Hey friends, welcome back to Grand Adventure! I'm your host Marc Guido, and welcome to the cooler
weather at 10,000 feet in Leadville, Colorado. We're going to explore this area, do a little
camping, and check out the mining history of Leadville so come along with us! Stay tuned.
This episode of grand adventure is sponsored by The Dyrt PRO! Find the campsite that's right for
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So we came up here to Leadville to escape the heat that's plaguing much of the western U.S.
right now.While temperatures all over the place are into the triple digits we're enjoying highs
here at 10,000 feet of about 80 degrees, upper 70s to around 80, and lows down around 40.
So it's a lot more comfortable, and that's a trick about summertime in the American West is,
if it's too hot just go up in elevation and you can always find cooler weather. Now unfortunately,
a lot of other people seem to have had this idea, and this is not the boondocking type of experience
that we prefer. We're actually sharing a meadow with about a half a dozen other rigs and it's
way too crowded for our taste here, but it was a chance to get away from the heat for a week until
cooler weather returns next week, so in the end this is probably the best that we could hope for.
We're camped in the San Isabel National Forest about four miles due west of Leadville,
along Forest Road 113. This is your typical free National Forest boondocking with a 14-day
stay limit situated in the shadow of Mt. Elbert and Mt. Massive, Colorado’s two highest peaks.
Our camp is situated just below the dam of Turquoise Lake. First dammed in the 19th
century and named not for its color, but instead for the rare turquoise deposits found nearby,
Turquoise Lake offers 1,800 acres or year-round recreational fun.
Visitors can spend the day boating, fishing, mountain biking, or simply relaxing on the
beach. A number of popular dry Forest Service campgrounds line the eastern shoreline.
We'll be back in just a moment to explore Leadville's history and more with you,
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With an estimated population of 2,700, Leadville is situated at a lofty elevation of
10,152 feet, earning itself the nickname "The Cloud City." A former silver mining town at
the headwaters of the Arkansas River in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, the Leadville
Historic District contains many historic structures and sites in its dynamic mining era.
By 1880, Leadville had gas lighting, water mains, 28 miles of streets, five churches,
three hospitals, six banks, and a school for 1,100 students.
In the late 19th century, Leadville was the second most populous city in Colorado, after Denver.
Leadville’s Historic Mining District is located immediately east of downtown, and is also referred
to as The Route of the Silver Kings. It’s a web of dirt roads reaching to nearly 12,000 feet that was
once home to mining camps and mines, the remnants and ghost towns of which still stand today.
The Leadville area was first settled in 1859 when placer gold was discovered in California Gulch
during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush. The early miners had noted that
mining for placer gold was hampered by heavy black sand in the sluice boxes,
and in 1874 it was discovered that the heavy sand that impeded gold recovery was the lead mineral
cerussite, which has a high silver content. Prospectors traced the cerussite to its source,
present day Leadville, and by 1876 had discovered several silver-lead lode deposits.
This steel head-frame and associated buildings are of the Diamond Mine.
One of the Leadville area's most recent mine works, the Diamond Mine was sunk in the 1980s
to explore and produce gold from an area east of the Resurrection mines. It closed in 1988.
Stumptown sprung up in the early 1870s after placer gold was discovered along Lincoln Gulch
and South Evans Gulch. It was believed to have been named for a German man named Joseph Stumpf,
however this man was panning for placer gold in the area long after the town was founded.
Mostly a residential town, there were some saloons and a pool hall in Stumptown,
which declined in the late 1880s but was revived by development of the Ibex mines in the mid-1890s
higher up the mountain to the south. It was occupied into the 1930s.
Horace Tabor, who became known as the "Leadville Silver King",
and his wife Augusta were among the first prospectors to arrive at California Gulch.
Tabor tried his luck at prospecting while his wife worked as a camp cook, laundress, banker
and postmistress. Tabor, originally from Vermont, became the town's first mayor. After striking it
rich, he had an estimated net worth of $10 million and was known for his extravagant lifestyle.
In 1883 Horace Tabor divorced his wife of 25 years and in a widely publicized scandal married Baby
Doe McCourt, who was half his age. For several years the new couple lived a lavish lifestyle
in a Denver mansion, but Tabor lost his fortune when the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act
caused the Panic of 1893. He died destitute in 1899, whereas his ex-wife Augusta,
herself an astute businesswoman of the time, died a millionaire.
As both an avid skier and a World War II history buff, I can't help but take a drive
up nearby Tennessee Pass to visit the site of Camp Hale while I'm in the Leadville area.
Camp Hale was a U.S. Army training facility constructed in 1942 for what became the Army's
famed 10th Mountain Division. Situated at an elevation of 9,200 feet on the north side of
Tennessee Pass, Camp Hale was developed to train mountain warfare techniques
that would prove essential in the US Army's offensive campaign in Italy
during World War II. Soldiers were trained here in mountain climbing, Alpine and Nordic skiing,
and cold-weather survival as well as various weapons and ordnance. When it was in full
operation, approximately 15,000 soldiers were housed here in this flat, high alpine valley.
The War Department chose this location at 9,200 feet because the Denver and Rio Grande Western
Railroad stopped at nearby Pando Rail Station, and historically the snowfall in the Tennessee
Pass area was plentiful. Construction of the camp began in the spring of 1942
and finished seven months later. The camp included mess halls, infirmaries, a ski shop,
administrative offices, a movie theater, and stables for livestock. Trainees were taught to ski
three miles to the south of Camp Hale at Cooper Hill, serviced by a newly built T-bar lift.
The men of the 10th Mountain Division fought in the mountains of Italy in some of the roughest
terrain in World War II, most famously fighting on Riva Ridge in February 1945.
Camp Hale was decommissioned in November 1945. Following the War, veterans of the 10th Mountain
Division returned to Cooper Hill to found Ski Cooper, which continues to host skiers as well
as a Memorial Day celebration for the World War II veterans of the 10th Mountain Division.
Many other 10th Mountain vets went on to develop the U.S. ski industry
that blossomed all across the country in the years immediately following the war.
As busy as the Leadville area has been midweek, our little meadow turned into
a complete junk show on Friday night as the weekenders arrived from the Denver metro area.
We were planning to stay until Sunday, but with this kind of activity on Saturday
morning we're going to hit the road a day early in search of quieter camping.
So we truly hope that you've enjoyed coming along to explore the Leadville area with us.
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