The San Juan Mountains are a rugged mountain range in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Colorado. The area is highly mineralized (the Colorado Mineral Belt) and figured in the gold and silver mining industry of early Colorado. Major towns, all old mining camps, include Creede, Lake City, Silverton, Ouray, and Telluride. Large scale mining is now uneconomical in the region, although independent prospectors still work claims throughout the range. The last large scale holdouts were the Standard Metals operation near Silverton, which operated until late in the 20th century and the Idarado Mine on Red Mountain Pass that closed down in the 1970s. Another hold-out was the ill-fated Summitville mine on the eastern slope of the San Juans.

The Summitville mine was the scene of a major environmental disaster in the 1990s when the hastily installed liner of a cyanide-laced tailing pond began leaking heavily. Summitville is in the Summitville caldera, one of many extinct volcanoes making up the San Juan volcanic field. One, the La Garita Caldera, is in diameter. Large beds of lava, some extending under the floor of the San Luis Valley, are characteristic of the eastern slope of the San Juans.

There is some tourism in the region, with the narrow gauge railway between Durango and Silverton being an attraction in the summer. Jeeping is popular on the old trails which linked the historic mining camps, including the notorious Black Bear Road. Visiting old ghost towns is popular, as is wilderness trekking and mountain climbing. The San Juans are extremely steep; only Telluride has made the transition to ski resort. Purgatory (now known as Durango Mountain Resort) is a small ski area north of Durango near the Tamarron Resort. There is also skiing on Wolf Creek Pass at the Wolf Creek ski area. Recently Silverton Mountain ski area has begun operation in Silverton. It is a highly rated extreme ski area and is currently available by reservation only.

The Rio Grande rises on the east side of the range. The other side of the San Juans, the western slope of the continental divide, is drained by tributaries of the San Miguel, Dolores and Gunnison rivers, which all flow into the Colorado River.

The San Juan and Uncompahgre National Forests cover a large portion of the San Juan Mountains.

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Prominent peaks

• Note: This is only a partial list of important peaks in the San Juans, listing peaks by prominence only. There are dozens more summits over 12,000 feet.

The 28 Peaks of the San Juan Mountains With At Least 500 Meters of Topographic Prominence

Rank	Mountain Peak	Elevation	Prominence	Isolation
1	Uncompahgre Peak NGS	4365.000 = 14,321 feet 4365 m	1303.630 = 4,277 feet 1304 m	00136.89 = 85.1 miles 136.9 km
2	Mount Wilson	4344.080 = 14,252 feet 4344 m	1226.515 = 4,024 feet 1227 m	00053.21 = 33.1 miles 53.2 km
3	Mount Sneffels NGS	4315.400 = 14,158 feet 4315 m	0929.640 = 3,050 feet 930 m	00025.32 = 15.7 miles 25.3 km
4	Mount Eolus	4294.255 = 14,089 feet 4294 m	0665.378 = 2,183 feet 665 m	00040.48 = 25.2 miles 40.5 km
5	Handies Peak NGS	4284.800 = 14,058 feet 4285 m	0575.462 = 1,888 feet 575 m	00018.00 = 11.2 miles 18.0 km
6	San Luis Peak NGS	4273.800 = 14,022 feet 4274 m	0948.842 = 3,113 feet 949 m	00043.41 = 27.0 miles 43.4 km
7	Vermilion Peak PB	4236.719 = 13,900 feet 4237 m	0641.604 = 2,105 feet 642 m	00014.60 = 9.1 miles 14.6 km
8	Rio Grande Pyramid NGS PB	4214.400 = 13,827 feet 4214 m	0567.233 = 1,861 feet 567 m	00017.31 = 10.8 miles 17.3 km
9	Mount Oso	4172.659 = 13,690 feet 4173 m	0507.187 = 1,664 feet 507 m	00008.81 = 5.5 miles 8.8 km
10	Tower Mountain PB	4132.446 = 13,558 feet 4132 m	0503.530 = 1,652 feet 504 m	00008.62 = 5.4 miles 8.6 km
11	Sultan Mountain PB	4076.215 = 13,373 feet 4076 m	0569.366 = 1,868 feet 569 m	00007.39 = 4.6 miles 7.4 km
12	Summit Peak NGS PB	4056.048 = 13,307 feet 4056 m	0841.248 = 2,760 feet 841 m	00064.23 = 39.9 miles 64.2 km
13	Dolores Peak PB	4052.592 = 13,296 feet 4053 m	0594.360 = 1,950 feet 594 m	00008.02 = 5.0 miles 8.0 km
14	Lavender Peak PB	4037.198 = 13,245 feet 4037 m	0871.728 = 2,860 feet 872 m	00039.91 = 24.8 miles 39.9 km
15	Bennett Peak PB	4026.057 = 13,209 feet 4026 m	0531.266 = 1,743 feet 531 m	00027.52 = 17.1 miles 27.5 km
16	Conejos Peak NGS PB	4017.000 = 13,179 feet 4017 m	0582.778 = 1,912 feet 583 m	00013.12 = 8.2 miles 13.1 km
17	Twilight Peak	4012.096 = 13,163 feet 4012 m	0712.622 = 2,338 feet 713 m	00007.86 = 4.9 miles 7.9 km
18	South River Peak PB	4009.390 = 13,154 feet 4009 m	0746.150 = 2,448 feet 746 m	00035.34 = 22.0 miles 35.3 km
19	Peak 13,010 PB	3967.262 = 13,016 feet 3967 m	0545.592 = 1,790 feet 546 m	00015.39 = 9.6 miles 15.4 km
20	Lone Cone PB	3846.100 = 12,618 feet 3846 m	0692.810 = 2,273 feet 693 m	00014.97 = 9.3 miles 15.0 km
21	Graham Peak NGS PB	3821.100 = 12,536 feet 3821 m	0777.545 = 2,551 feet 778 m	00016.78 = 10.4 miles 16.8 km
22	Elliott Mountain PB	3762.941 = 12,346 feet 3763 m	0682.752 = 2,240 feet 683 m	00008.26 = 5.1 miles 8.3 km
23	Cornwall Mountain PB	3746.183 = 12,291 feet 3746 m	0531.571 = 1,744 feet 532 m	00008.37 = 5.2 miles 8.4 km
24	Sawtooth Mountain NGS PB	3704.200 = 12,153 feet 3704 m	0587.350 = 1,927 feet 587 m	00028.28 = 17.6 miles 28.3 km
25	Chalk Benchmark NGS PB	3669.300 = 12,038 feet 3669 m	0600.761 = 1,971 feet 601 m	00011.68 = 7.3 miles 11.7 km
26	Little Cone NGS PB	3654.000 = 11,988 feet 3654 m	0561.137 = 1,841 feet 561 m	00009.70 = 6.0 miles 9.7 km
27	Cochetopa Dome	3394.838 = 11,138 feet 3395 m	0537.058 = 1,762 feet 537 m	00009.90 = 6.2 miles 9.9 km
28	Horse Mountain PB	3033.307 = 9,952 feet 3033 m	0575.158 = 1,887 feet 575 m	00022.46 = 14.0 miles 22.5 km

History of the area

Mining operators in the San Juan mountain area formed the San Juan District Mining Association (SJDMA) in 1903, as a direct result of a Western Federation of Miners proposal to the Telluride Mining Association for the eight hour day, which had been approved in a referendum by 72 percent of Colorado voters. The new association consolidated the power of thirty-six mining properties in San Miguel, Ouray, and San Juan counties. The SJDMA refused to consider any reduction in hours or increase in wages, helping to provoke a bitter strike.

See also

• Geography of Colorado
• La Garita Mountains
• La Plata Mountains
• Mountain peaks of Colorado
• Mountain peaks of the Rocky Mountains
• Mountain ranges of Colorado
• Needle Mountains
• Rocky Mountains
• San Miguel Mountains
• Sneffels Range

References

1. The elevation of this summit has been converted from the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD 29) to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88). National Geodetic Survey
2. Roughneck—The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood, Peter Carlson, 1983, page 65.
3. The Corpse On Boomerang Road, Telluride's War On Labor 1899-1908, MaryJoy Martin, 2004, page 201.

Further reading

• Bove, D. et al. (2001). Geochronology and geology of Late Oligocene through Miocene volcanism and mineralization in the western San Juan Mountains, Colorado [U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1642]. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.
• Lippman, P.W. (2006). Geologic map of the central San Juan Caldera Cluster, southwestern Colorado [Geologic Investigations Series I-2799]. Reston, VA: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.

External links

• Rocky Mountains @ Peakbagger
  • Southern Rocky Mountains @ Peakbagger
    • San Juan Mountains @ Peakbagger