U.S. 550- Million Dollar Highway. Fall Foliage Scenic Drive. Part 4

Route: https://goo.gl/maps/YjE472mPA5VXuXbb9

In Part 4, we travel north to Red Mountain Pass which affords beautiful majestic overlooks and colorful scenery. Also in this area is the historic Idarado Mine, plan to spend some time here reading and exploring the views of this mine.

Wikipedia:
The Idarado Mine was a mining operation in the San Juan Mountains of Ouray County, Colorado, producing primarily lead, silver and zinc along with lesser amounts of gold and copper. The mine is within the Sneffels-Red Mountain-Telluride mining district. The remains of the operation are visible from the Million Dollar Highway, north of Red Mountain Pass, between Ouray and Silverton, Colorado.

The Idarado produced large amounts of lead, silver and zinc, with lesser amounts of gold and copper. During World War II, the Idarado was a large supplier of critically needed lead and zinc. The mine operated in limited capacity until 1979, when production stopped. Eventually the concentration mill was removed and activity at the mine turned to reclamation.

During the 1980s, reclamation efforts took place at the mill-tailings ponds near the mine and farther north down the valley, near the old Ironton town site, where more mill tailings ponds had been created after all available space near the mine had been exhausted. The old tailings ponds can still be seen just off the highway, appearing now as flat, grassy meadows.
U.S. 550 begins just north of Albuquerque at Bernalillo and passes through the towns of San Ysidro, Cuba, Bloomfield and Aztec. Except for sections passing through the above listed towns, U.S. 550 in New Mexico has been upgraded to four lanes, offering a high-speed (70 mph) connection for Farmington, New Mexico and Durango, Colorado to Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

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