How Leadville, Colorado's Story Reflects the Vainglorious Wins and Tragic Losses of Western Mining, Part 2

 By Donna Wichelman

The story of Western Mining in Colorado has all the makings of an epic movie, with its vainglorious wins and tragic losses. In the end, Georgetown's decline in 1878 would prove to demonstrate the vulnerability of the mining industry in the years to come in Part 2 of Leadville's rise to Silver Queen.

Overnight, the Victorian-era community of Leadville, Colorado, rose to become the world's mining mecca. It all began in 1878, when a “black sand” that miners had previously overlooked was discovered to contain high-grade, silver-rich cerussite ore, also known as lead carbonate. It had as much as 77% lead and sufficient silver to be easily extracted during smelting. Everyone knew they had hit something big. They never expected that down the road, the industry would suffer great loss.

People flocked to Leadville from every direction of the globe, building roads and railways over high-elevation mountain passes. They came in every mode of transportation available in the late 1800s—wagons, stages, buggies, carts, horses, wheelbarrows, burro trains, and railroads. Some even braved the sometimes-brutal weather, walking up steep mountain trails, all to make their fortune from gold, silver, and lead carbonate that the Rocky Mountains yielded at 10,152 feet above sea level.

"Burro pack train, on the way to Leadville, Col." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1850 - 1930. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/0c740060-c536-012f-9033-58d385a7bc34

The population of Leadville grew from just a few hundred to ten thousand in a few months. At its zenith, Leadville’s population was officially counted at 14,820 in 1880, though contemporary figures suggest as much as 30,000 if one considers uncounted miners, transient laborers, and nearby settlements.

Leadville’s prosperity soared, as miners made $11 million in silver the first year and $14 million in 1880. The boom was on as Leadville became one of the richest mining districts in the world.

Very quickly, men like Horace Austin Warner Tabor (H. A. W. Tabor) rushed to establish their place among the wealthy. Most of his money came from his Matchless Mine, acclaimed to be one of the richest mines in Colorado, making him Leadville’s Silver King. Tabor incorporated his Mosquito Pass Wagon Road Company on October 8, 1878, “to promote” Colorado’s industrial interests. He also became infamous for his relationship with “Baby Doe” Tabor.

Born Elizabeth Bonduel McCourt on November 10, 1854 to a middle-class family in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Baby Doe was twenty-four years Tabor’s junior. Though this raised eyebrows, the greater scandal revolved around their love affair while he was still married to his first wife, Augusta Tabor. Unfortunately, the public disgrace destroyed his reputation and prestige, but this didn’t deter Tabor from divorcing Augusta in 1881 and marrying Baby Doe in a “lavish ceremony” in Washington D.C., among the rich and powerful in 1883.

Tabor Opera House, Leadville, CO: Donna's Gallery, June 2025

Baby Doe has been considered a romantic heroine and a tragic figure, for while she led a life of great extravagance with her husband during the silver boom, when the value of silver crashed in 1893, the Tabors lost most of their fortune. At Tabor’s death in 1899, he pleaded with Baby Doe to hold onto the Matchless Mine, believing it would regain its value. It never did. Baby Doe lived in a small cabin near the Matchless Mine until 1935, enduring poverty, isolation, and harsh weather. She died of exposure at the age of 80. People have said of her that she had an “unwavering devotion” to a lost fortune. She’s buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Leadville. (See November 4th, 2025 blog.)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baby_Doe_Tabor.jpg

Ironically, Augusta Tabor, who became a powerful figure for her courage, endurance, and business acumen, died a millionaire. The original Tabor Home was built in 1877 at 512 Harrison Avenue but moved to 116 East 5th Street in Leadville. The house, which looks eerily similar to the exterior of W. A. Hamill’s in Georgetown, Colorado, is now a museum and features original Victorian furnishings. https://leadville.com/explore-the-original-tabor-home/

Compared to the tragic end for Baby Doe, Margaret Tobin Brown (a.k.a. Molly Brown) grew up in Hannibal, Missouri in an Irish immigrant family of humble means. She moved to Leadville at 18, during the mining boom, hoping to make something of herself. She married mining engineer James Joseph Brown in 1886. Not long afterward, he discovered a lucrative gold vein at the Little Jonny Mine, and the Browns went from being a couple of modest means to achieving tremendous wealth.

Photo Display of Molly Brown at the Healy House, Leadville, CO: Donna's Gallery

From the beginning, Molly was heavily involved in charitable work in Leadville. So, it was only natural for her to help establish a soup kitchen for the miners’ families when the Panic of 1893 hit the nation and the value of silver fell to an all-time low. Molly continued her charity work after the Browns moved to Denver in 1894. There, she became a reform advocate and supported various causes, such as women’s suffrage, labor rights, and education. She ran for the U.S. Senate in 1909, long before women won the right to vote in 1920.

Molly rose to fame when she survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912, and true to form, she helped calm passengers and encouraged the crew to return for survivors. Afterward, she organized a fundraiser for the survivors.

Molly was also awarded the Legion of Honor by the French government for her humanitarian efforts during World War I. 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Margaret_Brown,_3qtr_view,_with_chair.jpg

Molly Brown's life, like Augusta Tabor's, demonstrates a very different outcome from Baby Doe Tabor. Though the Browns had much wealth and endured the same economic conditions in 1893, both understood the principle one can find in Proverbs:

Know the state of your flocks,

and put your heart into caring for your herds,24

for riches don’t last forever,

and the crown might not be passed to the next generation.25

After the hay is harvested and the new crop appears

and the mountain grasses are gathered in,26

your sheep will provide wool for clothing,

and your goats will provide the price of a field.

~ Proverbs 27:23 - 26 (NLT)24

Though H. A. W. Tabor and Baby Doe lived a life of luxury, enjoying their riches while they lasted, they squandered their money, haughty in their wealth and status. In the end, it was their undoing. When silver was devalued during the Panic of 1893, they lost everything. But devoted to a pipe dream, Tabor begged Baby Doe to sit on the mountain and guard their mine, and she lived a life of hermitage and died alone.

Molly Brown came from poverty. But when the Browns made it rich in the mining industry, she used her wealth and status to benefit others throughout the rest of her life. Instead of guarding a mine, she opened a soup kitchen for the miners to help the families survive the crisis and went on to do many good works to benefit many. She died a woman of honorable and moral character. 

Do not let kindness and truth leave you;

Bind them around your neck,

Write them on the tablet of your heart.

So you will find favor and good repute

In the sight of God and man.

~Proverbs 3:3 - 4 (NASB 1995)

Donna is an Angel-award-winning author of Historical fiction for A Song of Deliverance. Book Two in the Silver Singing Mine series, Rhythms of the Heart, was released in November 2025. Weaving history and faith into stories of intrigue and redemption grew out of Donna's love of travel, history, and literature as a young adult while attending an international college in Wales, U.K. She enjoys developing plots that show how God's love abounds even in the profoundly difficult circumstances of our lives. Her stories reflect the hunger in all of us for love, belonging, and forgiveness.

Donna was a communications professional before becoming a full-time writer. Her short stories and articles have appeared in inspirational publications. She has two indie-published romantic suspense novels, Light Out of Darkness and Undaunted Valor, in her Waldensian Series. 

Donna and her husband of forty-one years participate in ministry at their local church in Colorado. They love spending time with their grandchildren and bike, kayak, and travel whenever possible.

How Silver Plume Became a Nineteenth-Century Gem In the Colorado Rockies

By Donna Wichelman

Readers of my blogs over the last year and a half know I've written on topics related to my Gilded Age historical romance series, the Singing Silver Mine series, which is based on characters who settled in Georgetown, Colorado, during its silver-mining heyday of the late nineteenth century. Known as the Silver Queen of the Rocky Mountains, Georgetown gained its fame from the abundant ores the surrounding mountains yielded to early miners who settled there. Yet, while Georgetown has received most of the glory over the years, its neighbor to the west, Silver Plume, has often been neglected, overshadowed by Georgetown's reputation.

Main Street, Silver Plume, Colorado: Donna's Gallery, June 2019

ID 394784059 | Colorado Silver Plume © Mkopka | Dreamstime.com

Though a meager amount of gold was discovered in the Territory of Colorado as early as 1850 by a group of Georgian prospectors heading west during the California Gold Rush, it wasn't until 1859, when George Jackson followed the Clear Creek gorge and found a significant amount of gold, that the rush was on in Colorado. Thousands from all over the world flocked to the Rocky Mountains to find their fortunes.

All seemed to point to a thriving region until the gold bubble burst in 1864, and the investment capital necessary to keep going never paid off in revenues. Many other investors pulled out.

Then, in the fall of 1864, three prospectors—Robert Steele, James Huff, and Robert Taylor—discovered an extremely rich silver lode called the Gus Belmont Lode eight miles south of Georgetown on Mount McClellan at 13,200 feet. They headed to Central City to have their samples assayed, discovering a preliminary value of $200 to $500 per ton. The silver boom was on.

ID 199624040 | Silver © Roberto Junior | Dreamstime.com

Once again, prospectors from every corner of the globe flocked to the region, and by September 1866, Clear Creek County was declared “indisputably” rich in ores by Central City’s Weekly Miners’ Register. Georgetown flourished, as clapboard buildings, housing, banks and business enterprises sprang up in a growing business district. Mining camps popped up everywhere--Bakerville, Brownville, Simplem, Silver Dale, and others. 

Historic Business District, Georgetown, Colorado: Donna's Gallery, December 2024

Finally, in 1869, two men, Charles A. Kimberlin and Col. Ambrose H. Bartlett from Doniphon County, Kansas, decided to establish a town in a small, wide spot in a valley half a mile east of the mines and buildings in Brownville and three miles west of Georgetown.

Things started slowly in Silver Plume, with Kimberlin constructing only one or two buildings in 1869, though one reporter was impressed by the completed work on a school building before finishing his own residence. (The original schoolhouse was a simple wood-frame structure that remained in use until the brick building we see today on Main Street was built in 1874.)

"View from Silver Plume, looking up." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1850 - 1930.NY Digital Library

Only a handful of buildings were built in 1870, but by the fall of 1870, they started to talk of building a hotel, and the town became known as Silver Plume.

By 1872, the town was up and running with a tightly packed commercial district, fifty to sixty residences, four to five hundred residents, and plans for a town government. In that same year, Silver Plume was incorporated.* See note below.

By the 1880s, the town grew quickly as silver mines proliferated in the mountains surrounding Silver Plume. Georgetown may have been the commercial center of Clear Creek County, but Silver Plume was also a cosmopolitan, multicultural, multilingual town comprising working-class miners and their families, a few merchants, and other entrepreneurs. At its peak, the population grew to well over two thousand people.

Original Road to the 7:30 Mine Trail: "Laden with ore from "Seven-thirty" mine, Silver Plume, Colorado." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 

Integral to the town's growth and importance to Clear Creek County's silver mining industry was the Silver Plume-Georgetown Loop Railroad. It enabled miners to efficiently move their silver nuggets to smelters and markets.

Completed in 1884 by the Colorado Central Railroad, the three-foot narrow-gauge railroad was one of the American West's greatest engineering feats, with a 640-foot elevation gain between Silver Plume and Georgetown. The railroad used loops, switchbacks, and a high bridge, called the Devil's Gate High Bridge, to gradually accomplish the elevation gain.

"Great loop of the Silver Plume, Colorado." The New York Public Library Digital Collections.

Unfortunately, the entire world fell into deep economic depression in 1893, and silver was devalued. Neither Silver Plume nor Georgetown recovered from the devaluation, and only a handful of mines survived.

Today, tourism keeps the Georgetown-Silver Plume National Historic District alive. Visitors can take a step back in history and ride the narrow-gauge train between Georgetown and Silver Plume, stopping to tour a mine on the Georgetown Loop, or walk the historic streets of Silver Plume and buy coffee in the old saloon. For the adventurous at heart, one can hike one of several trails up the surrounding mountains and view numerous ruined mines in the area. One of the most popular is the 7:30 Mine Trail, which is 3.5-mile round-trip trail to the restored 7:30 Mine. 

*Note: Silver Plume disincorporated in 1874, when they realized they weren't ready for self-rule, but incorporated again on August 19, 1880.

Georgetown Loop Railroad, Silver Plume: Donna's Gallery, Summer 1995

Donna Hiking the 7:30 Mine Trail and Stopping at an Old Abandoned Mine: Donna's Gallery, June 2019

Donna is an Angel-award-winning author of Historical fiction for A Song of Deliverance. Book Two in the Silver Singing Mine series, Rhythms of the Heart, was released in November 2025. Weaving history and faith into stories of intrigue and redemption grew out of Donna's love of travel, history, and literature as a young adult while attending an international college in Wales, U.K. She enjoys developing plots that show how God's love abounds even in the profoundly difficult circumstances of our lives. Her stories reflect the hunger in all of us for love, belonging, and forgiveness.

Donna was a communications professional before becoming a full-time writer. Her short stories and articles have appeared in inspirational publications. She has two indie-published romantic suspense novels, Light Out of Darkness and Undaunted Valor, in her Waldensian Series. 

Donna and her husband of forty-one years participate in ministry at their local church in Colorado. They love spending time with their grandchildren and bike, kayak, and travel whenever possible.

How An Average Nineteenth-Century Man from France Built One of the Most Renown Hotels in America

By Donna Wichelman

Rated among the fifteen most favorite local art businesses in the United States of America, the nineteenth-century Hotel De Paris in Georgetown, Colorado, has always maintained a first-class reputation. Though it has been owned and operated as a museum by the National Society of The Colonial Dames of America since 1954, the Hotel De Paris remains one of the best-preserved nineteenth-century hotels in the United States.

Hotel De Paris, Georgetown Colorado: Donna's Gallery, December 2019

But how did the hotel rise from the site of the Delmonico Bakery in October 1875 to become a first-class hotel and restaurant in this gold and silver mining town of 1879? To understand the origins of the Hotel de Paris, we must develop a picture of the man known to Georgetown residents as Louis Dupuy, who conceived it.

Born Adolphe Francois Gerard in October 1844 in Alencon, France, Adolphe came from parents of average means who operated an inn. After his father's death, his mother encouraged Adolphe to enter a Catholic seminary at age fifteen. However, the priesthood didn't suit him, and by age twenty, he left the seminary at Sées and headed to Paris.

Louis Dupuy (a.k.a. Adolphe Francois Gerard: Photo on the Wall of the Hotel De Paris, Georgetown, Colorado: Donna's Gallery October 2018

In Paris, Adolphe served as an apprentice chef at a large hotel and learned how to prepare fine French cuisine. However, seeking to improve his English fluency, he left France for London, England, where he worked at a newspaper, translating reviews.

But as a free spirit will be, Adolphe moved on to New York City in 1866 and worked for another newspaper. However, caught selling an article he didn't write, Adolphe enlisted in the Army in disgrace, and in August 1868 was assigned to the cavalry at Fort Russell (now Warren Air Force Base) near Cheyenne, Wyoming. By now, we can anticipate Adolphe's pattern of moving on and deserting, and indeed, he went AWOL from the cavalry on April 1, 1869, finding his way to Denver, where he called himself Louis Dupuy to hide from the government.

Yet Louis's (a.k.a. Adolphe) passion for research and writing hadn't waned, and he wrote an in-depth article about a political controversy in France that caught the attention of W.N. Byers of the Rocky Mountain Newspaper. Byers liked Louis so well that he assigned him to report on the new mining districts across Colorado. For more than a year, Louis rode a mule throughout the region until he came to Georgetown, a city of five thousand people.

Unlike the other mining towns Louis had visited, Georgetown was a bustling metropolis of homes and businesses with an international flair. This appealed to him, and he took a job as a miner at a mine near Silver Plume. But on March 6, 1873, a delayed reaction of dynamite caused an explosion in the mine. Louis saved his partner by pushing him away, taking the brunt of the explosion.

News of what Louis had done spread throughout the community, and people treated him as a hero. It was during his convalescence that Louis finally found his mission in life. "In this land of gold and silver, we should live like princes. We should have a great hostelry and the best of wines. While we cannot have the masterpieces of Michelangelo and Cellini, we can at least have the reproductions. I would have a library, and the thoughts of the best authors of the Old World would be upon its shelves."

Therefore, when an advertisement appeared in the Colorado Miner soliciting help from his fellow citizens to pay the rent on the building that housed the former Delmonico Bakery, everyone gathered around to support Louis's proposal for a first-class hotel.

Luxury Hotel Room, Hotel De Paris, Georgetown Colorado: Donna's Gallery October 2018

State of the Art Kitchen, Hotel De Paris, Georgetown, Colorado: Donna's Gallery October 2018

Hotel De Paris, Georgetown, Colorado Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Collection

Thus began a project that took shape in stages over the next four years in which Louis added onto the original building, initially doing all the work himself, remodeling and improving and paving the way for one of the finest hotels and restaurants in the region, evoking a picture of the inns one might find in Louis' home in Normandy, France. Indeed, he had been known to say, "Show them this little souvenir of Alencon which I built in America, and they will understand.


Louis's dream was realized over the years until his death from pneumonia on October 13, 1900. He built his library with books by the best authors from around the world on his shelves. He also continued to invest in the hotel, providing state-of-the-art rooms with all the accoutrements and serving the restaurant's patrons from a state-of-the-art kitchen, offering the finest French and Western wines and cuisine available in the New World, and the most elegant crystal and china one could buy.

Library at Hotel De Paris, Georgetown, Colorado: Donna's Gallery October 2018

After Louis died, the hotel passed to Sophie Gally, who died only four months after Dupuy. It went to her nieces, and then was first rented, then sold, to the Burkholder family, who ran the hotel until 1949 when it closed. The hotel fell into disrepair until the National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of Colorado bought the hotel and restored it to the excellently kept museum it is today. The Hotel De Paris is a site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It contains ninety percent of its original furnishings.

Dining Room Hutch with Fine Crystal, Hotel De Paris, Georgetown, Colorado: Donna's Gallery 2018

Donna is an Angel-award-winning author of Historical fiction for A Song of Deliverance. Book Two in the Silver Singing Mine series, Rhythms of the Heart, was released in November 2025. Weaving history and faith into stories of intrigue and redemption grew out of Donna's love of travel, history, and literature as a young adult while attending an international college in Wales, U.K. She enjoys developing plots that show how God's love abounds even in the profoundly difficult circumstances of our lives. Her stories reflect the hunger in all of us for love, belonging, and forgiveness.

Donna was a communications professional before becoming a full-time writer. Her short stories and articles have appeared in inspirational publications. She has two indie-published romantic suspense novels, Light Out of Darkness and Undaunted Valor, in her Waldensian Series. 

Donna and her husband of forty-one years participate in ministry at their local church in Colorado. They love spending time with their grandchildren and bike, kayak, and travel whenever possible.

Why A Mountain Town Became Known as One of the Most Renowned Fire Fighting Companies in Nineteenth-Century Colorado

By Donna Wichelman

When one asks people what comes to mind when they think about Colorado, they often mention four things--mountains, snow, thunderstorms, and blue skies. Associated with those qualities, they might include hiking, skiing, fishing, hunting, and Big Horn Sheep. All these elements make Colorado an attractive state in which to live or visit, because the outdoor activities are phenomenal, except when the thunderheads build overhead.

Less often do people who are not Colorado natives mention that we live in a climate that is also semi-arid and subject to high winds due to how the mountains funnel air, accelerating downdrafts on the eastern slopes, called Chinooks. These two climatic conditions have made us vulnerable, even before the advent of climate change, to thunderstrikes, wildfires, and heavy flooding, especially in the forested Colorado mountains. We have an average of twenty-two inches of rain compared to the country's average of thirty-eight inches.

Lightning Over the Rocky Mountains ID 42260194 © Taiga | Dreamstime.com

As the gold and silver mining industry grew in the latter half of the nineteenth century, and mining camps sprang up across the Rocky Mountains, such as  Georgetown, Central City, Leadville, Silverton, Victor, and others, one thing became clear. Colorado's susceptibility to wildfires needed to be addressed. Mining towns began establishing volunteer fire departments to combat the threat.

Even before Georgetown, Colorado was approved as an official town by legislative authority on February 28, 1868, the need for a fire department and the proper equipment was obvious. A raging forest fire tore down the Leavenworth Fork of Clear Creek, leaving the mountainside blackened. The threat was real. 

The fire threat is why, in the second book of my Singing Silver Mine Series Rhythms Of The Heart, when protagonist Cassie Munro asks her mother why more people don't plant foliage around their homes, Laurel responds that it's too hot and dry. "Our streets are so tightly packed with housing and businesses that a single spark might produce a tremendous fire. It could completely wipe out the entire town,” her father says.

Georgetown's fire department took the threat seriously. In the years following incorporation, Georgetown established guidelines for safe housing construction and funding for fire equipment. The first piece of equipment was a fire engine with 300 feet of hose and fifty fire buckets. The engine featured a "7 1/4 inch cylinder, operating with fourteen men on the brake. It was guaranteed to throw a stream of water 130 feet," according to The Rise of the Silver Queen author Christine Bradley. The town also tapped into the water supply from two creeks.

Fire Engine Pumper, Silver Plume Old School Museum: Donna's Gallery 2019

Fire Bucket, Old School Museum, Silver Plume: Donna's Gallery 2019

However, after the fire started at the town's most elegant hotel, the Barton House, caught fire in 1871, sending embers catching fire on neighboring properties, the townspeople demanded more and better equipment. A second big fire in January 1873 convinced the folks that they needed to create a formal fire department, and thus the Georgetown Water Company was formed.

By 1874, they had developed an extensive fire protection system. They dammed a reservoir they could tap into on the South Branch of Clear Creek, located above Georgetown. Waterlines ran throughout the town with seven fireplugs located at strategic places. Several companies of firefighters were formed, each with specialty firefighting equipment and firefighting skills.

Old Missouri Engine House, Georgetown, CO: Donna's Gallery 2018

Alpine Hose Company No. 2, Georgetown, Colorado, Compliments 
of graphix

ID 284014742 | Georgetown Colorado © Arinahabich08 | Dreamstime.com

In 1875, Georgetown added Alpine Hose Company No. 2 and "Old Missouri" Engine House, both houses located in the commercial district. Star Hook and Ladder stayed in Hope Hose Company, now the Town Hall at the east end of Sixth Street. 

Firehouse with a hand pump. Georgetown, Colorado

Hope Hose Company 1875

New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed September 1, 2025. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/010062b0-73bc-0139-6248-0242ac110003

Each year, they added waterlines and fire hydrants. By 1877, the Clear Creek Water Company laid 2,500 feet of main pipes and installed four new hydrants for a total of 8,900 feet of mains and sixteen hydrants.

Like fraternities, the firefighters enjoyed the camaraderie, improving their skills and boasting about their specialties. Every Fourth of July and on other occasions, they hosted competitions between themselves and other Clear Creek County communities to determine who had the fastest Hook and Ladder runners, the strongest, most durable pumpers, and the bravest souls to scale the heights of buildings.

Since the nineteenth century, when Georgetown strategically put into place policies to keep the town and community safe, Georgetown has never experienced a devastating fire. We can be grateful to the town's forefathers for the wisdom that has allowed citizens and tourists alike today to enjoy one of the most well-preserved Victorian communities intact in Colorado.  

Weaving history and faith into stories of intrigue and redemption grew out of Donna's love of travel, history, and literature as a young adult while attending the United World College of the Atlantic--an international college in Wales, U.K. She enjoys developing plots that show how God's love abounds even in the profoundly difficult circumstances of our lives. Her stories reflect the hunger in all of us for love, belonging, and forgiveness.

Donna was a communications professional before writing full-time. Her short stories and articles have appeared in inspirational publications. She has two indie-published romantic suspense novels, Light Out of Darkness and Undaunted Valor, in her Waldensian Series. Her Gilded Age historical romance, A Song of Deliverance, released in December 2024.

Donna and her husband of forty years participate in ministry at their local church in Colorado. They love spending time with their grandchildren and bike, kayak, and travel whenever possible.

How Tourism Contributed to Colorado's Western Expansion

By Donna Wichelman

The rise of the mining industry in the Colorado Rockies during the 1860s made way for western expansion and ushered in the Gilded Age for the Territory of Colorado. Georgetown’s unique and colorful setting enticed entrepreneurial enterprise and lured people from every walk of life. Many stayed to make their fortunes in the gold or silver industry. Others came to experience the spectacular beauty and fresh mountain air and then went home to tell about it.

The New York Public Library. "Georgetown, Colorado." The New York Public Library Digital Collections 1850 - 1930.

According to historian Christine Bradley in The Rise of the Silver Queen, “The town’s early rustic appearance gave way to fine homes, level sidewalks, a few trees, and elegant fences … The streets of Georgetown were packed with new arrivals from every point of the globe …” including Cornish, Welsh, and German miners, Italian retailers, Irish workmen, and the Frenchman Louis DePuy, who turned a small bakery into the elegant and now historic Hotel de Paris. It was also a town where formerly enslaved people could earn a living and invest in mines. 

All these elements coincided to create an international flair and intrigue as people descended upon Georgetown to make their mark in the mining community. It also brought people from near and far and across the world to marvel over the place where creativity and optimism had sprung to life in a setting of natural beauty. Thus, the tourist industry took off, bringing overwhelming numbers of people with their tourist dollars as early as 1872.

The famous Englishwoman Isabella Bird, whose travels took her across America, visited the region and described Georgetown as "the only town I have seen in America to which the epithet picturesque could be applied."

"The life of Isabella Bird (Mrs. Bishop) : snapshot taken of Mrs. Bishop at Swatow by Mr. Mackenzie." The New York Public Library Digital Collections.

 "Isabella Bird Bishop [three portraits]." The New York Public Library Digital Collections.

An article in The Colorado Miner on January 14, 1873 titled At Least One Million Dollars From Tourists in 1872 had this to say: "Visitors to Colorado last summer paid hotels bills to the amount of $200,000 in Denver alone. Add to these figures the amounts expended at the Hotels in the mountain and southern towns ... [it]will represent not far from one million dollars cash. And so it will be seen that the beautiful scenery and health-inspiring atmosphere of Colorado is the source ... all because the press of the Territory and ... the entire press of the U.S., have advertised our beauties and wonders ...." See the Colorado Miner, January 14, 1873

A second article in The Colorado Miner on January 9, 1873, spoke to the many visitors to the mountain towns in Clear Creek County. "There were 14,000 arrivals recorded in the register books of the six principal Hotels in Clear Creek County in the year 1872. These figures, which are decidedly respectable for a remote mining county ... do not include the regular guests of the hotels. The Hotels to which we refer, are the Barton, Girard, and Ennis Houses in Georgetown ... and it is appropriate to remark ... that these Hotels are kept in superior style and are pleasant and comfortable ... for tourists ...." See the Colorado Miner, January 9, 1873.

The Barton House, to which the last article refers, gained widespread notoriety. According to the History of Clear Creek and Boulder Valleys in Colorado, published in 1880, the Barton House was known for being one of the most well-known, beloved, and lavish hotels for its comfort, elegance, and modern accommodations. Its owner, Mr. William E. Barton, enjoyed a reputation for exceptional hospitality, and an ad in the July 29, 1873 Colorado Miner boasted its "elevation overlooking the entire town." From there, tourists could enjoy the romantic scenery in the mountains ... See The Colorado Miner June 27, 1873.

Barton House: As Seen in an Ad in the Colorado Miner in June 1873

Green Lake became one of the most visited tourist destinations in the mountains above Georgetown. It was an easy day's carriage drive up a narrow canyon and provided recreational opportunities, such as boating, fishing, and picnicking on the shores of a crystal clear mountain lake. 

"Green Lake, looking south. "The New York Public Library Digital Collections 1850 - 1930.

 

       

"Green Lake, 3 miles above Georgetown." New York Public Library Digital Collections 1850 -1930

Green Lake Georgetown, Colorado 2015 ID 57686598 Dreamstime 

In August 1877, the Colorado Central Railroad completed its track to Georgetown, and by the end of May 1878, Georgetown gained the title of the "handsomest city in the Rockies," as people flocked to the region by train and made their way up the canyon and over the Guanella Pass to Green Lake. A new luxury hotel under the ownership of French-born Louis Dupuy had opened, the Hotel de Paris, which replaced the Barton in first-class luxury. Today, the Hotel De Paris Musuem is considered one of the best preserved Gilded Age luxury hotels in the United States.

Hotel De Paris, Georgetown Colorado: Donna's Gallery, December 2019

Today, Georgetown thrives on tourism and still welcomes visitors from across the world. Recognizing Georgetown as a uniquely preserved nineteenth-century Victorian silver mining boom town in 1966, the National Park Service designated Georgetown, Silver Plume, the intervening Loop Valley, and the surrounding mountainsides the Georgetown Silver Plume National Historic Landmark District. Four years later, on May 7, 1970, members of the community formed the Georgetown Society, which eventually became Historic Georgetown, Inc., to begin a historic preservation effort that continues until now.

In addition to an ordinance specifying building design reviews, there are numerous museums and properties that have been under renovation. These include the Hamill House Museum 1867/79, the Kneisel House 1870, the Bowman-White House 1892, the Tucker-Rutherford Cottage 1870s, 1880s, 1890s (used as my cottage for Anna Sullivan in A Song of Deliverance), the Hotel De Paris, the Georgetown Firefighting Museum, Alpine Hose No. 2, and others.

The Tucker Rutherford Housem, aka known as Anna Sullivan's House in A Song of Deliverance

Donna's Gallery, August 2024

 

Hamill House Museum: Donna's Gallery, August 2024

Weaving history and faith into stories of intrigue and redemption grew out of Donna's love of travel, history, and literature as a young adult while attending the United World College of the Atlantic--an international college in Wales, U.K. She enjoys developing plots that show how God's love abounds even in the profoundly difficult circumstances of our lives. Her stories reflect the hunger in all of us for love, belonging, and forgiveness.

Donna was a communications professional before writing full-time. Her short stories and articles have appeared in inspirational publications. She has two indie-published romantic suspense novels, Light Out of Darkness and Undaunted Valor, in her Waldensian Series. Her Gilded Age historical romance, A Song of Deliverance, released on December 3, 2024.

Donna and her husband of forty years participate in ministry at their local church in Colorado. They love spending time with their grandchildren and bike, kayak, and travel whenever possible.

How One Rocky Mountain Mineral Hot Springs Has Become a Historic Icon

By Donna Wichelman

The human race has most likely enjoyed the benefits of mineral hot springs since the beginning of time. According to an article written by Mayumi Maruyama for CNN on June 8, 2023, the world’s oldest hot springs hotel opened its doors in 705 A.D. in the mountains of Japan’s Yamanashi prefecture, and you can still stay at the Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan today.

But why are these hot springs so popular around the world?

Tabacon Resort, Costa Rica: ID 246245502 © Noamfein | Dreamstime.com

Not only do mineral hot springs give warmth and relaxation to a weary body, reducing stress, but they also are reputed to provide all manner of other health benefits. Hot Springs enhance blood circulation due to the calcium and sodium bicarbonate in the water, and the elevated sulfur levels have antifungal and antibacterial properties, just to name a few.

It’s no wonder that Sigmund Dreher, the villain Georg Töpfer’s henchman in my historical romance, A Song of Deliverance, relished the mineral baths at Hot Soda Springs in Idaho Springs, Colorado. Though the hot springs were minuscule compared to the lavish Roman-style bathhouses the German man of military might had been accustomed to in Baden-Baden and he despised their position sitting “in the middle of an open, dusty field along a pathetic creek,” the Ocean Bath House at least gave him some level of stress reduction in a pinch. It was also the spot Dreher chose to conduct a clandestine meeting with his lackey, Elias Jones, to scheme against the mining mogul Stefan Maier.

Bath House at Idaho Springs: New York Library Digital Collections, Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication ("CCO 1.0 Dedication")

Historically, the Ute and Arapahoe held the Hot Soda Springs as a magical and sacred land for worship and healing before the white man ever came on the scene. The Soda Creek divided the line between the two nations.

Depiction of the Ute and Arapahoe at Hot Soda Springs: Every Day Migration to the Healing Waters

Then, in 1859 George A. Jackson headed into the Rocky Mountains through Mt. Vernon Canyon, hoping to find placer gold along the Vasquez Fork (today known as Clear Creek). As he explored the canyon and walked through snow drifts, he noticed steam rising from Soda Creek. Cautious of the local Indians, he crept up to find a thick vapor rising, which turned out to be what he referred to as the Big Geyser, and the place became known as Idaho Springs. Several years later, the geyser quit spewing water and steam and became pools of hot springs that bubbled up from the ground.

Following the discovery of the hot springs, miners used the baths for washing since it was a source of hot water. Two of those miners bought the land, but frustrated with their lot, they sold it to Dr. E.M. Cummings in 1863. Being a clever businessman, Dr. Cummings built a log and wood-frame house and charged the public for “health baths.”

Bath House at Idaho Springs: New York Library Digital Collections, Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication (CCO Dedication")

In 1866, Harrison Montague bought the property, tore down the cabin, and built two large bathhouses, a stone bath house he called the “Ocean Bath House” and the “Mammoth.” A few years later, he built the center section still used today and called the area surrounding the hot springs the “Saratoga of the Rocky Mountains,” a hot springs resort in upstate New York known for its beautiful gardens and elegant Grand Hotel.

 Bath House at Idaho Springs: New York Library Digital Collections, Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication ("CCO 1.0 Dedication")

Underground Caves: Picture C/O Indian Hot Springs Resort

Gazebo Built in 1869, Hot Soda Springs Resort: Donna's Gallery, June 2019

Records from those early years show that five thousand people visited annually, crediting the strong healing powers of the baths. A local doctor in the community once complained to the town newspaper in 1879 that he was losing business to the hot springs since “Mr. Montague kept his baths open all winter.” 

The story is evidence of how well-visited the hot springs were then for their health benefits. Today, we know the hot springs are rich with minerals, including calcium, fluoride, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, selenium, silica, sodium, sulfate, and zinc, another reason the pools are so popular today.

Many historical figures have visited the Indian Hot Springs Resort. In A Song of Deliverance, Dreher mentions the infamous Jesse James. But many others have stopped by to soak in the hot springs, including Billy the Kid, Walt Whitman, Baby Doe Tabor, the Vanderbilts, and the Roosevelts. More contemporary folks include Clint Eastwood and John Denver.

John Denver: ID 79448564 | John Denver © Rene Van Den Berg | Dreamstime.com

The Indian Hot Springs Resort has become a historic icon for the community of Idaho Springs. In 2014, the Lee family took over the resort, promising the previous owners that they would not let the historical significance of the hot springs die. 

The Lees continue to improve the facilities with updated pools, spa, and accommodations but maintain the historic nature of the property and buildings. The historic Gazebo where Signmund Dreher and Elias Jones met in A Song of Deliverance still exists, and the center section of the Ocean Bath House has been lovingly maintained. 

You can learn more about this beautiful Indian Hot Springs Resort in the Colorado Rockies by going to their website at https://indianhotsprings.com.

Weaving history and faith into stories of intrigue and redemption grew out of Donna's love of travel, history, and literature as a young adult while attending the United World College of the Atlantic--an international college in Wales, U.K. She enjoys developing plots that show how God's love abounds even in the profoundly difficult circumstances of our lives. Her stories reflect the hunger in all of us for love, belonging, and forgiveness.

Donna was a communications professional before writing full-time. Her short stories and articles have appeared in inspirational publications. She has two indie-published romantic suspense novels, Light Out of Darkness and Undaunted Valor, in her Waldensian Series. Her Gilded Age historical romance, A Song of Deliverance, released on December 3, 2024.

Donna and her husband of forty years participate in ministry at their local church in Colorado. They love spending time with their grandchildren and bike, kayak, and travel whenever possible.