Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Rico, CO

Rico is a home rule town in eastern Dolores County, in southwestern Colorado's San Juan Mountains.

Rico was settled in 1879 as a silver mining center in the Pioneer Mining District and was incorporated on February 25, 1880.

Rico's name comes from the Spanish word for "rich."

Rico had a population of 288 at the 2020 census, a small remnant of its silver-boom peak of 1,134 residents in 1890, after which it fell as low as 76 residents in 1980.

Rico sits at an elevation of 8,773 feet in the valley of the Dolores River and covers 0.68 square miles.

Colorado State Highway 145 passes through Rico along the Dolores River, leading northeast over Lizard Head Pass about 27 miles to Telluride and southwest about 48 miles to Cortez.

Rico Town Hall and the Dey Building, built in 1892, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Rico was a water stop on the Rio Grande Southern Railroad, and the water tank that refilled the tenders of its steam locomotives still stands on the west side of the former rail grade.

Rico has an alpine subarctic climate with long, very snowy winters, averaging about 171 inches of snow a year.

Rico's motto is "A Slice of Paradise," and the historic mining town today functions largely as a historic and tourism site on the San Juan Skyway.