Ridgway, Colorado Town of Ridgway, Colorado Town of Ridgway Town of Ridgway Nickname(s): Gateway to the San Juans, The Town That Refused to Die Location in Ouray County and the state of Colorado Location in Ouray County and the state of Colorado Website Town of Ridgway The Town of Ridgway, coined Gateway to the San Juans, is a Home Rule Municipality in Ouray County, in the southwestern portion of the U.S.
The town is a former barns stop on the Uncompaghre River in the northern San Juan Mountains.
The town populace was 713 at the 2000 census and 924 as stated to the 2010 census. Steep forested mountain peaks and cliffs surround Ridgway on the south, east, and northeast.
The Uncompahgre River runs through the town and flows into the Ridgway State Park and Reservoir, to the north.
Ridgway has the only stoplight in Ouray County, at the intersection of Highways 550 and 62. Path along the Uncompaghre river that leads from the town to the reservoir Ridgway began as a barns town, serving the close-by mining suburbs of Telluride and Ouray.
The town site is at the northern end of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad where it meets with Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad running between Montrose and Ouray.
Ridgway was positioned about 3 miles (4.8 km) south of the existing town of Dallas.
This "Gateway to the San Juans" position was recognized over 100 years ago when the Rio Grande Southern established Ridgway as a railhead center servicing the close-by mining suburbs of Ouray and Telluride.
Ridgway, who established the town in 1891. The Rio Grande Southern filed for abandonment on April 24, 1952 and the Denver and Rio Grande Western abandoned the line between Ridgway and Ouray on March 21, 1953.
The line between Ridgway and Montrose was upgraded from narrow gauge to standard gauge and Ridgway continued to be a shipping point until the line to Montrose was abandoned in 1976 as result of a reservoir being assembled on the Uncompahgre River.
The dam for that reservoir, the Ridgway Dam, was proposed in 1957 as part of the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation's Dallas Creek Project, and its initial locale would have inundated Ridgway.
A 1975 decision to put the dam further downstream kept the town above-water, and inhabitants coined their own nickname, "The Town that Refused to Die." Land around the reservoir became the Ridgway State Park north of town limits.
Ridgway is situated in the Uncompahgre Valley at an altitude of 6,985 feet (2,129 m).
The town is positioned on the San Juan Skyway, cradled in the heart of some of the most photographed mountain peaks in the world.
The close-by San Juan Mountain Range has 14 of Colorado's 53 peaks over 14,000 feet. Among them, 14,150 feet (4,310 m) Mt.
Ridgway, 13,468 feet (4,105 m) in height, is also nearby, 4.5 miles (7.2 km) west of Ouray. To the east of the town also lies the lesser but equally-grand Cimarron Range, with Uncompahgre Peak at 14,309 feet (4,361 m).
The Uncompahgre River flows from Lake Como at 12,215 feet (3,723 m) in northern San Juan County, in the Uncompahgre National Forest in the northwestern San Juan Mountains is the headwaters of the river.
It flows northwest past Ouray, Ridgway, Montrose, and Olathe and joins the Gunnison at Confluence Park in Delta.
There are two dams on the Uncompahgre River, a small diversion dam in the Uncompahgre Gorge, and Ridgway Dam below the town of Ridgway, which forms Ridgway Reservoir.
Lake Otonawanda is the major source of Ridgway's municipal water. Climate data for Ridgway, Colorado The ethnic makeup of the town was 95.5% White, 0.1% (1) African American, 0.6% (6) Native American, 0.8% (7) Asian, 0.8% (7) from other competitions, and 1.8% (17) from two or more competitions.
In the town, the populace was spread out with 23.3% under the age of 18, 28.6% from 18 to 44, 37.1% from 45 to 64, and 11.0% who were 65 years of age or older.
Ridgway is poised on a highway that leads tourists to a several other mountain suburbs of the San Juan region.
Ridgway itself is a primary tourist town of Colorado.
Ridgway is 37 miles east of the ski town of Telluride and 10 miles north of the tourist town of Ouray.
Water plays an meaningful part of small-town Ridgway culture.
The town maintains a marina in a northern inlet of the Ridgway Reservoir.
During the warm summer months many tourist and locals take favor of the Ridgway Reservoir, often wakeboarding or appreciateing a day at its beach.
The town also features Orvis Hot Springs, a clothing-optional, natural-hot-springs resort near Ridgway with an indoor, clothing-required pool.
Among Ridgway's populace there is an assortment of recognizable and famous citizens .
Highway 550 begins 27 miles north of Ridgway, in Montrose.
Colorado 62.svg State Highway 62 is a 23.4 miles long highway, connecting Ridgway to State Highway 145, near Placerville.
Colorado metros/cities and suburbs Ouray County, Colorado State of Colorado, Department of Personnel & Administration, Colorado State Archives.
Colorado Trend Report 2: State and Complete Places (Sub-state 2010 Enumeration Data).
Source Ridgway Estate Gregory, Doris H.: "The Town that Refused to Die: Ridgway, Colorado 1890-1991", Cascade Publications, 1991 Climb.mountains.com - Mount Ridgway Archived February 6, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
"Ridgway, Colorado Climate Summary 1982-2010".
Source Ridgway Colorado Archived February 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
Town of Ridgway website CDOT map of the Town of Ridgway Municipalities and communities of Ouray County, Colorado, United States
Categories:
Towns in Ouray County, Colorado - Towns in Colorado
|