's. This book is the result of years of Houston research into primary sources, at the National Archives in Washington and at local courthouses.

An adventure based on the introduction of horses to the Plains Indians. Santiago Ortega was born to a wealthy family living on a sprawling ranch in the Spanish province of New Mexico. When the Pueblo Indians revolt against the Spaniards, the lives and dreams of Santiago and his family are forever shattered. Santiago embarks on a dangerous journey back into New Mexico to find a lost brother and to seek revenge on all Indians. Ouray lives in poverty with his Indian tribe in a desert on the high plains of Wyoming. Ouray’s life unravels when hostile warriors destroy his family and capture the woman he loves. Ouray begins an impossible search to find his woman, but discovers something so unusual and wonderful that his life will never be the same. Fate eventually pulls Santiago and Ouray onto an unexpected collision course.