Durango, Colorado: Small-Town Life in the West

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The Needle Range of the San Juan Mountains. 
The Needle Range of the San Juan Mountains. 
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Roadside scenery between Bayfield and Durango. 
Roadside scenery between Bayfield and Durango. 
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The Southern Ute Bear Dance is a popular local event. 
The Southern Ute Bear Dance is a popular local event. 
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Engine No. 481 returns from Silverton. 
Engine No. 481 returns from Silverton. 
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Guide Joe Herara leads a party of elk hunters into the La Plata Mountains.
Guide Joe Herara leads a party of elk hunters into the La Plata Mountains.
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Kayaking the Animas right through Durango is popular.
Kayaking the Animas right through Durango is popular.
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Elk hunters head into the La Plata Mountains.
Elk hunters head into the La Plata Mountains.
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Bill Fletcher at the La Plata County Draft Horse School.
Bill Fletcher at the La Plata County Draft Horse School.
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Rafters offer tourists a wild ride on the Animas River.
Rafters offer tourists a wild ride on the Animas River.
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Ouray, once head chief of the Ute tribes, is remembered in the Colorado county that bears his name.
Ouray, once head chief of the Ute tribes, is remembered in the Colorado county that bears his name.
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Off-road bicyclists at Durango's Iron Horse Bicycle Classics.
Off-road bicyclists at Durango's Iron Horse Bicycle Classics.
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Artist Stanton Englehart:
Artist Stanton Englehart: "I see virtually no concern for aesthetics anywhere."
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Mayor Lynn Shine:
Mayor Lynn Shine: "Prospective immigrants should…find out if we meet their lifestyle needs, then look for a job, and only then decide…to move here." 
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The Fitzgeralds:
The Fitzgeralds: "We need to create a new system...that will allow us to live in and with nature without destroying it."
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Sheriff Bill Gardner:
Sheriff Bill Gardner: "This is a fine, safe place to live."
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In La Plata County, the majority of drilling takes place on national forest and Bureau of Land Management lands that
In La Plata County, the majority of drilling takes place on national forest and Bureau of Land Management lands that "patch" between private parcels of land.
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Professor
Professor "Red" Bird: "Because of our spectacular physical surroundings, Fort Lewis College tends to draw students who are independent and interested in the life of both the body and mind."
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The Thies Family:
The Thies Family: "You can't be materialistic and make it here."
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The
The "Gable House," one of Durango's historic East Third Avenue homes.
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La Plata County, Colorado covers 1,692 square miles and comprises a dozen small towns, the three largest of which are Ignacio, Bayfield, and Durango.
La Plata County, Colorado covers 1,692 square miles and comprises a dozen small towns, the three largest of which are Ignacio, Bayfield, and Durango.
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Hot-air balloons descend during Durango's
Hot-air balloons descend during Durango's "Snowdown" winter festival.

It’s been a quiet week here in Durango, Colorado, my hometown. I’d like to tell you about the place. But first I must confess my bias. I love southwestern Colorado and hope to remain here the rest of my days.For that reason, and others perhaps less selfish, I’m protective of Durango’s small-town ambience and La Plata County’s natural beauty, the two qualities that make this such a special place to live–and the very qualities now being threatened by insidious change. I watched one small town I loved grow until it became a buzzing metropolis in which I no longer desired–or could afford–to live, and I’m in no hurry for the same thing to happen here.

In light of my antigrowth bias, it would be impossible for me to write a Pollyanna review of Durango and La Plata County that ignores or minimizes its growing pains. So, to help temper my tantrums, I’ve recruited the comments of nine other locals. While some of their views agree more or less with mine, others differ sharply. My caveat thus stated, let’s have a look around.

La Plata County, Colorado, comprises a dozen small towns, the three largest being Ignacio (pop. 667), headquarters of the Southern Ute Indian tribe; Bayfield (pop. 724), a quiet little ranching and bedroom community; and Durango, the county seat and a lively tourist town (pop. 12,600, plus nearly 4,000 college students, September through April).

Located in extreme southwestern Colorado, Durango (elevation 6,512 feet) got its start in 1880 when the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad began construction of a branch line up through the rugged San Juan Mountains to the high-country mining camp of Silverton, 50 miles to the north. From Silverton, more than $300 million in gold and silver ore was eventually freighted over the narrow-gauge rails to Durango, where it was smelted before being moved on down the line.

In its early days, Durango had all the color and action the gun-and-gallop movies have led us to expect from a true Old West town: cowboys, Indians, gamblers, gunfights, murders with prompt justice served up by legal (or at least popular) neck stretchings, saloons, brothels, even a high roller’s “boulevard” of gingerbread Victorian homes (East Third Avenue, recently designated a national historic district).

  • Published on Sep 1, 1989
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