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In Rico, Colorado
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By
Carol Horner
Photographs by
David Alan Harvey
It could be the next Telluride, but for now
this tiny mountain town likes its edges rough.
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Read or print the full article.
In the mid-1990s a handful of investors calling themselves Rico
Renaissance came to town, expecting to create a real estate boom like
the one in nearby Telluride, which has turned itself into a resort full
of condominiums, high-end shops and restaurants, and
multimillion-dollar homes. But the developers encountered resistance,
and so far almost nothing has happened.
That suits Jim Britton just fine. A gray-bearded man, 6 feet 3 inches
tall and over 300 pounds, “Big Jim,” as
he’s known, manages Motherlode Liquor on Rico’s
main street. He was sitting out front reading a book about Civil War
battles when I walked up one afternoon last summer. Drawn to mountain
life, Jim, 57, moved west from Ohio soon after college and a stint as a
medical supply clerk in the Army. He said he used to enjoy hunting, but
now “I guess I have sort of a Bambi complex,” and
he has quit cross-country skiing because his knees are messed up. But
he has fun playing music with friends; his instrument is a jaw harp.
“My big deal during the summertime is getting my firewood
in,” Jim said. He’s a six-cord-a-year man, he told
me later as he showed me around his octagonal solar-powered log cabin.
He is proud of the house, which he built in 1981 while camping out
during the warmer months. “I didn’t have the amount
of money to buy a house, probably didn’t even have the credit
background for a mortgage.”
He has a propane-powered range and refrigerator and a woodstove he
heats and cooks with in winter. He got rid of his phone a couple of
years ago but has a 21-inch television that gets a decent over-the-air
signal from NBC and, in daylight hours, from CBS. He thinks
he’s the last person in Rico without a satellite dish. Jim
shares the house with cats Tuxedo and Evander, who has a split ear. Jim
is against large-scale growth in Rico but fears he might be outnumbered
now.
The Rico Renaissance folks do still hover, hoping to win cooperation,
but no one who knows Rico expects it to be transformed anytime soon.
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| In More to Explore the National Geographic
magazine team shares some of its best sources and other information.
Special thanks to the Research Division. |
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Rico owes
much of its early success to a lottery ticket. Before 1879 this
up-and-coming silver-mining camp in the San Juan Mountains was called
Carbonate City, among other names. To reflect their expectations, early
prospectors finally settled on Rico (meaning “rich”
in Spanish), and by the time the town was founded in 1879, a mining
boom was under way: From one log cabin in August, Rico grew to more
than a hundred buildings within a month (including seven saloons) and
more than 400 by February 1880. Although Rico’s remote
location posed a challenge, the surrounding mountains were soon covered
with mining claims and operations. The owner of the Enterprise mine
repeatedly ran out of money before his wife bought a lottery ticket for
a dollar and won $4,000, which she invested in her husband’s
hopes. In October 1887 the Enterprise struck the rich Swansea vein,
sparking the biggest mining boom Rico has ever seen and making Colorado
history as one of the richest mines in the state.
—Kathy B. Maher |
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Visitor Information
www.ricocolorado.org
Browse the official website of the small but historic town of Rico, in
Colorado’s beautiful San Juan Mountains. See familiar names
from the magazine story in the business directory, which lists
recommendations for lodging, dining, and shopping.
Top
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Markels, Alex.
“Colorado’s Rugged San Juans,” National
Geographic Adventure (May/June 2000), 106-108.
Joseph, Patrick. “Rocky Mountain Low,” National
Geographic Adventure (May/June 2000), 50-52.
Friedman, Steve. “Silverton, Colorado: Beyond the Narrow
Gauge,” National Geographic Adventure
(Winter 1999), 45-46.
Tejada-Flores, Lito. “San Juan Skyway,” National
Geographic Traveler (May/June 1997), 84-93.
Page, Jake. “Colorado Adventure,” National
Geographic Traveler (September/October 1990), 26-30.
Ormes, Robert. “Colorado’s Friendly
Topland,” National Geographic (August
1951), 187-214.
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