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Welcome to Ames ...

So far, we found very little information about Ames. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>

We've added Ames to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Ames, please Contact Us.

Ames would have been located within present day San Miguel County<2>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Ames, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1880.

When the people of Ames referred to themselves (known as a demonym), they are believed to have used Amesite<3>

While the community is gone, the present day location for Ames is 8,720 feet [2,658 m] above sea level.<4> In other words, the altitude of Ames is about 1¾ mile [or ~2¾ km] above sea level.

Time Zone: The area where Ames was located is in the Mountain Time Zone (MST/MDT) and observes daylight saving time

The Area Code where Ames was located: 970

Communities Also Named Ames ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 17 communities that are also named Ames - they are located in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan (2), Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas (2) and West Virginia.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Ames.

Communities near Ames ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Ames.

  • Telluride
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Mountain Village
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mountain Village have been provided by the GNIS.<6> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Village
    • Mountain Village is located in San Miguel County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,470 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mountain Village <5>
  • Ouray
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Silverton
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
  • Rico
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rico have been provided by the GNIS.<6> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rico
    • Rico is located in Dolores County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 262 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rico <5>
  • Sawpit
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sawpit
    • Sawpit is located in San Miguel County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 38 people
    • Sawpit has also been known as:
    • Saw Pit
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Sawpit
    • From Ames to Sawpit
  • Ilium
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Ilium. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<7>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ilium
    • Ilium is located in San Miguel County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Ilium
    • From Ames to Ilium
  • Vance Junction
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Keystone ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Liberty Bell ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Ames. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Ames.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Ames. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Ames.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Ames. See our Newspapers Page for Ames.

Adding Ames to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Ames in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Ames was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<8>

X2X - From that list, the Ames post office opened in 1880.

We also found Ames in the book titled Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Ames.

The official website for San Miguel County: www.sanmiguelcounty.org/

The official website for State of Colorado: https://www.colorado.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Ames, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>If you're interested in how the shape of Colorado's counties, including San Miguel, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<3>A demonym is the name for a resident of a community which is usually derived from (or is related to) the name of that community. In other words, it's how the residents of Ames refer to themselves. It's important to note that there aren't any rules for taking a community's name and turning it into a demonym. A demonym is informal and while the majority of Ames may use one name, keep in mind that others may use something different.
<4>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Ames - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<5>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<6>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<7>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<8>A copy of their list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025