COLORADO: Drying Up Leadville

Out of the ore-seamed mountains around Leadville, Colo, men hacked millions of dollars of quick wealth for almost two generations. Leadville's ramshackle streets were lined with saloons, dance halls, "wine theaters," brothels. Lucky miners became millionaires overnight, tossed silver dollars at stage girlies in red tights, brawled, gambled, built gingerbread palaces on the hill. Leadville had its ups & downs — gold in the '60s ; silver-rich carbonate ores that made the Carbonate Kings in the '70s; the Little Johnny and other gold-mine workings in the '90s. By 1933, however, most of the zinc, lead and silver mines were...

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