Editing Leadville, Colorado (section)

===Settlement===
[[File:Leadville, from California Gulch, by Thurlow, J., 1831-1878.jpg|thumb|Leadville, as viewed from California Gulch - early photo, date unknown]]

The Leadville area was first settled in 1859 when [[Placer deposit|placer]] [[gold]] was discovered by A. G. Kelley in [[California Gulch]], and by Abe Lee in April (25/26) 1860,<ref name="Blair 1995">{{Cite book |last=Blair |first=Edward |title=Leadville: Colorado's Magic City |publisher=Fred Pruett Books |year=1995 |isbn=978-0962386893}}</ref> during the [[Pikes Peak Gold Rush]].<ref name="LeadvilleCGS">{{cite web | url=http://coloradogeologicalsurvey.org/mineral-resources/historic-mining-districts/lake-county/leadville/ | title=Leadville | publisher=Colorado Geological Survey | access-date=July 28, 2015 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905184441/http://coloradogeologicalsurvey.org/mineral-resources/historic-mining-districts/lake-county/leadville/ | archive-date=September 5, 2015 }}</ref><ref name="Leadville's tale" /> Prospectors panned for gold in the stream that ran through California Gulch in what became the town of [[Oro City, Colorado|Oro City]] (''oro'' is the Spanish word for gold).<ref name="Leadville's tale">{{Cite web |date=May 18, 1969 |title=Leadville's Tale is Born with Discovery of Silver |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109713681/leadvilles-tale-is-born-with-discovery/ |access-date=September 17, 2022 |website=Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph |pages=86}}</ref> [[Horace Tabor]], who became known as the "Leadville Silver King", and his wife [[Augusta Tabor|Augusta]] were among the first prospectors to arrive in Oro City. Horace was appointed as the [[postmaster]] of Oro City on November 30, 1868.<ref name="Blair 1995"/> His wife made money as postmistress, banker, cook, and laundress while Tabor was a prospector.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Leadville, Colorado – Cloud City USA – Legends of America |url=https://www.legendsofamerica.com/co-leadville/ |access-date=September 17, 2022 |website=www.legendsofamerica.com}}</ref>

The early miners had noted that mining for placer gold was hampered by heavy black sand in the [[sluice box]]es, and in 1874 it was discovered that the heavy sand that impeded gold recovery was the [[lead]] mineral [[cerussite]], which has a high [[silver]] content. Prospectors traced the cerussite to its source, present day Leadville, and by 1876 had discovered several silver-lead [[lode]] deposits.<ref name="LeadvilleCGS"/><ref name="Legends of America1">{{cite web | url=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/co-leadville.html | title=Leadville - Cloud City USA | access-date=July 27, 2014 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702043009/http://www.legendsofamerica.com/co-leadville.html | archive-date=July 2, 2014 }}</ref> As the gold has been tapped out of the gulch and attention was averted to nearby Leadville, a mile or two away, Oro City became a ghost town.<ref name="Leadville's tale" />