Deep Springs College is a private junior college in Deep Springs, California. With the number of undergraduates restricted to 26, the college is one of the smallest institutions of higher education in the United States. In L. Jackson Newell's 1982 assessment of Deep Springs College, he states that it "ranks second among the nation's institutions of higher learning with respect to the aptitude of the students it admits". Though it offers an associate degree, most students transfer into a four-year college after completing their studies. Those enrolled pay no tuition and are given room and board.

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.