Unit 4: Miners

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Unit 4 Miners
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LEADVILLE

• 1860-Gold found in this area
• 10,000 people here by 1861
• One major problem was a heavy black sand that
  kept clogging the sluice boxes. Analyzed in 1876
  and it was carbonate of lead-loaded with silver
• Earlier silver, lead and zinc were looked upon as
  a nuisance-no market
• Increasing industrial activity and governmental
  purchases increased the value the silver rush
  was on

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LEADVILLE

• Population
• 1877 200 People
• 1878 5,000 people
• 1880 30,000 people

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Leadville built an Ice Palace in 1896
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The TABORS

• Horace Tabor and his wife Augusta were some of
  the first arrivals into this area
• Augusta was the first woman in the area and would
  remain the only one for quite some time
• Horace Tabor had been to many of the gold camps
  (Idaho Springs, Central City) with no luck. He
  finally struck for 7,000
• He opened a general store, became the postmaster
  and also the mayor. As mayor he played a role in
  naming the town Leadville

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• Tabor grubstaked many of the miners-Food and
  supplies for a part of their claim
• Grubstaked supplies or funds furnished to a
  mining prospector on promise of a share in his
  discoveries
• This area began to fade after the initial gold
  rush of the 1860s

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• Tabor grubstaked two shoe cobblers. Result of
  this grubstake was The Little Pittsburgh which
  brought Tabor 20,000/wk. Sold his share for
  500,000
• Matchless produced 10,000,000 worth of silver
• Bought a mansion in Denver but spent most of his
  time in Leadville

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• Noticed Elizabeth McCourt Baby Doe
• Secret divorce in Durango and secretly married
  Elizabeth in St. Louis
• Durango priest had refused to sign divorce
  papers-living in sin led to a scandal and not
  complete acceptance from Denvers social elite

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• Spent lavishly until silver crashed in 1893
• Horace became postmaster in Denver for
  3,000/year
• He died 16 months later and 14,000 attended his
  funeral
• He told Baby Doe to hold on to the Matchless.
• She turned into a reclusive old woman who
  eventually froze to death in the cabin by the
  Matchless mine.

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LEADVILLE

• By the end of the silver rush Leadville had given
  over 500,000,000 worth of ore
• The hills had also been stripped of their trees

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GEORGETOWN

• 1859 - a minor gold rush
• Became Colorados first silver queen
• Belmont-Lode was the first silver mine in the
  state
• The first power drill was also used here
• August 1877 the Colorado Central came to
  Georgetown. The Georgetown Loop was a narrow
  gauge went from Georgetown to Silver Plume
• Silver Plume is 1.5 miles from Georgetown and
  1,000ft higher yet it took 3 years and 4.5 miles
  of track to complete

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GEORGETOWN

• Georgetown became the shopping center,
  distribution center and transportation center for
  the district
• Over 100,000,000 worth of ore taken out of
  Georgetown
• At one time the only town in Colorado without a
  mayor

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ASPEN

• Only camp to rival Leadville
• Silver gave Aspen its start
• Almost passed Leadville in the 1890s
• Had the richest ore
• Largest nugget ever found-over 1 ton.1840lbs
  after it was trimmed
• Population went over 15,000
• 1893 depression and the population dropped to 700

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CRIPPLE CREEK

• In the shadow of Pikes Peak
• Pikes Peak had given its name to the gold rush
  yet none had been found there
• 1890s Cripple Creek became Colorados greatest
  gold district
• Bob Womack discovered gold here in the 1880s
  taking the sting out of the silver crash

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CRIPPLE CREEK

• Winfield Scott Stratton-Most famous millionaire
• His independence Mine (July 4,1891) made several
  million before he sold for 10,000,000 (with no
  income tax)
• Last of the great 19th century mining rushes
• Mining was big business and miners began to join
  labor unions
• 1894 strike over low pay and long hours led to 8
  hour days at 3/day