Late 1500s- Introduction of the horse to the Utes by the Spanish allows summer residence on the Valley Floor by the San Juan natives. The first second-homers here probably numbered about 600.
1700s- French trappers and Spanish explorers first venture into the SW San Juans.
1868- Utes sign treaty with U.S. government that grants them 400,000 acres, including the Valley Floor, "so long as the grasses grow and the waters flow."
1872- Linnard Remine prospects for gold on Valley Floor.
1873- U.S. government breaks 1872 treaty with the Utes and forces them from their land.
1874- John Fallon discovers gold in Marshall Basin.
1877- San Miguel City founded on site of present day Brown Homestead.
1885- First plat filed for new town of Columbia, later named Telluride.
1890- Rio Grande Southern railway line completed to Telluride.
1914- First mine tailings reach the Valley Floor compliments of Cornet Creek flood.
1930- Joe Oberto begins to buy pieces of the patchwork claims on the Valley Floor.
1940s- The Valley Floor is first used as a site for tailings storage.
1967- Joe Oberto sells his Valley Floor property to Newmont Mining, owner of Idarado, for $300,000. Idarado states that it intends to store more tailings on the land. Telluride rallies to prevent such use.
1971- Colorado requires all counties to create planning commissions and adopt master plans.
1978- Idarado's Telluride mine closes.
1980- San Miguel County Planning Commission hears from all major landowners in an effort to determine future build-out densities for their land.
1981- The Telluride Regional Planning Advisory Committee recommends zoning for the Valley Floor as PUDR (Planned Unit Development in Reserve) allowing Telluride Valley Corporation, owner of the Valley Floor, the option to enact a PUD in the future. The zoning is adopted by the county. TVC agrees to a build-out density of 1,770 people, mostly clustered near the site of the current Texaco gas station. No golf course or reservoirs are planned but an allowance is made for a hotel and provisions for affordable housing.
1981- Cordillera Corp., predecessor to San Miguel Valley Corp., buys the Valley Floor for $6.5million. Telluride declines an option to purchase the land.
1985- In the mid 80s, SMVC develops plans for reservoirs, a golf course and up to 7,000 people on the Valley Floor. The plans are not pursued.
1985- Telluride initiates condemnation to acquire land at Society Turn where the sewage plant is now located. Town halts condemnation and trades the sewer ponds in the middle of the Valley Floor for the SMVC Society Turn property.
April 93- April Fools fax. An SMVC memo mistakenly faxed to SMC Planning Dept. outlines the possibility of draining wetlands to create more developable land and buying The Telluride Times Journal, presumably to control communication and public sentiment.
1993- The so-called "20 Percent Solution" is adopted by the Telluride Town Council to create public funds for open space preservation. 896 public votes are cast on the ballot question with 61 percent in favor.
1995- The Community Planning Advisory Commission is formed, comprised of major landowners, government officials and citizens.
1996- Community Works study, ordered by CPAC, recommends 1,770 people on the Valley Floor, including a 400-person hotel, golf course and 200 people on South Side. The recommendations are not accepted or enacted by town council or county commissioners.
December 1998- Letter to Telluride Town Council from SMVC Vice President Johnnie Stevens states unequivocally that SMVC will not annex the Valley Floor to Telluride or enter into a developer agreement.
1999 A land trade between Telluride and U.S. Forest Service for "The Wedge," that might have blocked Valley Floor annexation to Mountain Village is resisted by Mountain Village and falls through.
September 1999- District court judge rules that railroad right-of-way belongs to SMVC, not Telluride, to whom it had been conveyed by the county.
December 1999- SMVC updates development plans that include large hotel complex, golf course, gondola, condos and retail.
June 2000- SMVC announces intentions to annex to Mountain Village.
June 2000- The Telluride Town Council directs an appraisal, boundary survey and legal documents in preparation for condemnation.
July 2000- The Mountain Village Town Council calls for a regional meeting on the Valley Floor and defers action on annexation.
July 2000- 1,500 people demonstrate at the Rally for the Valley.
August 2000- SMVC suspends MV annexation efforts.
February 2001- An appraisal prepared by Chase and Company for Telluride values SMVC land, less the airport parcel, at $22.6 mm.
March 2001- The San Miguel River Restoration Assessment, spearheaded by the San Miguel Watershed Coalition and prepared by the Trust for Land Restoration, identified the San Miguel as "one of the West's few remaining hydrologically-intact watersheds."
April 2001- The Telluride Town Council passes a resolution to acquire and preserve the Valley Floor through condemnation.
July 2001- The Trust for Historic Preservation lists the Valley Floor as one of the 11 most endangered sites in the nation.
July 2001- Yogi Kirst, George Harvey and Bob Dempsey file suit against Telluride to stop condemnation. Plaintiffs argue that adoption of a resolution to condemn violates Town Charter and should have been by ordinance.
Fall 2001- SMVC ends public access to the Valley Floor.
November 2001- The Telluride Town Council adopts ordinance to authorize condemnation of all of SMVC's property, subject to a public vote.
2002- SMVC representative offers to negotiate limited development with town council. Told south side preservation is not on the table, council votes not to pursue negotiations.
February 2002- Telluride Mayor John Steel releases a memo outlining the basic terms of a possible moratorium agreement he negotiated with SMVC. The agreement calls for suspension of condemnation efforts for two years in return for SMVC's suspension of all development plans.
April 2002- Telluride's initiative to condemn the Valley Floor is repealed in favor of an ordinance.
June 2002- Telluride votes to acquire the south side of Valley Floor through condemnation. Votes are 609 in favor, 385 opposed.
July 2002- Notification of intent to condemn is filed in court.
November 2002- Telluride votes to authorize creation of $9.9 million of new debt for the Valley Floor acquisition. Votes are 505 in favor, 326 opposed.
August 2003 A new appraisal by Chase and Company values the Valley Floor at $19.3 million. Appraisal for SMVC prepared by National Valuation comes in at $48.2 million.
October 2003- Telluride makes a "good faith offer" to buy 572 acres of the Valley Floor for $19.5 million. The offer is turned down by SMVC who claims the offer is in "bad faith."
February 2003- A Newsweek magazine article reveals that oil and gas interests controlled by SMVC principle Neal Blue customarily fought for land condemnations in the 80s.
January 2004- The Telluride Town Council votes unanimously to file a legal action condemning the Valley Floor.
March 2004- Telluride officially files for condemnation in district court.
April 2004- SMVC asks District Court Judge Charles Greenacre to dismiss the Telluride condemnation petition.
May 2004- HB 1203, containing the so-called "Telluride Amendment," passes Colorado legislature; the bill outlaws home-rule municipalities from condemning property outside their borders for open space preservation. SMVC attorney Thomas Ragonetti is seen as the driving force behind the special purpose legislation that targets Telluride condemnation efforts.
June 2004- The Telluride Town Council hires Gerald E. Dahl to challenge the constitutionality of HB 1203.
October 2004- District Court Judge Charles Greenacre rules against SMVC motion to dismiss.
October 2004- The Colorado Court of Appeals upholds Greenacre's ruling against SMVC's appeal.
December 2004- Judge Greenacre sets Jan. 9, 2006 for a valuation trial and orders mediation to be completed by Telluride and SMVC by no later than Dec. 1, 2005. Neither party files a motion to object.
January 2005- District court rules HB 1203 unconstitutional.
June 2005- New appraisal of the Valley Floor by Chase and Company indicates value of $26.0 million. National Valuation re-issues its appraisal for SMVC and assesses the property's value at $51 million,
June 2005- District court-ordered mediation begins between Telluride and SMVC
December 2005- The Telluride Town Council presents the essential elements and framework of a mediated settlement involving limited development on the Valley Floor to the public.
January 2006- The Telluride Town Council adopts an ordinance approving the framework for settlement and calls a special election scheduled for Feb. 14, 2006.
February 2007- A Delta, Colo., jury values the 570-acre Valley Floor tract at $50 million. Fundraising goes into high gear for the estimated $24 million in private funding that must be raised.
May 9, 2007- On this day, to always be known in the Telluride region as Valley Floor Day, a jubilant Mayor John Pryor announces that the Valley Floor purchase price of $50.8 million has been raised.
Monday, June 2, 2008 Victory!
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