Leadville
| Leadville | |
|---|---|
| Nickname : The Two Mile High City | |
 Downtown |
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| Location in county and in Colorado | |
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| Basic data | |
| Foundation : | 1877 |
| State : | United States |
| State : | Colorado |
| County : | Lake County |
| Coordinates : | 39 ° 15 ′ N , 106 ° 18 ′ W |
| Time zone : | Mountain ( UTC − 7 / −6 ) |
| Residents : | 2,602 (as of 2010) |
| Population density : | 963.7 inhabitants per km 2 |
| Area : | 2.7 km 2 (approx. 1 mi 2 ) of which 2.7 km 2 (approx. 1 mi 2 ) are land |
| Height : | 3094 m |
| Postcodes : | 80429, 80461 |
| Area code : | +1 719 |
| FIPS : | 08-44320 |
| GNIS ID : | 0204683 |
Leadville is the county seat and the only incorporated township of Lake County in the US state of Colorado . The city emerged from a former gold rush town and is located in the headwaters of the Arkansas River not far from Aspen in the Rocky Mountains . The 2010 census ( United States Census 2010 ) had a population of 2602.
Geography and traffic
Leadville is the highest incorporated city in the United States (however, there are higher elevation towns or non-incorporated settlements).
Leadville's geographic coordinates are 39 ° 15 ′ N , 106 ° 18 ′ W (39.247200, −106.292414).
According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has an area of 2.7 km², all of which is land.
The Leadville Airport ( ICAO code KLXV) with a height of 3028 meters the highest airport in the United States. However, no scheduled flights are offered from here; the nearest scheduled airports are Eagle County Airport and Aspen-Pitkin County Airport , each approximately 100 km away.
Highways
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US Highway 24 is an east-west link between Interstate 75 at Clarkston and Interstate 70 at Minturn . The western terminus is 51 km north of Leadville. It's the main road to Vail and Colorado Springs . -
Colorado State Highway 91 is a 22 miles road link from Leadville to Interstate 70 at Copper Mountain . The road is the main route into Denver .
history
The Leadville Historic District is a listed area on the National Register of Historic Places and includes many structures from Leadville's past as a mining town.
Oro City
Gold soap was discovered in 1860 during the Pikes Peak gold rush and the town of Oro City sprang up near what is now Leadville. The boom was short-lived, however, and Oro City never became a major settlement. The gold washers found it difficult to wash the gold out of the heavy, brown sand.
Discovery of silver
In 1874, the Oro City gold washers discovered that the brown sand that made their work difficult was the leaded mineral cerussite , which had a high silver content . Cerussite was followed to its origin and several veins of silver were discovered in 1876, in the vicinity of which the mine owners Horace Austin Warner Tabor and August Meyer founded the town of Leadville in 1877 . This started a silver boom. In 1880 Leadville was one of the largest silver mining settlements in the world and had a population of over 40,000.
In 1882 Oscar Wilde was a guest at the Tabor Opera House , one of several celebrities of the time who stopped in the city. Mayor David H. Dougan invited Wilde to visit the Matchless Mine to inaugurate the new shaft "The Oscar" . Wilde later wrote about the visit to a saloon in the city, in which he mainly noticed a note about the piano: “Please don't shoot the pianist. He does his best. "
Gunslinger Doc Holliday arrived in Leadville around 1883 , shortly after the OK Corral shooting . On August 19, 1884, Holliday gunned down ex-police officer Billy Allen after threatening Holliday with unpaid debt of $ 5. Despite the overwhelming burden of proof against him, the jury found him not guilty of the shooting and attempted murder.
In the early years of its existence, Leadville was the scene of a number of famous hoaxes. "Chicken Bill" Lovell brought a wheelbarrow of rich silver ore into a barren pit of his claim to sell it at a high price to Horace Tabor - Tabor was still happy because his miners dug a few feet deeper and still got a rich one Vein poked.
Decline
The city's prosperity declined after the Sherman Silver Purchase Act was repealed in 1893, although there was a minor gold boom later. The mining companies began to focus on mining lead and zinc .
In total, over 2.9 million troy ounces of gold, 240 million troy ounces of silver, one million short tons of lead, 785,000 short tons of zinc and 53,000 short tons of copper were mined in the Leadville Mining District .
During World War II , Leadville became a popular place to visit for soldiers from nearby Camp Hale ; but only after the city curbed prostitution - before that, the United States Army had banned relatives from visiting the city. The Army Air Forces built the Leadville Auxiliary Airfield northwest of the city. The war also led to an increase in the mining of molybdenum in neighboring Climax , where three quarters of the molybdenum mined worldwide was at times mined.
Historic district and the post-mining era
The closure of the Climax mine in the 1980s was a severe blow to the city's economic development. In addition, the many years of mining had left significant soil and groundwater contamination, so the Environmental Protection Agency rehabilitated some of the previous mining areas with superfunds . The city has now been almost completely recultivated and the superfund allocation is running out. The city has meanwhile taken measures to strengthen the local economy through tourism, underscoring the area's historical importance and the diverse opportunities for outdoor recreation.
On July 4, 1961, the Leadville Historic District was recognized as a National Historic Landmark . In October 1966, the Historic District was entered on the National Register of Historic Places . It includes 67 former mines east of the city, which reach up to a height of 4000 m above sea level, as well as part of the city, including the historical buildings Tabor Grant Hotel, St. George's Church, Annunciation Church, Tabor Opera House, City Hall, Healy House , Dexter Cabin , Engelbach House and Tabor House . Buildings built after 1917 do not belong to the historic district.
The height of the city and its mountainous surroundings are used for a number of orienteering and ultramarathons, as well as for altitude training . Several events throughout the year, such as the Boom Days on the first weekend in August, remind of the city's past .
Endangering the city
There is a drainage tunnel above Leadville, which was built during World War II to facilitate mining. Known as the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel (LMDT), this structure is maintained by the Bureau of Reclamation . The tunnel collapsed in 2001 and the mine shaft drained by the tunnel has been collecting water ever since. The water pressure in it has been rising steadily since then. This is a serious problem. If the blockade suddenly gave way, it would not only destroy the small settlement of East Fork Village, but also contaminate the Arkansas River with heavy metals and thus also pollute the Mississippi River . On February 27, 2008, the pumping of the water started.
Demographics
At the time of the United States Census 2000, Leadville was inhabited by 2,821 people. The population density was 1027.5 people per km ². There were 1514 housing units at an average of 551.5 per km ². The population of Leadville was 83.52% White , 0.14% Black or African American , 1.28% Native American , 0.32% Asian , 0.11% Pacific Islander , 12.34% said other races belong to and 2.30% mentioned two or more races. 25.45% of the population declared to be Hispanic or Latinos of any race.
The residents of Leadville distributed to 1253 households out of which 24.7% were living in children under 18 years. 40.7% of households were married, 8.5% had a female head of the household without a husband and 46.1% were not families. 35.0% of households were made up of individuals and someone lived in 9.2% of all households aged 65 years or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.91 people.
The population was divided into 21.1% minors, 12.1% 18–24 year olds, 34.4% 25–44 year olds, 22.0% 45–64 year olds and 10.4% aged 65 and over or more. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 women there were 109.1 men. For every 100 women over 18, there were 107.8 men.
The median household income in Leadville was 36,714 US dollars and the median family income reached the amount of 44,444 US dollars. The median income for men was $ 28,125 versus $ 23,512 for women. The per capita income was $ 20,607. 9.1% of the population and 13.3% of families had an income below the poverty line , including 18.5% of minors and 7.5% of those aged 65 and over.
Attractions
The National Mining Hall of Fame is a mining museum founded in 1987.
Web links
- Map of the City of Leadville . CDOT website. (PDF; 94 kB)
- "Leadville Today" (English)
- Lead Villes history as a mining town (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Meyer, August 1851-1905, Parks -georgekessler.org
- ↑ HistoryNet: Spitting Lead in Leadville: Doc Holliday's Last Stand ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ mining swindles: Leadville
- ↑ Ogden Tweto (1968) Leadville district, Colorado , in Ore Deposits in the United States 1933/1967 , New York: American Institute of Mining Engineers, S. 683rd
- ↑ Air Fields Database: Leadville ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: Colorado. National Park Service , accessed July 20, 2019.
- ^ Leadville Historic District on the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed July 31, 2017.
- ↑ CNN News: Eruption of tainted water could swamp Colorado town
