Historical Preservation
Petroglyphs at Shavano Site
The Foundation recognizes the importance of the cultural heritage of Montrose and the western slope of Colorado to our present and future citizens. In the past few years the concept of public archaeology as a means of enhancing the modern cultural environment has been embraced. The Foundation has received more than $200,000 from the State Historical Fund and $31,000 in donor contributions to complete nine projects resulting in very major contributions to the local history and archaeology of the Uncompahgre Valley, greater western slope, and Montrose region.
Historical preservation projects have ranged from helping landowners locate unmarked graves at Fort Crawford, to assisting in heritage resource preservation and the development of historically oriented interpretive/educational resources in the Clifford Baldridge Regional Park. The Foundation completed a project there for the City of Montrose this past year. They also provided an unreplicated informational data base for long-range interpretive developments which have strong potential to result in economic assets to our community. These are evident in sites such as Chief Ouray’s local ranch and the Los Pinos Indian Agency at Colona.
The Foundation is pleased to report, through collaboration with Centuries Research, a site recording and archaeological assessment of the San Bernardo Mine was recently completed. The San Bernardo Mine dates to ca. 1877 and is located in the old Trout Lake Mining District near the community of Matterhorn in San Miguel County. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the mine was a regionally prominent hard rock mine on the Lake Fork of the San Miguel River in the San Juan Mountains. For much of its history the mine was closely associated with the Matterhorn Mill which still stands nears the community of Matterhorn. The Mill was built in 1920 to process ore from the San Bernardo after the mine’s original mill was destroyed by flood. Ore was sent form the mine to the new mill by way of an extant aerial tram system which still connects the mill to the mine.
To learn more about the San Bernardo Mine or past historical preservation projects including:
- Shavano Valley Rock Art Site Assessment
- Shavano Valley Rock Art Site Improvements
- Old Agency Initiative of Uncompahgre Valley Ute Project (UVUP)
- Fort Crawford Missing Dead (UVUP)
- Robideau Canyon Rock Art Recording (UVUP)
- Chief Ouray Ranch Assessment (UVUP)
- Old Wood Calibration Project (UVUP)
- Kallstrom Jacal Farmstead Assessment
Contact the Foundation to review the complete archaeological assessments and reports.