Horace Tabor

Horace “Silver King” Tabor rose from a smalltime prospector to one of the wealthiest men in Colorado because of his luck in Leadville’s silver mines. He became the subject of the tabloids through his romantic liaisons with Baby Doe Tabor and his fall from power when the United States changed to the gold standard. This shift devalued silver, hurting many in the silver-mining industry and devastating fortunes overnight.

Born in Vermont in 1830, Tabor migrated to Kansas to farm in the mid-1850s. He married Augusta Pierce in 1857 and moved to Denver during the 1859 Gold Rush. After a stop in South Park, he and Augusta began placer mining in Leadville. Later, they returned to South Park to run a trading post until a claim in Leadville proved to have a massive silver lode. The Little Pittsburg mine was exceptionally productive and was followed by other mines, the most famous the Matchless mine. Tabor expanded his mining empire to include claims in the San Juan Mountains, Aspen, Cripple Creek, and around the southwestern United States.

Tabor’s success during the great silver boom years of 1877–79 made him one of the wealthiest men in Colorado. He quickly became famous, served briefly as a US senator, and donated large sums for the construction of several notable buildings.

Tabor enjoyed the extravagant lifestyle his new wealth provided. He grew apart from his wife Augusta, and they divorced. A younger woman, renowned for her beauty, Baby Doe, caught his eye, and the two were married on March 1, 1883, in an extravagant Washington, DC, wedding with President. Chester A. Arthur in attendance. The family lived lavishly and was featured in national news magazines and periodicals, but this did not impress Denver socialites. The Tabors were excluded from social functions, and Horace repeatedly ran unsuccessfully for governor throughout the 1880s.

In 1893, President Grover Cleveland called a special session of Congress to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, devaluing silver and causing the silver market to crash. The Tabors were financially ruined and forced to pawn many of their belongings; they became the target of many lawsuits. Tabor returned to the mines as a laborer to work off some of his debts. He had hoped to strike it rich again to reverse his declining fortunes.

In 1899 Tabor died of appendicitis and reportedly asked Baby Doe to “hold on to the Matchless” as his dying wish. His funeral was one of the largest in Colorado history, attended by more than 10,000 people, according to the Aspen Tribune. Baby Doe went to live in a shack outside the Matchless mine until she died. Meanwhile, Augusta kept her husband’s name and wisely invested her settlement from the divorce, leaving her son over half a million dollars in inheritance.

The Tabors, including Horace, are memorialized in the opera The Ballad of Baby Doe and in the film Silver Dollar. As one of Colorado’s most notable silver barons, Horace Tabor helped shape the foundation and the future of the Centennial State.

Horace Tabor, known as the “Silver King,” was born in Vermont in 1830. Tabor migrated to Kansas to farm in the mid-1850s. He married Augusta Pierce in 1857 and moved to Denver during the 1859 Gold Rush. He and Augusta began placer mining in Leadville, where a claim they had made proved to have a huge silver lode. Their mine, the Little Pittsburg, was exceptionally productive and allowed Tabor to add other mines, the most famous called the Matchless. Tabor further expanded his mining empire to include claims in the San Juan Mountains, Aspen, Cripple Creek, and around the southwestern United States.

Tabor’s success during the great silver boom years of 1877–79 made him one of the wealthiest men in Colorado. He quickly became famous, served briefly as a US senator, and donated large sums for the construction of several notable buildings.

Tabor enjoyed a rich lifestyle that his new wealth provided. He grew apart from his wife, Augusta, and they divorced. The youthful and beautiful Baby Doe caught his eye, and the two were married on March 1, 1883, in an extravagant Washington, DC, wedding with President Chester A. Arthur in attendance. The family lived lavishly and was featured in national news magazines and periodicals, but this did not impress Denver socialites. The Tabors were excluded from social functions, and Horace repeatedly ran unsuccessfully for governor throughout the 1880s.

In 1893, President Grover Cleveland called a special session of Congress to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890. The result was to lessen the value of silver causing the silver market to crash. The Tabors were financially ruined and forced to sell many of their belongings; they became the target of many lawsuits. Tabor returned to the mines as a laborer to work off some of his debts. He had hoped to strike it rich again to reverse his declining fortunes.

In 1899 Tabor died of appendicitis. He reportedly asked Baby Doe to “hold on to the Matchless” as his dying wish. His funeral was one of the largest in Colorado history, attended by more than 10,000 people, according to the Aspen Tribune. Baby Doe went to live in a shack outside the Matchless mine until her death. Meanwhile, Augusta, who kept her husband’s name, wisely invested her settlement from the divorce, leaving her son over half a million dollars in inheritance.

The Tabors, including Horace, are memorialized in the opera The Ballad of Baby Doe and in the film Silver Dollar. As one of Colorado’s most notable silver barons, Horace Tabor helped shape the foundation and the future of the Centennial State.

Horace Tabor was born in Vermont in 1830. As a young man he moved to Kansas in the mid-1850s to farm. He married Augusta Pierce in 1857. Together they went to Denver during the 1859 Gold Rush. He and Augusta began prospecting in Leadville. Later, a claim they had in Leadville produced a huge amount of silver. They named the claim the Little Pittsburg mine and started other mines. The most famous of these was called the Matchless mine. Tabor built a mining empire that included mines in many parts of Colorado and the southwestern United States.

Tabor’s success during the great silver boom years of 1877–79 made him one of the richest men in Colorado. He quickly became famous. Tabor became a US senator and gave a lot of money to build several important buildings.

Tabor enjoyed the lifestyle his riches gave him. He grew apart from Augusta, and they divorced. A younger woman renowned for her beauty, Baby Doe, came into his life, and they got married on March 1, 1883. President Chester A. Arthur attended their wedding held in Washington, DC.

In 1893, Congress passed an act that caused the value of silver to go down. The Tabors lost almost all of their money. Tabor returned to his mines to work as a laborer hoping to get rich again.

In 1899 Tabor died. Ten thousand people came to his funeral, one of the largest in Colorado history.

Horace Tabor was one of Colorado’s most famous men, and he helped to shape the future of the Centennial State.