Leadville

August Robert Meyer (1851–1905) was a mining engineer who played a central role in starting Leadville ’s silver boom in the late 1870s. Meyer recognized the value of the area’s lead carbonate ores, built a smelter , developed local infrastructure, and helped organize the new city. After leaving...

As Europe stumbled into war in late July and early August 1914, Coloradans viewed the conflict with mixed emotions. Some favored the English, French, Italians, Russians, and their allies. Others preferred the Germans and Austrians and their friends. The divisions were predictable. The 1910 federal...

A large white-clapboard residence in Leadville , Healy House was built for the family of mining engineer August Meyer in 1878. The house signaled the arrival of some domestic comforts to the rough-hewn mining camp. After the Meyers moved away in 1881, the house served briefly as a Methodist...

One of Colorado’s original seventeen counties, Lake County is a mountainous, 384-square mile county in the west-central part of the state. Leadville , a historic mining town ringed by tall peaks near the headwaters of the Arkansas River , serves as county seat; at 10,152 feet, it is the highest...

The Leadville Ice Palace was an enormous, ice-walled building with an exterior in the style of a Norman castle and an interior comprising a large skating rink and two ballrooms. Proposed and constructed in late 1895, the Ice Palace hosted a Crystal Carnival from January 1 to March 28, 1896, before...

The Leadville strike of 1880 was the first major labor conflict in the central Colorado silver boomtown, shutting down most of the area’s mining district from May 26 to mid-June as miners pressed owners and managers for higher wages, an eight-hour workday, and more control over their working...

The Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race, currently known as the Stages Cycling Leadville Trail 100 MTB, covers 100 miles in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado on a mix of alpine trail, dirt road, and pavement. Created by Leadville resident Ken Chlouber in 1994 as an outgrowth of the Leadville Trail...

One of the most famous mines in Colorado, the Matchless Mine in the Leadville Mining District produced millions of dollars’ worth of silver for its owner, Horace Tabor , in the early 1880s. The mine is perhaps best known, however, as the home of Horace Tabor’s second wife, Elizabeth “Baby Doe”...

From the 1850s to the 1920s, gold and silver mining drove Colorado’s economy, making it into an urbanized, industrial state. The rapid development of Colorado’s mineral resources had political, social, and environmental consequences. The mining of gold and silver in Colorado began in earnest during...

The Tenth Mountain Division (hereafter, the Tenth), was US Army division created in 1941. The Allies took notice of a Finnish division of soldiers on skis that defeated and embarrassed a larger and better-equipped invading Soviet force during the Winter War of 1939. Inspired by Finland’s success,...