It was an era referred to around the world as the era of “Top Hats and Tenderloins” and there was no place in the world that better depicted that marvelous era than Leadville, Colorado during its Silver Boom years in the late 1800’s.
Although Leadville’s first boom was in 1860 with Abe Lee’s discovery of gold (which he named the California Gulch), it
was a temporary boom that lasted only a few short years. Gold was suddenly discovered
over the Mosquito Range at Buckskin Joe (near present day Fairplay), and the Leadville
area quickly became virtually deserted as thousands headed for the new-
It wasn’t until 15 or 16 years later in the late 1870’s that the
discovery of massive quantities of lead carbonate (rich in silver content), caused the Leadville mining district to explode into a community of instant millionaires (now wearing their stylish top hats so popular back east). Leadville became a community made up of a thriving red light district, countless saloons and miners willing to spend their wages for the pleasure of a night out. Although prostitution was never really legal in Leadville, its red light district was huge... and the streets of Leadville were lined with saloons. It was estimated that during its peak, Leadville residents were consuming over 200 kegs of beer along... EVERY DAY!
It was high living with no holds barred. And while the rich got richer in Leadville, it is said that along with them every legitimate (and illegitimate) western character came here at one time or another... But although names like the Daltons, Youngers, Bat Masterson, Texas Jack, Oscar Wilde and countless others are known to have stayed in this wild Leadville community, there are other
names that perhaps best tell why Leadville truly was a community of “Top Hats and Tenderloins”...
Horace and Augusta Tabor, who became millionaires overnight from a grubstake at the Little Pittsburg Mine, later became the subject of an international scandal as then Senator Tabor became involved with Baby Doe in a love tryst that made front page news across the country. It remains one of the most famous rags to riches and back to rags stories in the annals of early western history.
There was Doc Holliday of Tombstone fame, once a noted dentist from Georgia, who
dealt faro at Leadville’s Hyman Saloon (still located on Harrison Ave) and who was
involved in his final shoot-
Saloon with Billy Allen. A broke and dying man, Holliday spent 54 days in the Leadville jail after the shooting, unable to post bond. “Big nosed” Kate, a prostitute who long claimed to have been married to Doc, was at his side when he eventually died from his nagging tuberculosis.
Margaret (Unsinkable Molly) Brown and her husband JJ Brown found instant wealth in the mines right here in Leadville. Although Molly is perhaps best remembered for her role in “Titanic”, her roots are right here in Leadville.
And perhaps the most infamous of all documented con-
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