The Mineral Belt Trail runs for 12 miles above Leadville through the ruins of the mines that brought, for a while, great wealth to this town. And to families like that of Meyer Guggenheim (as in the art museums in New York, Bilbao, Abu Dhabi) and Horace Tabor (multimillionaire, US Senator, who lost it all in the crash of 1893 and whose wife, Baby Doe, froze to death in a shack by their mine). Legends and stories line the trail. And such stories: the violence and back-breaking work of the miners, the ethnic-based mining camps (as in Finntown where, surprise, the Finns lived), the bars, brothels, the instant unimaginable wealth.
Mining in Leadville survived after the silver gave out...the last major operation, the Climax molybdenum mine (check the periodic table of elements), shut down only in 1982 (and was to open again before the latest recession hit). The closing of the mine devastated the town's economy. Many folks living in the town now ride buses and cars each day for low wage labor in the ski resorts of Copper Mountain, Vail, Keystone.
In winter, the trail is groomed for cross country skiing...the skate skiing kind...and the Leadville Nordic club is serious about their technique. Its members have read all the historic markers years ago; no reason for them to stop as they glide by me. But besides the historical texts, there's that view out over the town, Turquoise Lake, and Mt. Elmo, the tallest peak in Colorado. The beauty gives me pause...will have to work on technique another day.
