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Sneffels

Ghost town · Ouray County, Colorado

Silverton quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1897, 1:62,500)
Silverton quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1897, 1:62,500) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Sneffels is a ghost town in Ouray County, Colorado. It is one of 5 former communities in Ouray County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 15th among the 48 Colorado counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Sneffels as a historical populated place on the Ironton topographic quadrangle: the name is no longer in official use for a community, whether the settlement was abandoned, absorbed into a neighbouring town or renamed. The recorded location is 37.9753° N, 107.7498° W.

In old newspapers

The earliest digitized newspaper pages printed in Colorado before 1931 that mention “Sneffels”, from the Library of Congress. A page may use the name for something else; open it to read the context. 152 pages in all.

Key facts

USGS quadrangleIronton
Elevation10,597 ft
Nearest living townTelluride, CO
Distance to it4.4 miles
GNIS feature ID187256
Coordinates37.97527, -107.74978

Open the location on a map

What's there now

Sneffels is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Telluride, CO (population 2,595), about 4.4 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 10,597 feet above sea level. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Nearby places

Questions

Where is Sneffels?

Sneffels is in Ouray County, Colorado, at 37.9753, -107.7498.

How many ghost towns are in Ouray County?

Ouray County, Colorado has 5 ghost towns on record at Wayfarrow.

Sources and licences

Facts marked "approximately" carry an uncertain date in the source. Text on this page is generated from the sources above; no encyclopedia prose is copied. Last updated 2026-11-05.