Ouray (c. 1820–c. 1880)

Uncompaghre Ute chief. In 1863 he negotiated a treaty with the USA, ceding all of the Utes' territory east of the Continental Divide but making him chief of the Western Ute. In 1867, with US frontier settler Kit Carson, he suppressed a revolt led by Kaniatse, a rival chief. In 1879, the esteem in which he was held by both sides helped avert a war after an incident involving the murder of several whites. In 1880 he signed a treaty in Washington, DC, providing for the final removal of the Utes from Colorado to Utah.

Ouray was born at Taos in present-day New Mexico. Raised among Mexicans, he spoke Spanish as well as his Ute language and English. He became chief of the Uncompaghre in 1862.

Ouray

Seat of Ouray County, southwestern Colorado, USA, on the Uncompahgre River, in a mountain-bounded box canyon in the San Juan Mountains, 84 km/52 mi northeast of Durango; population (2000) 800. Originally a silver mining town, it is now a ranching centre and health resort with hot mineral springs. Many local mines are still in operation, yielding gold, lead, zinc, silver, uranium, and copper. Ouray was founded in 1875 and named for a Ute chief.

After the silver crash of 1893, mining in the town focused on its gold-producing Camp Bird mine.