The 1886 Beaumont Hotel in Ouray, Colorado, an old mining community (pronounced "you-RAY") high in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado. In its day, the Beaumont was one of the grandest hotels in western Colorado. It was one of the first hotels in America to be wired for alternating-current electricity. It hosted guests such as presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover. The hotel closed in 1964 due to declining tourism in the area. For more than 30 years the hotel sat empty, boarded up and in disrepair. At one point part of the roof collapsed, and more than once the building was considered for condemnation. The hotel was sold in 1998 and was meticulously restored, its multiple rooms combined into a more spacious arrangement. The large hotel building now (in 2015) has just 12 guest rooms. Photo by Carol Highsmith.