The West End

You swore “no one could pay you a million dollars to take that road ever again” but we need to turn around in Silverton and take the Million Dollar Highway back to Ridgway. Don’t worry. You’ll be fine … just don’t look down.

Our name origin road trip continues west of Ridgway, on Colorado Highway 62, with stops along the Unaweep Tabeguache Scenic Byway.

PLACERVILLE

Near the intersection of Colorado highways 62 and 145 is this former mining town that, in the late 1800s, was named for the placer gold mines situated on the nearby San Miguel River and Leopard Creek. Placer mining is the process of recovering loose gold nuggets from river beds using simple mining tools such as sluice boxes.

TELLURIDE

Gold miners in 1878 named this rowdy prospector town “Columbia,” but it was renamed Telluride in 1887 to distinguish it from another booming mining town further West — Columbia, California. The name comes from tellurium, an ore used as an indicator of gold and silver lodes. As a side note: There was little or no tellurium ever found in the Telluride area.

OPHIR

The gravel road south over Ophir Pass takes us to the town named after a mystery region from the Bible’s Old Testament that was known for its especially fine quality of gold. Ophir — in the San Juan Mountains — was founded in 1875 when gold was discovered there. The former bustling mining town, at 9,695 elevation, is now a treasure for outdoor enthusiasts.

NORWOOD

The Hayden Survey of 1876 described this area as a “spectacular valley with wide, clear flowing grasslands, surrounding the valleys, stretching for miles.”

Among the first homesteaders in the late 1800s was Missouri native, Harry Copp, who arrived in 1885 and later became the first postman and mayor of Norwood, which he named after his hometown in Missouri. The town was a supply post for the stockmen in nearby Paradox Valley who would move herds through and stock up on supplies before moving to other pastures.

NATURITA

Rockwood H. Blake and his family were the first settlers in this small ranching community in 1881. Blake’s wife was of Spanish descent and gave the post office and town its name — a Spanish word meaning “little nature” — describing the town’s beautiful setting of trees on the banks of a stream, surrounded by barren country.

NUCLA

Originally named Cottonwood Camp, then Pinion, the concept of the community was developed in 1894, by Denver- based Colorado Cooperative Company, to be a socialistic farm colony. The name “Nucla” is a corruption of “nucleus” meaning the center. It was suggested by one of the members, C.U. Williams, who believed the idea would spread and the town would be the center of the movement in which equality and service, rather than greed and competition, would be the basis. Using a share-and-share alike mantra for commodities ranging from cow’s milk to labor, a hefty $100 membership was required.

URAVAN

Uravan began as a cattle ranch community in the late 1800s. It was later known as the Joe Jr. Mill — a company town built in 1912 by the Standard Chemical Company after the discovery there of the ore rich in radium, vanadium and uranium deposits. The name is a combination of the latter two: URAnium + VANadium.

UNAWEEP CANYON

Unaweep Canyon is the only major canyon in the Colorado River drainage not occupied by a river. It is instead, occupied by two small creeks which flow — paradoxically — in opposite directions from a gentle divide within the canyon, the Unaweep Divide. The remote Unaweep Canyon is the only canyon in the world where creeks flow out of the canyon in opposite directions. Water from East Creek flows into the Gunnison River, and water from West Creek flows into the Dolores River Named by the Ute Indians who recognized the mind-boggling divide, “Unaweep” translates as the “Canyon with Two Mouths” or “the Parting of the Waters.”

BEDROCK

Contrary to popular belief, Bedrock was not founded by modern stone-age quarry workers, Fred Flintstone and his pal Barney Rubble. Located near the center of Paradox Valley, Bedrock was established in 1883, when the town’s general store and post office were built on a bed of solid rock, hence the name.

PARADOX

The unincorporated town of Paradox and its valley were named in 1875 by geologist and surveyor Albert Charles Peale after he noted that the river there had a “desire to perform strange and unexpected things.” Instead of flowing down the valley, the Dolores River emerges from a narrow gap in one wall, cuts perpendicularly across the middle, and exits through another gap.

What’s in a Name is a feature that looks into how or who things in the area were named after. If you are curious about a name, let us know: 970-256-4232; tips@gjsentinel.com.

The antiquated Colorado Cooperative Company building still stands on Main Street in Nucla, which was to be the “nucleus” of a socialistic farm colony.

Photos by TAMMY GEMAEHLICH/ The Daily Sentinel

Naturita is a Spanish word meaning “little nature.”

At the Unaweep Divide in the scenic Unaweep Canyon, water from East Creek flows into the Gunnison River and water from West Creek flows into the Dolores River.