Leadville – Altitude with Attitude
Life at 10,200 feet!
If you close your eyes and are very quiet and listen very closely, you can almost hear and see them . . . the hushed voices of the men discussing a potential mine strike, boots scraping and crunching through the frozen crust of snow as they walk to the mine, the horses snorting under the strain of pulling a wagon of supplies up the steep slopes to the mines, someone chopping wood to warm their small house, the shrieks of delight of children as they play on their way to school. Farther away, the grinding and groaning sound of a hoist lifting buckets of ore from one of a dozen mines that dot the hillside. Downtown the door to Mr. J. H Miller’s grocery and meat market on Chestnut Street swings open and a gentleman stamps the excess snow off his feet on the wooden walkway as he enters. Mr. A.V Hunter turns the key and eases himself inside the Carbonate National Bank to assume his duties as President of the Bank as his wife tidies their cozy Victorian home on E. 4th fixing another cup of tea against the bitter cold morning. A haze blankets the town from the smoke rising from the chimneys in every home and business as the sun rises over the Mosquito Range and another day at 10,200 feet begins in the cloud city of Leadville, Colorado.
Leadville is a city that has seen it all and been it all; fame and fortune, boom and bust, dignity and denigration, triumph and tragedy. Leadville is the story of silver kings and ladies of the night, of hardworking immigrants and conmen, of people coming together to help a family in need and polarizing neighbor from neighbor over disagreements. It has reinvented itself time and time again. It is a friendly town where store clerks seem genuinely interested in you and cars stop to allow you to cross Harrison Avenue without the need to push a button for a walk signal. It is the home to Boom Days and the Leadville Trail 100 in the summer and the Crystal Carnival, complete with Skijoring in the winter. It boasts five museums including the Mining Hall of Fame and Museum, the Healy House, the Heritage Museum, the House with the Eye and the Tabor House. If you want to buy an opera house, the Tabor Opera House, currently under private ownership is for sale.
As Carlyle Channing Davis said, “There has been but one Leadville. Never will there be another.” These are the stories and challenges of Leadville. And – these will be the victories of Leadville. Join us for a look back into Leadville’s rich history and a glimpse into her promising future.