Rugged Weminuche Wilderness in the Rocky Mountains

This  picture of the Weminuche Wilderness was lensed while flying directly above Runlett Peak. The sloping hill in the foreground is Middle Mountain and directly  across the valley starting on the left and working to the right is Endlich Mesa, Sheridan Mountain (13,748 ft / 4,190 m),  (11,933 ft /  3,637 m),  (13,018 ft / 3,968 m), Amherst Mountain (13,170 ft / 4,015 m)  and Organ Mountain (13,808 ft / 4,209 m).

In  the distance are Twilight Peak (13,159 ft / 4,010 m), Pigeon Peak  (13,973 ft / 4,258 m), Mount Valois (13,185 ft / 4,018 m), Aztec  Mountain (13,310 ft / 4,056 m), Mount Eolus (14,085 ft / 4,293 m) and the Needle Mountains. Continuing to the right of those we have Grizzly  Peak (13,428 ft / 4,092 m), Greylock Mountain (13,575 ft / 4,137 m),  Jagged Mountain (13,830 ft / 4,215 m), Vallecito Mountain (13,428 ft /  4,092 m) and to the very right edge of the image is Storm King Peak  (13,752 ft / 4,191 m).

The Interesting Story of Tuckerville, Colorado

On the ridge in the foreground buried  under the snow is the ghost town of Tuckerville, Colorado. The story of  how this tiny camp town  was founded is rather interesting:

 Somewhere located where Weaselskin Creek empties into Vallecito River,  just North of the present Vallecito campground, to the North of the  lake, there is a legendary Weaselskin Gold mine that belonged to Old  (Jim) Weaselskin (a Ute Indian born 1850) & his extended family.  Weaselskin acquired his name from numerous weasel skins he always wore.

 Summers would find the Weaselskin family packing and beginning their  long hike up the steep trail to Endlich Mesa (high mountain mesa that  sets above and to the west of Vallecito River Valley). Endlich Mesa was  dotted with tiny lakes, rock formations, random patches of trees and  located above the tree line. The white men that settled Vallecito River  Valley named one of Endlich Mesa's swift running streams Weaselskin  Creek in honor of the Old Indian who used this location as a summer  pasture for his horses for many years.

Besides a creek and  bridge named after him, Weaselskin's claim to fame was the legendary  Weaselskin Gold Mine. The Gold mine was said to have nuggets by the  handfuls. Exactly where it was located is unknown.

On their  trip to and from the mountains, the Weaselskins & his extended Ute  family became well acquainted with the few settlers who lived along the  way. They got to know the Charlie Waldner family who owned a ranch far  up the Florida (Flo-re-dah) River above the present Lemon Reservoir just  over the mountain to the west of Vallecito. Weaselskin often stopped  there on his journeys to Durango, and the Waldners fed him a meal in  order to cultivate his friendship. At this time the Natives still caused  a certain amount of fear in the settlers, and they figured it was safer  to be on good terms with them.

The visits became a routine. As  Weaselskin made his way from his mountain camp to Durango, he would  stop by the Waldner ranch and have a meal. As he prepared to leave, he  would give them a gold nugget to repay them for their kindness.

 After a time, Mr. Waldner started thinking that he wasn't being fair,  taking all these nuggets for just a few meals. He might cause Weaselskin  to run out of his best trading commodity. On the next visit, when  Weaselskin tried to pay, Waldner offered to give some of the gold back,  but Weaselskin refused. He was happy with the arrangement. To him the  food was worth every nugget.

Weaselskin and some of his  companions ventured into a store in Durango one day and found that the  owner of the store had just boiled up a pan of wieners. The proprietor  generously handed out a number of them to the eager group, and then was  quite surprised when they gave him gold nuggets to repay him for the  kindness he had shown them.

For many years the Utes continued  to come up to their favorite hunting and herb-gathering spot, but after  the white settlers started to settle on the Los Pinos and Vallecito  Rivers, things started changing. It became increasingly difficult to get  onto their choicest grounds and the Utes graduallly lost their freedom  to roam at will. Old Weaselskin died during the influenza epidemic in  1918 while living on his land allotment near the Sunnyside Bridge on the Animas River. This was the bridge that was later re-named "Weaselskin  Bridge" in his honor.

Tuckerville was the small mining camp  near Vallecito at Cave Basin in 1913. Cave Basin is located on Middle Mountain, in the foreground of this image. In the main mining area at  Cave Basin a five-foot vein of good copper and galena (lead ore) was  found.

As hard as the miners tried to keep this exciting news  under cover, the secret was soon out and hordes of eager men soon  followed. It finally played out in 1928 and the camp town was abandoned. 

I took this image flying east bound towards Alamosa, Colorado. I am  shooting north westerly and yes it was very cold with the window open. 

From "Where Eagles Fly - The American Wilderness Expedition" my  personal project of exploration in the North American Wilderness. 

I am  on a mission to raise awareness of our Iconic Natural Heritage Treasures  of North America. 

Please re-steemit if you like what you see and want to help spread the word! 

Yehaw!