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Standing at an elevation of over ten thousand feet, south of I-70
and eighty miles west of Denver, the wonderfully atmospheric old
mining town of LEADVILLE is the highest incorporated city in
the US, with a magnificent view across to broad-shouldered,
ice-laden mounts Elbert (14,433ft) and Massie
(14,421ft), Colorado's two highest peaks. As you approach from the
south, your first impression is likely to be of giant slag heaps and
disused mining sheds, but don't let this put you off: Leadville is
rich in character and romance, its old redbrick streets abounding
with tales of gunfights, miners dying of exposure and graveyards
being excavated to get at the seams.
In
the light of this, visiting Leadville's rambling National Mining
Hall of Fame and Museum, 120 W Ninth St (summer daily 9am-5pm;
rest of year Mon-Fri 10am-2pm; $3), is a patchy experience: skip the
baffling dioramas and outdated mine-shaft models in favor of the
lurid globs of precious minerals and the atmospheric old photos of
weather-beaten prospectors and rough-and-ready sluices. For a more
illuminating romp through the town's grim early history, head for
the Heritage Museum, just around the corner at 102 E Ninth
St (summer daily 10am-6pm; $2.50). Glass cases hold snippets on
local fraternal organizations, quack doctors, music-hall stars and
the like, while a host of smoky photographs portray the lawless
boomtown that in two years grew from a mining camp of 200 people
into Colorado's second largest city.
Of
all Leadville's extraordinary tales, perhaps the most compelling is
that of Horace Tabor, a storekeeper who supplied goods to
prospectors in exchange for a share in potential profits, and hit
lucky when two prospectors developed a silver mine that produced $20
million inside a year. Tabor collected a one-third share and left
his wife to marry local waitress " Baby Doe " McCourt in
the socialite wedding of 1883 in Washington, DC, attended by
President Chester Arthur.
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By the
time of his death in 1899, Tabor was financially ruined. Baby Doe
survived Tabor by 36 years, living a hermit-like existence in the
godforsaken wooden outhouses on his only remaining mine - the Matchless Mine . The buildings
still stand, two miles out on Seventh Street, and in the crude
wooden shack in which she died, emaciated and frostbitten, guides
recount the story of Baby Doe's bizarre life in full, fascinating
detail (daily 9am-4.15pm; $3). Also on Seventh Street is the
Leadville, Colorado & Southern Scenic Railroad, (depot at 326 E
7th St; $27; phone 719/486-3936), which takes passengers on a
two-and-a-half-hour scenic trip to Fremont Pass.
Back
in town, don't miss the Tabor Opera House, 308 Harrison Ave
(Sun-Fri 9am-5.30pm; $4), where you're free to wander onto the
stage, through the ranks of red velvet and gilt seats, and around
the eerie, dusty old dressing rooms, while recorded oral histories
tell tales of the theater's golden days. They give no details,
sadly, of the time in 1882 when Oscar Wilde, garbed in black velvet
knee britches and diamonds, addressed a host of dozing miners on the
"Practical Application of the Aesthetic Theory to Exterior and
Interior House Decoration with Observations on Dress and Personal
Ornament."
 Colorado
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Colorado
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