Entry No. 27 — the Durango file — filed under: roadside-oddity
Yankee Girl Mine Headframe
John Robinson sank twenty feet of shaft here in 1882 and sold out a month later for $125,000—too early, because the Yankee Girl’s near-vertical pipe of silver ran 1,200 feet down through twelve levels and assayed up to $10,000 a ton. An 1897 forest fire ate the original works; today’s gaunt timber headframe is the replacement. In 2005 a for-sale sign and bulldozers nearly finished the job, until a Montrose helicopter pilot bought the mine and locked it under a conservation easement.
The move: Drive County Road 31’s dirt loop off US-550 at golden hour and frame the headframe against Red Mountain’s rust-orange slopes, then split a thermos at the Red Mountain overlook on the way back.
📍 Before you go County Road 31 leaves US-550 at a switchback south of Ironton Park, about nine miles south of Ouray—look for the small green sign beneath the overhead power lines. The dirt road is fine for ordinary cars when dry but is snowed in and impassable from late fall through spring; the headframe stays visible year-round from the Red Mountain Mining Overlook pullout on 550 if the road is closed. The structure sits on private, conservation-easement land over an open 1,200-foot shaft, so photograph up close but stay out of the building. Pairs naturally with Silverton, fifteen minutes farther over Red Mountain Pass.
- 📍 Ouray
- 💸 Free
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Outdoors
Where: County Road 31 off US-550 (Million Dollar Highway), Red Mountain Mining District, ~9 miles south of Ouray, CO 81427
Hours: Added 2026-06-11 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Proof: source 1 · source 2 · source 3 · source 4
last checked: 2026-06-11