Sidebar by Sharon Chickering
Local History – August 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
Works Consulted
Bamford, Lawrence. “Streets from Silver,” Colorado Heritage. (1987, Issue 4) 2 — 11.
Beebe, Lucius and Charles Clegg. Narrow Gauge in the Rockies.Berkeley, Calif.: Howell-North, 1958.
Article by Sharon Chickering
Local History – August 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
THE MOURNFUL WAIL of a train whistle only sounds four or five times a day now, and then only during Leadville’s few summer months. Although mineral ores no longer await rail transportation from mine to smelter — and the railroads have all but abandoned the tracks which once crisscrossed this region — Leadville’s 140-year mining legacy still holds a strong grip on the area’s imagination and identity.
Article by Sharon Chickering
Local History – January 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
TWIN LAKES is a quiet hamlet — even at the peak of tourist season when vehicles zip by on Highway 82 to climb over Independence Pass and the Continental Divide to Aspen.
Strolling the half-mile Forest Service interpretive footpath from the center of Twin Lakes to the top of Mount Bump on a summer day, one can survey the peaceful blue of two lakes surrounded by a forest of pine, spruce and aspen. Yellow shrubby cinquefoil, pink wild roses, and blue lupine bloom in low-lying fields dotted with elk scat. It is hard to believe that, in this very spot, seven lives were snuffed out in the space of minutes early one morning in January 1962.
Article by Sharon Chickering
Mining – April 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine
An oversized golf course. A tiered wedding cake. Just plain overkill.
Those are some assessments of the reconstructed mine waste piles in Leadville’s Stray Horse Gulch.
AFTER MORE THAN FOURTEEN YEARS of study, investigation, and analysis by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, huge dump trucks and other heavy equipment rumbled over the east side of Leadville and up East 5th Street last summer. Work had finally begun on designated portions of the approximately 16.5 square miles of the California Gulch Superfund site.
Article by Sharon Chickering
Leadville Transition – February 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine
During winter months, the sun hasn’t begun to lighten the sky over the Mosquito Range when parents begin dropping off children at The Center day care facility in Leadville. Buses, either from Avon-Beaver Creek Transit, or from individual hotels and resorts, pass by The Center and other locations to pick up these parents for jobs in Eagle and Summit counties. The resulting ten- to twelve-hour days are long for both children and adults.
Brief by Sharon Chickering
Recreation – October 1996 – Colorado Central Magazine
Cyclists, joggers and in-line skaters in Lake County can now use a paved recreation path without fear of being run down by passing motorists. The first three and one half mile segment of the Mineral Belt Trail was recently blacktopped by county crews and is open for use.
Article by Sharon Chickering
Environment – April 1996 – Colorado Central Magazine
I sat in the sunny corner window of the Mt. Elbert Lodge with owners Scott Boyd and Laura Downing, watching flighty chickadees attack the hanging bird feeder. Just beyond the line of brown willows flowed the icy water of Lake Creek. There was nothing to indicate that under the picnic table sitting just below us in the snow lay the wastewater treatment system for the bed and breakfast resort.
Article by Sharon Chickering
Rail trails – February 1996 – Colorado Central Magazine
The name Leadville is synonymous with mining, railroads, and mountains. What better way to showcase the area’s fascinating history than to connect various parts with a multi-purpose trail benefiting local residents as well as tourists? Taking advantage of miles of abandoned railroad beds that linked major mining areas of the last century, a group of Lake County citizens is hard at work developing the 10.2-mile Mineral Belt Trail.
Review by Sharon Chickering
Leadville novel – November 1995 – Colorado Central Magazine
All for Love: Baby Doe and Silver Dollar
by John Vernon
Published in 1995 by Simon & Schuster
ISBN 0-684-80731-2
Essay by Sharon Chickering
Mountain Humor – October 1995 – Colorado Central Magazine
Dear Noel and Crystal:
It was great hearing from you! We’re excited you’re moving to the Colorado Rockies. We know you’ll love it — we do.
Sidebar by Sharon Chickering
Composting – February 1995 – Colorado Central Magazine
I have always been frugal at heart, so the possibility of turning garbage and sewage sludge into a valuable resource like compost excites me. It’s like getting something for nothing. And when I look around my mountain home and see the abundance of rocks and paucity of soil, I am in favor of almost anything that will increase my ability to grow trees, flowers, and garden vegetables, not to mention a little grass.
Article by Sharon Chickering
Reclamation – February 1995 – Colorado Central Magazine
Some hikers bag Colorado Fourteeners the way others bag trout. But what happens when trails are used to death — spreading to widths of forty feet with gullies four to five feet deep?
Sidebar by Sharon Chickering
Hagerman – September 1994 – Colorado Central Magazine
The Colorado Midland Centennial Trail can be reached from Leadville by taking Lake County Road 4 around the south shore of Turquoise Lake. Turn onto Forest Road 105, the Hagerman Pass Road, and continue for 3.7 miles to the Carlton Tunnel.
Article by Sharon Chickering
Trails – September 1994 – Colorado Central Magazine
Ghosts aren’t hard to find. They join the squirrels chattering among the aspen, spruce, and fir, or echo with the rushing mountain streams which erode the long-abandoned bed of the Colorado Midland Railway above Leadville. As a hiking trail, the route now offers a chance to visit the phantom rail workers as they blast and pound rocky routes from the Rocky Mountains.
Article by Sharon Chickering
Performers – August 1994 – Colorado Central Magazine
“I see you. I know you’re there. Come to stare at the old lady.” Baby Doe Tabor speaks at us with scorn.
Article by Sharon Chickering
Transportation – June 1994 – Colorado Central Magazine
“All Abooooard!” conductor Carl Benz shouts as the whistle wails.
With a jerk, the maroon, green, and white diesel engine of the Leadville, Colorado & Southern Railroad begins backing up the track — red caboose in the lead. The rear brakeman keeps an alert eye on the track unraveling before him. The rail cars slip past the back alleys and Victorian shotgun houses of Leadville, then the old freight depot and boarded-up former St. Vincent’s Hospital. Colorado’s two highest peaks, Massive and Elbert, loom to the west.