Leadville, Colorado
Leadville has played an important role in Colorado history for more than 150 years. Leadville’s mining history began in 1860 with the discovery of gold.
Roughly 8,000 prospectors arrived in “Oro City,” their name for the makeshift town of tents and cabins. During the next five years, more than $4 million worth of gold was discovered using sluice and pan — more than at any other Colorado site. Within five years, however, the gold was playing out.
Robert Emmet Mine
The next boom would be silver. By 1880, Leadville had more than 30,000 residents and, of course, more than 100 saloons, dance halls, gambling joints and brothels. By the late 1880s, the Colorado and Southern High Line, a narrow gauge railroad, was working the mineral belt.
Horace Tabor, who owned a general mercantile store with his wife Augusta, invested in mining with incredible success. He built and opened the famous Opera House in 1879, as well as the Bank of Leadville and the Tabor Grand Hotel. Along the way, he infamously left his wife and married the young “Baby Doe.”
His Tabor Opera House presented an astounding variety of talent like the world-famous magician Harry Houdini, John Phillip Sousa, the British wit Oscar Wilde, the great actress Sarah Bernhardt and many more.
Molly Brown arrived as a teenager in the early 1880s, working as a seamstress in a dry goods store. She eventually married J.J. Brown, and became the “Unsinkable” Molly Brown.
Of course, Doc Holliday’s stay in Leadville is one of the most infamous. Conflicting accounts of his story abound, but the records do indicate that he shot and wounded Bill Allen in August 1884. Supposedly penniless, he was nonetheless released on a total bail of $8,000, which was raised by his wealthy friends, and in March 1885, he was acquitted and released. Allen was the last man on record shot by Holliday.
In 1889, Congress established a National Fish Hatchery on the east side of Mt. Massive. It’s now the oldest fish hatchery west of the Mississippi River.
Miners illustration
In 1893, the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act spelled ruin for many. Local businessmen decided to combat the downturn of the economy by building an incredible Ice Palace during the winter of 1895-1896. Requiring 5,000 tons of ice to be cut from the nearby lakes, the Ice Palace featured life-sized sculptures of prospectors and burros, a skating rink and a “gallery of commerce” with frozen produce, beer and more.
Mining continued, with zinc, lead and copper. But its last great resurgence came in 1918 with the opening of the massive Climax Molybdenum Mine north of Leadville. It employed more than 3,000 workers, and supplied half of the world’s molybdenum. The Climax Mine is set to reopen during 2012.
In 1941, Minnie Dole approached the United States Army with the need to train troops for winter survival and skiing. The site for Camp Hale, at 9,300 feet altitude, 17 miles north of Leadville, Colorado, was chosen for the newly established Tenth Mountain Division.
Today, Leadville has preserved an astounding amount of its history. Seventy square blocks have been designated a National Historic Landmark of Victorian Architecture, featuring more than fifty nineteenth-century buildings. Other historic attractions include a twenty-square-mile historic mining district, a historic railroad, more museums than any town in Colorado, and a yearly Boom Days event in August to celebrate it all.
For more information on Leadville visit: www.visitleadvilleco.com
