Bulkeley Wells, also spelled Buckeley Wells, was an American businessperson involved in mining. Born in Chicago to businessman Samuel Edgar Wells and Marry Agnes Bulkeley, Wells was educated at Roxbury Latin School and at Harvard University. He married into the wealthy family of Colonel Thomas L. Livermore, to daughter Grace Livermore. He moved to Telluride, Colorado, and joined the executive board of the Telluride Mining Association, and headed up the San Miguel County Citizens' Alliance (SMCCA). He had a deputy sheriff's commission, and was captain of Troop A of the Colorado National Guard. He was also a Mason, and an Elk. Wells became president and manager of the Smuggler-Union Mining Company after the murder of Arthur L. Collins.

Telluride is the county seat and most populous town of San Miguel County in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Colorado. The town is a former silver mining camp on the San Miguel River in the western San Juan Mountains. The first gold mining claim was made in the mountains above Telluride in 1875, and early settlement of what is now Telluride followed. The town was founded in 1878 as "Columbia", but due to confusion with a California town of the same name, was renamed Telluride in 1887 for the gold telluride minerals found in other parts of Colorado. These telluride minerals were never found near Telluride, but the area's mines for some years provided zinc, lead, copper, silver, and other gold ores.