7.27.2019

Colorado Road Trip 2019 | Leadville CO

Leadville is getting more touristy. At least compared with my earlier visits, albeit only twice... 10 and 45 years ago. But it is no wonder it is popular with tourists.  It is a "classic" (still quaint?) western town.

I like the town's original name better!  It was Silver City, which makes more sense because it was a silver mining town. I'm not sure why it changed its name to Leadville.

At an elevation of 10,152 feet Leadville has the highest elevation of any incorporated city in the United States, and it is surrounded by many 14,000 foot peaks. Mount Sherman (not shown in any of my photos unfortunately) is part of the Mosquito Range is known as the easiest to climb "fourteener" in Colorado.  [By the way, in three weeks in Colorado we never once encountered a mosquito... I think it is just too dry.]

The "Unsinkable" Molly Brown had mining interests in Leadville. And I read that Doc Holliday was a lawman here.

As you can see in the images below, there are many well-preserved buildings in the historic district.  The city had a 2010 population of 2,759, yet in the late 1800's it was second in population only to Denver.












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