Leadville, Colorado

I remember a meeting back in 1995 in Trinidad, Colorado with the local Chamber of Commerce and a representative from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The NTHP had just finished surveying all of Colorado and inventorying Victorian and other historic architecture. That rep told us that Trinidad had the most Victorian architecture, and the most that was still restorable.

She also told us that Leadville was a distant second. Now that I've finally had a chance to look around in Leadville, I'm scratching my head about that one. Leadville is gorgeous. There are Victorians everywhere you look, and most of them are still in use. At one time, Trinidad and Leadville were about the same size, although I think Leadville had more money floating around in the streets (Trinidad's money came from coal and the mine owners (John D. Rockefeller being the biggest) much preferred paying the miners with company scrip, not cash). These days Trinidad is considerably larger and floating in money from the coal-bed methane development going on west of town. Leadville still has some mining going on around town but the real money seems to be in tourism.

In 1860, gold was discovered in nearby California Gulch but that strike was soon exhausted and most of the miners left. Then in 1876, some newcomers realized that the heavy sand left behind in the pine woods as a nuisance by the previous prospectors was actually silver carbonate and another mining rush was on. By 1877, Leadville was the most famous silver-mining camp on Earth. By 1890, the 30,000 fortune hunters who lived and worked here made Leadville the second largest city in Colorado. Many famous fortunes were built here, including that of HW Tabor and the Unsinkable Molly Brown. The social life in Leadville was gay and cultivated with ambitious projects like the Ice Palace and the Tabor Opera House happening, although there were still some pretty violent labor contests going no for years.

Today, Leadville is also famous for the fact that it snows on July 4 on a regular basis: something about that 10,152 foot elevation.

One famous resident of Leadville was John B. “Texas Jack” Omohundro (1846-1880). Born in Virginia, Texas Jack made his way west in 1862 at the tender age of 16. His intent was to become a cowboy. Later, he was known for his prowess as a plainsman and government scout who often led the Pawnee Indians on summer hunts and guided such notables as the Earl of Dunraven.

In 1872, he and his friend Buffalo Bill Cody achieved national fame by starting the first Wild West shows in America. Shortly after that, Jack married the beautiful and famous danseuse Mlle. Guiseppina Morlacchi and they lived in Leadville until Jack died on June 28, 1880 at the age of 33. Texas Jack was honored posthumously in 1994 when he was inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame’s Hall of Great Western Performers in Oklahoma City.