Ridgway Town History

The community of Ridgway, like Dolores and Durango, began as a railroad town. The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad was a major investor in the Rio Grande Southern Railroad, chartered in 1889. Owner of the Rio Grande Southern, Otto Mears and Denver and Rio Grande stockholders bought land and laid out the townsite of Ridgway in 1890. The new town would serve as Rio Grande Southern headquarters. The town was named for R. M. Ridgway, superintendent of the railroad and the man who supervised its construction. The Rio Grande Southern was completed in 1891. Mears' fortunes soared and Ridgway quickly took on an air of prosperous permanence. The older town of Dallas, two and a half miles down the Uncompahgre River, was abandoned as its residents moved upstream to the new town.

With the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchasing Act in 1893, the silver mining industry was dealt a fatal blow. Silver prices plunged and scores of silver mines throughout the San Juan Country closed overnight. Thousands of miners and their families, followed by businessmen, left the mountain towns. The Rio Grande Southern went into receivership, supervised by its largest investor, the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. Mining in the San Juan Country would never again reach the levels enjoyed when silver was king.

And, in Ridgway, the surviving businessmen began paying more attention to the livestock industry that surrounded their town. Ranching kept Ridgway alive. Today it is also a gateway to the recreation pleasures of the northern San Juan Country. Several historic structures are on streets north of Highway 62. The Rio Grande Southern depot is now a private residence.

-Text and Photos, Courtesy of A Historical Touring Guide to the San Juan Skyway