While today's Telluride might bring to mind a hot tourist spot and upscale ski resort, the earliest days of the town and surrounding San Miguel County were marked by an abundance of gamblers, con men and murderers. From Bob Meldrum, a deputized killer who prowled the streets during times of labor unrest, to the author's own ancestor, Charlie Turner, a brash young man killed in a shooting in Ophir, Carol Turner's Notorious Telluride offers a glimpse at some of the sordid, shocking and sad pioneer tales of the area.

From the shooting of a Secret Service agent in the wilds near Hesperus to the "grave misfortune" of Kid Adams, a not-so-successful highwayman, these tales from the lofty heights of the San Juans are packed with mystery, pathos, and fascinating historical details. Mined from the frontier newspapers of Ouray, San Juan, and La Plata counties, these stories tell of range wars, desperadoes and cattle rustlers, lynchings, ill-tempered ranchers with trigger-fingers, and women fed up with their husbands. There are famous and infamous newsmen, wild stagecoach rides, scapegoats, and stolen lands. Carol Turner's Notorious San Juans offers a rowdy ride through the region's not-so-quiet history.