By Bob Good First-time visitors and those who haven't ventured to the historic mining community of Ouray for awhile, have to be forgiven if they are found standing stock still on Main Street, head tipped back staring at the soaring mountains overhead, jaws slack and muttering over and over to themselves, "Wow!" Ouray is that kind of place. Nestled in one of the most spectacular settings in North America at the base of the San Juan Mountains, Ouray (originally named Umcompahgre City) once was home to prospectors, dance-hall ladies, con artists, hunters, trappers, gun slingers, mule drivers, hustlers, rustlers, and ordinary hard-working folk from all over the globe, most seeking the region's riches, others only seeking a new life. Ouray reeks of history and adventure. It's no wonder four-wheel-drive enthusiasts arrive here from as far away as both coasts. Ouray is four-wheel-drive central, with something for everyone from hard-core extremists to the more family-oriented weekender. At the Visitor's Information Center on the north edge of town, adjacent to the hot springs pool, the staff posts current conditions and maintains maps on all the popular local four-wheel-drive trails, as well as professionally handling a multitude of daily requests as diverse as where is the best Italian food in town (The Bon Ton, try the seafood stew!) to where are the nearest public rest-room facilities. Walls of the center are lined with brochures catering to just about every fancy from trail rides (that's astride a four-legged critter, not a four-wheeling one) to mine tours, to mountain biking, to hoofing it on your personal pair of get-alongs. A trip to the Visitor's Center is highly recommended to anyone not familiar with the diversity of the area. Right next door to the Center is by far Ouray's most popular attraction for visitors of all ages, the Ouray Hot Springs Pool. With a million gallons of water divided into seven sections and temperatures ranging from 106 to 82 degrees, swimmers and soakers alike find a comfort zone to their liking. Ouray is known as Little Switzerland, not hard to understand when relaxing in the mellowing mineral waters while glancing up in awe at the majestic San Juans looming overhead. The pool's main spring bubbles forth at an astonishing 157 degrees, so cold water must be mixed with nature's output to keep from parboiling patrons. There seems to be a constant movement of visitors rotating through all seven pools, rotating from hottest to coolest or coolest to hottest. The town's parks and recreation department readily admits the hot springs is the life of Ouray. Open all year, on full-moon nights it runs a late schedule to allow tourists and locals alike to marvel at the towering San Juans bathed in moon-glow, while acquiring a mellow glow of their own from the soothing effects of Mother Nature's hot mineral bath. A tip: Go early in the day. Late afternoon storms are not unusual and all patrons must exit the pool when lightening flashes light the surrounding peaks and thunder booms across the valley. Ouray is steeped in history. One only has to walk the main drag to appreciate that fact. Many of the town's buildings reflect its early beginnings, from the ancient livery stable where dudes can still rent horses to the Victorian architecture of the old Beaumont Hotel dominating the skyline on the east side of the street. At the Visitor's Center, visitors can obtain a free copy of The Ouray County Summer Guide. Inside they will find a section entitled "Fascinating History Seen On Walking Tour." It's well worth the effort to find and read, as well as follow. Most of the buildings on the walking tour were built in the late 1880s, at the peak of the mining era. Gold and silver were discovered in the surrounding mountains in 1875. The Beaumont Hotel at 5th and Main was built in 1886. Built in the "grand hotel" style, it became the stopping place for everyone who was anyone in the late 1880s and early 1900s. Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover are said to have stayed there as did actress Sarah Bernhardt and King Leopold of Belgium.  To really appreciate the hardship the early prospectors and miners endured and the tenacity they demonstrated, a visit to one of the area mines is highly recommended. A number of mines currently offer tours. Brochures outlining the aspects of the various mines and times of operations can be found at the Center. For background reading on just how rich some of these diggings were, read "Daddy Struck It Rich" by Evelyn Walsh McLean. Known as "The Million Dollar Baby," she was the first born of the owner of the Camp Bird Mine. Her daddy purchased the Hope Diamond for his wife from the $22 million the mine produced under his ownership. Word of that kind of riches lured not only those hoping to find their fortunes in the rugged mountain range above town, but also those planning on mining the pockets of the miners themselves. Thirty-five saloons and a red-light district on Second Street gave Ouray a reputation in the 1890s as a "rough and ready" town where a man could strike it rich and find all the adventure he could handle. Sophistication has come to Ouray, but fortunately, not in stifling doses. Tourists can enjoy classical guitar in an old English setting at the Ouray Teahouse, play a round of golf at Fairway Pines (a full 18 holes), marvel at the fine mountain landscapes of artist Sharon Achtyes at the popular Ouray Galleries, creep up four-wheel drive trails that once made mules shudder to traverse, pan for real gold in creeks that ran rich with the precious metal, hop over the hill and ride the famous Durango-to-Silverton narrow gauge, hike breath-taking (literally) trails leading to world-class vistas, fish for rainbow, cutthroat, browns or brook trout, fry a batch of fresh-from-the-water fish at streamside, ogle elk and mule deer in the meadows, visit our newest national park 1-1/2 hours up the road (Black Canyon of the Gunnison), eat a chuckwagon dinner, ride a mine train deep into the bowels of the earth, review area history at the County Museum (420 6th Ave.), visit a turn-of-the-century blacksmith shop (Bachelor Mine), and, after finishing all that, soak away tired muscles and those flat-land over-worked, over-stressed blues at the hot springs mineral pool while tipping the head back, staring at the spectacular peaks of the surrounding San Juan Mountains while exclaiming..."Wow!"  For more information on this and other Jeep Jamborees, please visit http://www.jeepunpaved.com/jamboree/index.html.  Photos by Bob Good Copyright (c) 2000 by Bob Good. 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