Colorado’s 10,000-Feet-High City Has an Ice Palace, 19th Century Opera House, and Phenomenal Views

Colorado’s 10,000-Feet-High City

Leadville, North America’s highest incorporated city is located about 100 miles southwest of Denver. This former silver mining town in Lake County grew from a small settlement into a bustling city of 40,000 people during the 1880s.

Though its population is now around 2,800, Leadville’s rich history lives on through its Victorian buildings, mining ruins, and stories of fortune-seekers.

Nicknamed ‘City of Millionaires’

Leadville was the second-most populous town in Colorado in 1880, with a population of 14,820. The city was flourishing with grand opera houses, luxury hotels, and more wealthy individuals than anywhere else in America.

The famous Tabor Opera House in Leadville was one of the grandest opera houses in Colorado at that time. It was also one of the few cities that chose to not participate in the 1881 Colorado State Capital Referendum.

Mountain Living High Up

Daily life takes on unique challenges at Leadville’s elevation. Your morning coffee will definitely brew differently here.

Water boils at just 193°F instead of 212°F, requiring adjustments to cooking times and recipes. The growing season lasts a mere 28 days between frosts, and trees refuse to grow above 12,000 feet. But the thin mountain air offers spectacular nighttime skies that sparkle with stars close enough to touch.

Lead Mines & Silver Boom

Horace Tabor, known as the “Bonanza King of Leadville,” played a pivotal role in the city’s development during the silver boom. Early prospectors initially grumbled about these deposits. Everything changed when they found the lead ore was rich with silver.

Soon, individual mines were producing $100,000 worth of silver monthly. The remnants of this prosperous era still dot the hillsides.

A Historic Opera House

In 1877, Horace Tabor, serving as postmaster, funded water works, rail lines, schools, and churches, and established the Tabor Opera House.

In 2020, this beautifully restored 19th-century theater revealed hand-painted stage backdrops from the 1800s in the attic. From late May to September, take a tour of this three-story building with its ornate detailing and symmetrical facade.

Secret Tunnels For the Miners

A maze of tunnels still runs beneath Leadville’s streets, dating back to the mining era. The Yak Tunnel, completed between 1895 and 1923, is one of the most notable in the area, used for draining mines and transporting water. These hidden passages once let miners move between saloons and brothels, while others used them to secretly transport silver or run underground gambling rings.

A Winter Palace Made From Ice

During the winter of 1895-96, Leadville created an extraordinary palace made entirely of ice as the centerpiece for the Crystal Carnival. Measuring approximately 450 feet in length and 320 feet in width, with walls five feet thick, it featured two octagonal towers at the entrance rising up to 90 feet. Inside, an ice skating rink and a grand ballroom once held 400 dancers, until spring temperatures claimed the palace three months later.

Buildings’ Ghostly Tales

The 1886 Delaware Hotel harbors more than just history. Guests report encounters with several spirits, including a playful girl in the hallways. At the majestic Tabor Opera House from 1879, mysterious footsteps and phantom applause echo through empty rooms.

The Manhattan Bar has added its own supernatural stories with tales of ghostly figures appearing in mirrors and glasses moving across the century-old wooden bar.

Alpine Wildlife Living Here

Life thrives in surprising ways around Leadville despite the harsh environment. Nimble mountain goats scale the steep faces of Mount Elbert and Mount Massive, while yellow-bellied marmots bask on rocky outcrops above 10,000 feet.

The brief summer transforms mountainsides into gardens of Rocky Mountain Columbines and sky pilots. Ancient bristlecone pines, some older than 1,500 years, twist and endure on windswept ridges where few other plants survive.

Underground Mining City

Beneath the mountains surrounding Leadville lies an incredible 2,000-mile network of mining tunnels (a distance matching that from Colorado to New York City). The Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel, built in 1943 (about 2.1 miles long), continues to channel water from this subterranean maze.

Though most tunnels are now sealed, they once bustled with thousands of miners working by candlelight and carbide lamps.

Inside a Federal Mining Museum

Step into the National Mining Museum, housed in Leadville’s 1899 high school building. Its 25,000 square feet showcase everything from primitive pickaxes to modern drilling machines. The museum is also hailed as “the Smithsonian of the Rockies”.

It honors over 250 individuals from the mining industry. There are also exhibits featuring 1,000 minerals, crystals, and gems from around the world.