A large taco meal, showers and a restful night’s sleep had the SAFE BASE students ready for a learning-filled day in the “City in the Clouds” Wednesday afternoon.
The buses filed out of the Sugar Loafin’ Campground at 9:30 a.m., the schedule for the day included three Leadville landmarks.
The Healy House:
A large Victorian home built in 1878, the Healy House is in downtown Leadville.
Originally built by August Meyer, who opened the first smelter in the area, the house towers at three stories. Its elegant, decorated exterior evokes feelings of the West. Settlers mined in Leadville before there were trains or telephones. All of the supplies of the home were brought in by horse — though no expense was spared.
The students toured through the various rooms of the old home, learning about living in high-fashion before the turn of the century.
Gabby and Lila, tour guides for the groups, wore Victorian-era dresses. The Healys moved into the home after Meyer, where it became a boarding house until the early 1930s. In the late 1800s, nearly 30,000 people lived in the town. Today, only about 3,500 are year-round residents.
A small cabin stands next to the home. While it doesn’t look like much from outside, the interior is one of international elegance. James Dexter, a banker and investor, owned the cabin that was located downtown and then moved to the museum. The rich wood interior was almost completely imported from the Black Forest of Germany.
Different students in the group had a chance to try on Victorian hats, as well as explore all high society had to offer in the mining boom of Colorado.
Tabor Opera House:
Once near demolition, the Tabor Opera House is almost restored.
The students walked into the large theater, in awe of the rising walls that lead to an old wooden stage with a backdrop of the town’s main streets. The theater was completed in 1879. Horace Tabor was a mining tycoon in the area, and wanted to build “a place of refinement” that stood apart from the bars and saloons the miners frequented. Bill Bland, president of the Tabor Opera House Preservation Foundation, said at the time the theater was the “best and biggest west of the Mississippi.”
But, the real show was the students themselves.
Sharon Bland, another member of the foundation and Bill’s wife, led the students to the front of the stage. She had them practice on hand bells, and then led them in a musical number. She then opened the stage for the students to sing their hearts out.
Katie Terhune, one of the staff members of the group and a junior at Iola High School, wowed her students by singing opera to the mostly empty theater.
The theater itself was one of the premier entertainment spots in the west. John Philip Sousa, the Chicago Symphony, Harry Houdini (debated by some) and others entertained audiences in the highest town in the United States.
The Matchless Mine:
A small shanty is all that marks the Matchless Mine, just outside of Leadville. But, its history runs deep.
“A lot of this is what you call legend,” the tour guide, Brenda, told the students as they sat on the floor of the 1880s-era shed. Baby Doe, or Elizabeth Doe, once resided in the shed. She married Horace Tabor, following a controversial affair between the two that ultimately led to the divorce of Tabor and his first wife.
The students listened intently as Brenda described the tragedy of Baby Doe’s life — much of which is speculation. She experienced the highs and lows of the mining boom in Colorado. She eventually resided in the shed by the Matchless Mine, which her husband had once owned, where she lost her mind.
Brenda had the students’ attention as she told the story of a woman who was on top in the mining world, and eventually found her demise alone in the Rocky Mountains.
On a lighter note, the kids had time to pan for gold and minerals in troughs set up outside the mine.
None of them struck it rich, but had some fool’s gold to show off afterward.
SAFE BASE kids strike gold
