Props in Mancos, CO.
Mancos Museum, CO.
Visitor Center with mannequins and train depot in the distance, Durango, CO.
Durango and Silverton Railroad Depot in Durango, CO.
The small Mancos Museum features two wedding dresses from the 1890s, old mining gear and century-old bank notes. Driving into Durango, I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the town’s famous Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad with its old steam locomotives that spew smoke as they slowly chug on roundtrips to Silverton from May through October. “We have seven locomotives in their 90s that run just as hard as they did when they were brand new,” says Jeff Ellingson, curator of the railroad’s museum adjacent to the depot, where I see two of the locomotives on display. “Silverton has always relied on the railroad to bring goods and services, coal and food for the miners back in the 19th century. Today, we bring passengers to see that beautiful town and scenery and experience the Animus Canyon.” Durango, with a population of around 18,500, still boasts its cowboy roots with an added mix of old hippies and progressive young people. They frequent old-style saloons and trendy restaurants and cafes lining Main Avenue in the heart of downtown, also home to iconic 19th-century hotels with their earthen brick facades. The corner Strater Hotel, founded in 1887, has the world’s largest collection of Victorian antique walnut furniture and secret cubby holes once used to stash liquor and loot during Prohibition. Museum-quality Wild
West rifles and historic documents are on display within its Victorian-style, wallpapered lobby. Durango became popular in the 20th century as Hollywood filmed movie scenes in the town and nearby. The 1892 Rochester Hotel’s lobby and hallways are lined with original-release movie posters of such westerns including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, How the West was Won , and the more contemporary City Slickers and National Lampoon’s Vacation . I see photos of John Wayne and Harry Carey, Jr. from scenes of the 1949 movie She Wore a Yellow Ribbon . “We call it a Monument to the Hollywood of the Rockies,” says hotel owner Kirk Komick. “We wanted to create a monument to that history so it wouldn’t be lost.” Yet, perhaps the most interesting part of Durango is the town itself. “It’s like walking through a museum, except it’s outside,” quips Ellingson. “Hollywood made a lot of movies about what the Wild West was like, but Durango’s the real thing. We don’t have to fake it here.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION www.colorado.com/articles/discover-four-corners-region-things-do
www.nationalparkreservations.com/park/monumentvalley/ www.nps.gov/cach/index.htm • www.nps.gov/nava/index.htm www.blm.gov/programs/national-conservation-lands/colorado/canyons-of-the-ancients www.nps.gov/hove/index.htm • www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm www.durango.org/
FOUR CORNERS
COAST TO COAST FALL MAGAZINE 2019
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