Howelsen became "father of Colorado skiing"

Barnum & Bailey poster This full color giclee poster is available for sale in the Tread of Pioneers Museum store (locacted at 8th & Oak Streets in Steamboat Springs, 970-879-2214) in three sizes. You can also email cbannister@treadofpioneers.org to order. Your purchase supports the Tread of Pioneers Museum.

It all started in Steamboat Springs, says the lore

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

My dad grew up in the corner of Rio Blanco County on the ranch my grandfather homesteaded, and he always claimed that Colorado skiing originated not far away. There was always some truth to my dad's stories, and he would point out where the ski jump was located near Steamboat, when we rolled through town. Oddly enough, Dad was not a bad skier on the ancient equipment — snap-cable bindings, heavy leather ski boots that laced front and back, and long edgeless, wooden skis paired with bamboo poles he sported during my childhood — but no match for local hero and the "Father  of Colorado Skiing," Karl Frithjof Hovelsen, or Carl Howelsen as he became known here in the U.S.

"Carl Howelsen caught the attention of Barnum & Bailey directors in the summer of 1906 while soaring 60 feet into a pool of water from a 90-meter tower at a Chicago amusement park. In November 1906 he joined the circus, which billed him as "Captain" and the "Flying Norseman." Howelsen was paid $200 a week to "ski sail" down a Vaseline greased 100 foot slide, which was set at a 45 degree angle, and land on a platform 75 feet away and into the arms of two strong men waiting to check his flight. Sometimes he jumped over two elephants placed between the slide and platform," says information from Tread of the Pioneers Museum in Steamboat Springs.

"Carl Howelsen founded the first Winter Sports Club team, was responsible for introducing Winter Carnival to Steamboat Springs, built our first ski jump, set jumping records, and was instrumental in introducing ski jumping and recreational skiing to Colorado. He is in both the National and Colorado Ski Hall of Fame and resided in Steamboat Springs from 1913 to 1921."

According to U.S. National Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame, "Carl Howelsen was born in Christiania, Norway on March 23, 1877,  immigrating to the United States in June, 1905. A winner of major championships in his native Norway, he played a large role in the development of Steamboat Springs for competitive and recreational skiing."

Carl Howelsen immigrated to the United States when he was 28, loaded with honors because of his virtuosity as a skier.

"Beginning in 1895, he scored among the top jumping and cross-country competitors participating in Holmenkollen tourneys. Always seeking the coveted nordic-combined championship, Howelsen won the grueling 50-kilometer race twice in a row, his final triumph in 1903 which carried him to combined championships of what is considered the greatest Nordic tourney of the world. His trophies included the Crown Prince Silver Cup, the King’s Silver Cup and the Holmenkollen Gold Medal."

While he was with Ringling Brothers’ Circus, he also helped organize the Norge Ski Club in Chicago. "However, circus life and improvised wood and canvas slides had no appeal for a man who longed for deep snow country but could not locate suitable terrain in Midwestern America. Around 1910, Howelsen reached Colorado and set out (on skis) to explore the Rocky Mountains. One trek took him to Hot Sulfur Springs where he stopped long enough to help stage what may have been the first ski tourney in Colorado. This was two miles north of Steamboat Springs and near the slopes that he believed should prove excellent for skiing," says information from the Hall of Fame.

"Tales concerning “that wild Swede” began circulating soon after snow arrived. It was reported that Howelsen had built a platform on a hillside, packed down the snow above and below it and with slats attached to his feet was hurtling through the air 60 to 70 feet. Thus ski jumping came to Steamboat, which later that winter, organized its first snow sports carnival under the expert supervision of the newly-arrived Norwegian. This beginning was followed in1915 with another jump on the much larger and steeper hill south of town that now bears the name Howelsen Hill."

Steamboat Springs, Colorado was dubbed “Ski Town, U.S.A,” in part, because of Howelsen's efforts.

"What began more than half a century ago as little more than a steep snow-covered slope saw ski sport spread from a jumping trajectory to encompass adjacent downhill trails into a competitive-recreational complex of great significance to American ski sport. Steamboaters conclude that it would never have been possible but for Howelsen who climaxed his Colorado sojourn in 1921 by winning the Class “A” Jumping Championship of the National Ski Association of America."

"Carl Howelsen never again tracked Colorado snow after winning the national championship in 1921 which may have been his greatest regret. A desire to visit his parents took him back to Oslo. Although his intent was to return to Steamboat, he married and settled in his native country. Nevertheless, the Nowegian-American continued ski jumping until 1948. He also kept in touch with ski sport in this country: first through friends in Steamboat, then by greeting Colorado Olympians who invaded Norway for the Winter Games of 1952. The man who inspired countless Coloradans died in 1955 at age 78 but, wherever skiers congregate in North America, the fame of Carl Howelsen is a living memory."

Carl Howelsen was elected to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1969.

Colorado Ski Authority is an information and resource-driven ski site serving the mountains and resorts in Colorado. It compiled the following timeline "Our aim is to be the go-to site for all things. Colorado skiing and snowboarding." https://coloradoskiauthority.com

Colorado Ski History Timeline

The Colorado ski industry was born in the area of Sulphur Springs and Steamboat Springs. Carl Howelson was a champion European ski jumper who had traveled to the Denver area to live. Howelson was a participant at many winter carnivals and this helped to spark local interest in the sport. It was reported that in early 1914, Howelson gave a ski jumping demonstration near Denver (At Inspiration Point) that attracted approximately 20,000 people.

Early Days Of Colorado Skiing

1911 – On Dec. 31, 1911; Carl Howelson and Angell Schmidt participated in a ski jumping exhibition after the Hot Sulphur Springs Winter Carnival. Hot Sulphur Springs is located approximately 70 miles to the east of Steamboat Springs by road.

The first Sulphur Springs Winter Carnival took place on Dec. 30, 1911, and was put on by the Hot Sulpher Srings Winter Sports Club. Carl Howelson and Angel Schmidt arrived from Denver late in the evening on the 30. They built a ski jump behind John Peyer’s house the next day and proceeded to uphold their reputation as champion skiers.

1912 – The first Sulpher Springs carnival of the winter was successful enough to prompt a 3-day winter carnival in February of 1912 (Feb. 10-12). This carnival consisted of a sledding race, an amateur ski race, and a professional ski race – of which Carl Howelson was the winner with a time of 16 seconds. Howelson is also credited by many sources as having given an impressive ski jumping exhibition here in which he jumped 164 feet.

1913 – Carl Howelson wins 1st place at the second annual Hot Sulphur Springs Winter Carnival ski jumping competition. Howelson wins the competition with a jumping distance of 163 feet.

1914 – The Steamboat Springs Mid-Winter Carnival is planned for the days following the annual Sulphur Springs Winter Carnival. This allows Carl Howelson and others to travel from Denver to attend both events. Carl Howelson is put in charge of preparing the snow jumps for the competition.

An article published in the Steamboat Pilot on Jan. 7, 1914 indicates that a 20-foot high ski jumping tower was already in place in Steamboat Springs. The newspaper reports that a committee had been formed to oversee the winter carnival, and it was agreed upon that an additional 40 feet of height would be added to the tower; bringing the total height of the ski jumping tower to 60 feet.

1914 – The ski jump for the 1915 Steamboat Springs Winter Carnival was constructed in an area that was called Elk Park. This hill would later become known as Howelson Hill (Renamed in 1917).

Post-WWI Colorado Ski History

1936 – Loveland Ski Area is opened by J.C Blickensderfer.

1938 – The first rope tow is installed near the top of Wolf Creek Pass.

1939 – The Monarch Ski Area is opened for skiing by the Town of Salida.

1940 – Winter Park Ski Resort Opens. This ski area officially opened for the first time during the 1939-1940 ski season. Prior to this; skiers were already traveling to the area via train to ski.

1942 – Camp Hale is constructed (Later Ski Cooper). Camp Hale was initially used as a training site for the 10th Mountain Division. This camp was built during the summer of 1942.

1945 – Friedl Pfeifer and Walter Paepcke form the Aspen Ski Company.

1946 – Arapahoe Basin Opens. This ski area was formed by Larry Jump, Sandy Schauffler, Dick Durrance, and Max Dercum. The mountain first opened for the ski season of 1946-1947, but the official dedication did not take place until Feb. 15, 1948.

1946 – Aspen Mountain (Ajax) Opens; owned and operated by the newly formed Aspen Ski Company.

1951 – The Berry Family acquires the Monarch Ski Area.

1955 – Wolf Creek Ski Area moves to its current location from the top of Wolf Creek Pass.

1957 – Earl Eaton and Pete Seibert purchase 500 acres of land at the base of what would later become the Vail Ski Resort.

1958 – Friedl Pfeifer opens the Buttermilk ski area as President of the Buttermilk Skiing Corporation.

1959 – Aspen Highlands is opened by Whipple Jones.

1959 – Pete Seibert forms the Vail Corporation and begins planning development of the Vail Ski Resort.

1958 – Construction begins on the Steamboat Ski resort.

1961 – Breckenridge Opens. This resort opened as the Peak 8 Ski Area in 1961. The new area was built by The Summit County Development Corporation.

1961 – Crested Butte Opens. The Crested Butte ski resort opened for skiing on Thanksgiving Day, 1961.

1962 – Vail Ski Resort opens for skiing on December 15, 1962.

1963 – Snowcat tours begin on what would become the Snowmass Ski Area.

1963 – Steamboat Ski Resort Opens. The Steamboat Ski Resort opens for skiing on January 12th, 1963.

1963 – The Aspen Ski Corporation acquires Buttermilk.

1966 – The Powderhorn Ski Area opens on Thanksgiving Day in 1966.

1967 – Snowmass Ski Area is opened for skiing by Bill Janss.

1970 – Keystone Ski Resort is opened for skiing on November 21, 1970.

1971 – Construction begins on Copper Mountain.

1972 – Telluride Ski Resort opens for skiing. This resort was largely a project of Joseph Zoline and Emile Allais.

1972 – Copper Mountain opens for skiing on November 15, 1972.

1973 – The Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel opens to travelers.

1972 – Colorado rejects the winning bid for the 1976 Winter Olympics.

1976 – The Colorado Ski Museum is founded in Vail, Colorado.

1977 – Ground breaking ceremony for the Beaver Creek Ski Resort is held on July 28, 1977.

1980 – Beaver Creek Ski Resort Opens.

Glenn Miller: Fort Morgan to an American symbol

World was in the mood for a moonlight 

serenade on the "Chattanooga Choo Choo"

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

Having just made it through the "Roaring Twenties, "Dust Bowl," the Great Depression, Prohibition and being launched into World War II, must have been quite the ride for those folks at the time. Imagine ... one day your are in high school in Fort Morgan, Colo., playing a little football and maybe making music on the weekends.  And just a few short years later, you are an international sensation, Gold Records, a military icon, and a symbol and hero of American virtue. 

"Glenn Miller is Fort Morgan High School's most famous graduate. His recording of "Chattanooga Choo Choo" sold over 1,200,000 copies before RCA awarded him the first gold record in history," says information from the city of Fort Morgan.

"Glenn Miller joined the high school football team as a left end in the fall of 1919. The Maroons won the Northern Colorado Football Conference in 1920, and Glenn was named the Best Left End in Colorado," says city info.

"Meanwhile, Elmer Wells, his band and orchestra director, was having Glenn sit in with his own dance band, The Wells of Music, which played around Morgan County on weekends. This influenced Glenn to start his own dance band, the Mick-Miller Melody Five. By now, the desire to play trombone and to arrange music for his band was so great, he decided to make music his lifetime career. That spark of inspiration kindled by Elmer Wells eventually caused Glenn to organize and lead the most popular band of all of the big band era - The Glenn Miller Orchestra. " 

In 1942, Miller volunteered to join the U.S. military to entertain troops during World War II, ending up with the U.S. Army Air Forces. On December 15, 1944, while flying to Paris, Miller's aircraft disappeared in bad weather over the English Channel. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal.

Glenn Miller was born on March 1, 1904, in Clarinda, Iowa. His family was poor, moving often during his childhood, first to Nebraska, and then to Fort Morgan, Colorado. Miller studied music during high school, and soon after graduating in 1921, he took his first professional job in the Denver area, with Boyd Senter’s popular orchestra, according to the Colorado Music Hall of Fame

He then enrolled at the University of Colorado, where he spent his time outside of class playing in fellow student Holly Moyer’s band. He left college in 1923 to devote his full attention to his career as a musician and arranger.

Joining Ben Pollack’s band, Miller went to Los Angeles, to Chicago, and eventually to New York in early 1928, where he married his college sweetheart, Helen Burger. After leaving Pollack, Miller joined Smith Ballew’s orchestra, then the newly formed Dorsey Brothers band.

He finally decided to launch his own band in January 1937. At the end of the year, he disbanded it, discouraged and in debt. With financial help, he tried again the following spring. This time he had the players he wanted to go with his gifts as an arranger, and he developed a clarinet-led reed section and created what came to be known as the “Miller sound.”

In 1938, Miller signed with Victor’s Bluebird label. “Little Brown Jug,” “In the Mood” and his signature “Moonlight Serenade” played from jukeboxes and on radios across the country.

By the fall of 1939, the Glenn Miller Orchestra was the nation’s hottest attraction.

“Tuxedo Junction” and “A String of Pearls” reached No. 1 on the top-sellers chart, and Miller was awarded the first-ever gold record in 1942 for selling more than one million copies of “Chattanooga Choo Choo.”

"With the onset of World War II, Miller, at 37, was determined to take part in the war effort. Entering the Army in October 1942, he molded the nation’s most popular service band. That U.S. Air Force Band went to England in the summer of 1944, entertaining troops at 71 concerts in five months. On the afternoon of December 15, while flying from the south of England to newly liberated Paris to lead a concert to be broadcast on Christmas, the small plane carrying Major Glenn Miller disappeared over the English Channel, ending a brilliant and influential career in American popular music," according to Colorado Music Hall of Fame.

In 1923, Miller entered the University of Colorado in Boulder, where he joined Sigma Nu fraternity. He spent most of his time away from school, attending auditions and playing any gigs he could get, including with Boyd Senter's band in Denver. After failing three out of five classes, he dropped out of school to pursue a career in music.

He studied the Schillinger system with Joseph Schillinger, under whose tutelage he composed what became his signature theme, "Moonlight Serenade". In 1926, Miller toured with several groups, landing a good spot in Ben Pollack's group in Los Angeles. He also played for Victor Young, which allowed him to be mentored by other professional musicians. In the beginning, he was the main trombone soloist of the band, but when Jack Teagarden joined Pollack's band in 1928, Miller found that his solos were cut drastically. He realized that his future was in arranging and composing.

He had a songbook published in Chicago in 1928 entitled Glenn Miller's 125 Jazz Breaks for Trombone by the Melrose Brothers. During his time with Pollack, he wrote several arrangements. He wrote his first composition, "Room 1411", with Benny Goodman, and Brunswick Records released it as a 78 rpm record under the name "Benny Goodman's Boys".

In 1928, when the band arrived in New York City, he sent for and married his college sweetheart, Helen Burger. He was a member of Red Nichols's orchestra in 1930, and because of Nichols, he played in the pit bands of two Broadway shows, Strike Up the Band and Girl Crazy. The band included Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa.

In 1942, at the peak of his civilian career, Miller decided to join the war effort, forsaking an income of $15,000 to $20,000 per week in civilian life (equivalent to $238,000 to $317,000 per week in 2020), including a home in Tenafly, New Jersey.

At 38, Miller was too old to be drafted and first volunteered for the Navy, but was told that they did not need his services. Miller then wrote to Army Brigadier General Charles Young. He persuaded the U. S. Army to accept him so he could, in his own words, "be placed in charge of a modernized Army band".

Miller's civilian band played its last concert in Passaic, New Jersey, on September 27, 1942, with the last song played by the Miller civilian band being "Jukebox Saturday Night"—featuring an appearance by Harry James on trumpet. His patriotic intention of entertaining the Allied Forces earned him the rank of captain, and he was soon promoted to major by August 1944.

Miller reported at Omaha on Oct. 8, 1942, to the Seventh Service Command as a captain in the Army Specialist Corps. Miller was soon transferred to the Army Air Forces. Captain Glenn Miller served initially as assistant special services officer for the Army Air Forces Southeast Training Center at Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Alabama, in December 1942. He played trombone with the Rhythmaires, a 15-piece dance band, in both Montgomery and in service clubs and recreation halls on Maxwell. 

Miller also appeared on both WAPI (Birmingham, Alabama) and WSFA radio (Montgomery), promoting the activities of civil service women aircraft mechanics employed at Maxwell. At Maxwell, Miller was helped by saxophonist Gerald "Jerry" Yelverton, a veteran of Miller's prewar orchestra. Miller, playing initially with Yelverton's local band, measured the impact of his modernizing concepts on a small scale and quickly and efficiently made adaptations that were used in his famous 418th AAF band in 1943 and 1944.

Miller initially formed a large marching band that was to be the core of a network of service orchestras. His attempts at modernizing military music were met with some resistance from tradition-minded career officers, but Miller's fame and support from other senior leaders allowed him to continue.

Miller's arrangement of "St. Louis Blues March," combined blues and jazz with the traditional military march. Miller's weekly radio broadcast I Sustain the Wings, for which he co-wrote the eponymous theme song, moved from New Haven to New York City and was very popular. 

Soon he had permission for to form his 50-piece Army Air Force Band and take it to England in the summer of 1944, where he gave 800 performances.  In England, now Major Miller cut a series of records at EMI-owned Abbey Road Studios. The recordings the AAF band made in 1944 at Abbey Road were propaganda broadcasts for the Office of War Information. Many songs are sung in German by Johnny Desmond, and Glenn Miller speaks in German about the war effort. 

Before Miller disappeared, his music was used by World War II AFN radio broadcasting for entertainment and morale, as well as counter-propaganda to denounce fascist oppression in Europe. His broadcasts included short playlets that dramatized the Four Freedoms promulgated by the Roosevelt administration, summarizing the official goals of the Allies; they equated American music with free expression and American culture. 

"America means freedom and there's no expression of freedom quite so sincere as music," he said in one radio address.

Miller-led AAF Orchestra also recorded songs with American singer Dinah Shore at the Abbey Road studios and were the last recordings made by the band while being led by Miller. They were stored with HMV/EMI for 50 years, and not released until their European copyright expired in 1994. 

In summarizing Miller's military career, General Jimmy Doolittle said, "next to a letter from home, that organization was the greatest morale builder in the European Theater of Operations."

Glenn Miller's First Gold Record (click link below, to view)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGBwmLRNLJ4&t=52s

Leadville's fame and famous, booms and busts

The early Californication of Colorado

Hydraulic mining, California Gulch, Colorado, 

photographed and published by W.G. Chamberlain, 1878.

 

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

The early gold camp (it was a gold camp first,) was known by many names: Slabtown, Boughtown, Cloud City, Carbonate, California Gulch, Harrison,  Agassiz, Oro City, and more. When the time came for legal adoption, controversy raged. "One faction favored Harrison for Harrison of the Harrison Reduction Works. Horace Tabor, storekeeper, favored Leadville, and prevailed according to "Colorado Place Names" by Geo R. Eicher. The town's name was chosen for the large amount argentiferous lead ores in the vicinity.

Like the rich and famous of Hollywood, over time, Leadville's visitor and resident list reads like a Who's Who for for early Colorado. 

Horace Tabor, the silver king, comes to mind of course, and his first and second wives, Augusta and Baby Doe. Augusta Tabor was the first postmistress, there, in fact. In 1883 Horace Tabor divorced his wife of 25 years and married Baby Doe McCourt, who was half his age. Tabor was by then a US senator, and the divorce and marriage caused a scandal in Colorado and beyond. For several years the couple lived a lavish lifestyle in a Denver mansion, but Tabor, one of the wealthiest men in Colorado, lost his fortune when the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act caused the Panic of 1893. He died destitute but remained convinced that the price of silver would rebound. According to legend, he told Baby Doe to "hold on the Matchless mine ... it will make millions again when silver comes back." She returned to Leadville with her daughters, Silver Dollar and Lily, where she spent the rest of her life believing Tabor's prediction. At one time the "best dressed woman in the West", she lived in a cabin at the Matchless Mine for the last three decades of her life. After a snowstorm in March 1935, she was found frozen in her cabin, aged about 81 years.

Mart Duggan, gunslinger and the city's third marshal was asked to come to clean up the town. The first city marshal there was run out of town a few days after he was appointed, and his replacement was shot dead within a month by one of his deputies. Fearing the town would be lost to the lawless element, Mayor Horace Tabor sent for Mart Duggan, who was living in Denver, as a replacement. Duggan is little-known today, but was well known at the time as a fearless gunfighter. Using strong-arm and lawless tactics, during his two stints as marshal Duggan brought order to Leadville by 1880 when he stepped down. He was shot and killed in 1888 by an unknown assailant, most likely an enemy he had made when he was a Leadville marshal. Historian Robert Dearment writes, "Mart Duggan was a quick-shooting, hard-drinking, brawling tough Irish man, but he was exactly the kind of man a tough, hard-drinking, quick-shooting camp like Leadville needed in its earliest days. His name is all but forgotten today, but the name 'Matt Dillon' is recognized around the world. Such are the vagaries of life."

Alice Ivers, better known as Poker Alice, was a card player and dealer of the Old West who learned her trade in Leadville. Born in Devonshire, her family moved to America when she was a small girl. They first settled in Virginia, where she attended an elite girls' boarding school. When she was a teenager, her family moved to Leadville when the silver boom drew hundreds of new residents to the area. At the age of twenty she married a mining engineer who, like many of the men at that time, frequented the numerous gambling halls in Leadville. Alice went along, at first just observing, but eventually she began to sit in on the games as well. After a few years of marriage her husband was killed in a mining accident and she turned to cards to support herself. Alice was attractive, dressed in the latest fashions, and was in great demand as a dealer. Eventually Alice left Leadville to travel the gambling circuit, as was common of the male gamblers of that time. She continued to dress in the latest fashions but took to smoking cigars. Well known throughout the West, gambling halls welcomed her because she was good for business. In her later years, Alice claimed to have won more than $250,000 at the gaming tables and never once cheated.

Texas Jack Omohundro, Confederate scout, cowboy and stage actor with "Buffalo Bill" Cody's travelling revue, died of pneumonia a month before his 34th birthday in summer 1880 in Leadville, where he was living on a small estate with his wife, ballerina Giuseppina Morlacchi.

"Doc" John Henry Holliday, about 1883, shortly after the gun fight at the O.K. Corral,  moved to Leadville, where he dealt faro. On August 19, 1884, he shot ex-Leadville policeman Billy Allen, who had threatened him for failing to pay a $5 debt. Despite overwhelming evidence implicating him, a jury found Holliday not guilty of the shooting or attempted murder.

Luke Short, Gunfighter and professional gambler, also spent time in Leadville.

Margaret "Molly" Brown, who became known as "The Unsinkable Molly Brown," moved to Leadville when she was 18. In 1886 she married a mining engineer who was twelve years older, James J. Brown. The Brown family acquired great wealth in 1893 when Brown was instrumental in the discovery of a substantial gold ore seam at the Little Jonny Mine.The mine was owned by his employers, the Ibex Mining Company. Margaret Brown became famous because of her survival of the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic, after exhorting the crew of Lifeboat No. 6 to return to look for survivors. A 1960 Broadway musical based on her life was produced, along with a 1964 film adaptation of the musical, both titled The Unsinkable Molly Brown. Her home in Denver has been preserved as the Molly Brown House Museum.

Meyer Guggenheim of the Guggenheim family started out in Leadville in mining and smelting. The family went on to possess one of the largest fortunes in the world. Family members have become known for their philanthropy in diverse areas such as modern art and aviation, including several Guggenheim Museums.

Oscar Wilde appeared at the Tabor Opera House during his 1882 American Aesthetic Movement lecture tour. The reviews were mixed, and the press satirized Wilde in cartoons as an English dandy decorated with sunflowers and lilies, the floral emblems of the Aesthetic Movement. A Kansas newspaper described the event: Oscar Wilde's visit to Leadville excited a great deal of interest and curiosity. The Tabor-opera house where he lectured was packed full. It was rumored that an attempt would be made by a number of young men to ridicule him by coming to the lecture in exaggerated costume with enormous sunflowers and lilies and to introduce a number of characters in the costume of the Western "bad men." Probably, however, better counsel prevailed and no disturbance took place. Mayor David H. Dougan invited Wilde to tour the Matchless Mine and name its new lode "The Oscar". Wilde later recounted a visit to a local saloon, "where I saw the only rational method of art criticism I have ever come across. Over the piano was printed a notice – 'Please do not shoot the pianist. He is doing his best."

Leadville historic timeline

Leadville.com, the city's site, provides a timeline with some of the following history. 

"Once the second largest city in Colorado and a contender for the state capital, Leadville’s treasure is now found in its 70-square-block historic district where Victorian architecture reigns and stories of the wild west come alive. From gunslingers, outlaws, and con men to madams, love triangles, and lawmen, Leadville had it all. Today, they city’s vibrant history is told through the efforts of eight museums and two walking tours,"says the site.

1860 – Abe Lee Discovers Gold

April 26, 1860, Abe Lee discovered a rich load of placer gold in California Gulch, one mile east of Leadville. In the fall, Leadville’s population reached 10,000 and $2 million in gold had been extracted from California Gulch and nearby Iowa Gulch. Lee staked all of California Gulch with speculative claims, which led to the establishment of the Bylaws of the California Mining District—regulations on the number, size, and type of claims that could be filed. Because of these laws, more prospectors descended upon an already crowded California Gulch.

1877 – Silver Discovered

By 1866, most of Leadville’s placer gold deposits had been depleted, causing many miners to pack up and leave. The remaining prospectors moved closer to town where heavy, black sand blanketed the area. In 1877, after assays contained 15 ounces of silver per ton. Early silver prospectors kept this silver discovery a secret for nearly two years. By 1879, word had spread and Leadville once again became a boom town.

Prospectors and merchants quickly returned to Leadville. Many new hotels, restaurants, saloons, and brothels sprang up. Mines spread southward and fortunes, like Horace Tabor’s and the Guggenheim’s, were made.

1878 – Leadville Gets its Name

Leadville has had several names since its discovery. It’s been known as California Gulch, Boughton, because of the once popular shelters made of tree boughs, Cloud City, because of the way the town is often covered in clouds, Harrison, after the owner of the first smelter, and Slabtown, because of the temporary homes built on slabs. It wasn’t until 1878, when the town petitioned for its first post office, that Horace Tabor gave it its official name, Leadville, after the lead ore found in the area.

1879 – Tabor Opera House Opens

Horace Tabor, one of the country’s most notorious silver magnates, known for, among other things construction of the Tabor Opera House, “the finest theater between St. Louis and San Francisco.”
Building’s materials were brought up in  wagons, making it one of the costliest buildings ever constructed in Colorado. Three stories high, made of stone, brick, and iron, and trimmed with Portland cement, the exterior was painted in red, gold, white, and sky-blue. Inside, red plush seats filled the theater and a curtain with an image of the Royal Gorge draped on the stage. Despite its opulence, the Tabor Opera House built in only 100 days.


1879 – Interlaken Hotel Opens

In 1879, John Statley and Charles Thomas built a hotel on the edge of Twin Lakes. Four years later, James V. Dexter bought the property and turned it into one of the most luxurious resorts Colorado had to offer.
Interlaken Resort, where visitors enjoyed gorgeous lake views, a log tavern, a pool hall, and a shed to accommodate horses —eventually fell on hard times when the lakes’ original dam, built at the turn of the century, was troubled by stagnation,  and suspected of causing disease.
The remains of Interlaken Resort and Dexter’s cabin, built in the mid-1890s, can still be seen today.

1893 – The Bust of the Silver Kings

The 1879 Silver Boom dramatically altered Colorado economy and Leadville’s silver lode alone brought in $82 million,  in part because of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which required the U.S. government to purchase millions of ounces of silver each year. The Act was repealed in 1893, busting silver prices, dropping wages, and putting miners and others out of work. Silver barons, like Horace Tabor, lost huge fortunes and Leadville’s economy limped accordingly.

Ice Palace, 1896, William Henry Jackson

1896 – Creation of the Leadville Ice Palace

After the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, hoping to draw visitors, create jobs, and revitalize the economy, Leadville’s residents built the Leadville Ice Palace, a “fairytale come true.” Constructed in 36 days using 5,000 tons of ice, this 58,000-square-foot palace had an ice skating rink, a curling rink, a theater, toboggan runs, a ballroom, a dance floor, gaming rooms, and a carousel house.
Between Seventh Street and Eighth Street on the top of Capital Hill, Leadville’s Ice Palace was open for three months, from January 1, to March 28, when it started to melt and was condemned. Still, people continued to use the building all the way through June, when the skating rink was at last unusable.
The Ice Palace turned out to be a financial disaster for investors, but visitors said that when “the sun shone through the ice, it looked like 1,000 sparkling lights.”

1907 – San Isabel National Forest Established

San Isabel National Forest is one of eleven national forests in Colorado and features more than a million acres of snow-capped peaks, sparkling lakes, rich meadows, and raging rivers. In 1902, lands were first set aside as forest reserve. In 1907, this forest reserve was officially named San Isabel National Forest. From 1907 to 1945, the San Isabel National Forest grew to include several other large forests. Today, the forest has over 800 miles of hiking trails, several ski areas, 19 fourteeners, several scenic byways, and dozens of campgrounds.

Photos of Leadville, Main Street, in September, 1941, by Marion Post Wolcott