Freezing to death in your bed in a cabin at your once million dollar mine is a very sad way to go, rest in peace Baby Doe Tabor. The Matchless Mine, the source of Baby Doe’s rags to riches to ruin story and the location of her death bed is just one of the fascinating historical artifacts one travels by on the Mineral Belt Trail. This 11.6 mile paved loop from Leadville follows an old ore train rail bed up through the silver mining district of this bygone era.
Perhaps you have heard of the Tabor Opera Houses in Leadville and Denver or of the Tabor mansion in Denver, all still standing buildings today reflecting the riches of Horace and Baby Doe. But mines run out of ore , fortunes can be squandered, and the unwound player piano eventually silences its joyful tunes. Baby Doe survived Horace by 36 years, dying penniless at her mine.
The Mineral Belt Trail is among our favorite paved or graded bike trails for its combination of wildflower and aspen leaf viewing, stunning vistas, and fascinating historical artifacts. If one starts at the low point of the trail at the southwest part of town, you can travel through Leadville and near the historic train station first before heading up to the mines.
The trail has many signs discussing the history of the area and mining as well as old drills, ore carts, engines, and of course multiple old mine structures and the Matchless Mine itself before one starts heading downhill for a meandering roller coaster ride through the pines on your bike. Take note of the photo captions for more historical facts and a bit of cryptozoological oddity to ponder!
Update 9/24/19
We would be remiss to not include an image of the fall colors on the Mineral Belt Trail which are always glorious, so we revisited the trail to get a few shots.
A piece of history I neglected to include was about “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” who also got her riches in this area from mining as did the Tabors. The nearby Little Jonny Mine in made “Leadville Jonny Brown” and his wife Margaret (aka Molly) Tobin Brown ridiculously rich, but their rough western ways kept them shunned from the upper crust of society until Molly famously survived the sinking of the Titanic and gained notoriety as the Unsinkable Molly Brown.
Also included is a shot of the Pyrenees deep mine superstructure. This area had some of the deepest mines at the time, some 1247 feet deep. This structure used to be completely enclosed to enable mining in all seasons. It had an elevated trestle to push processed rock off to a tailings pile after sourcing lead out of the ore (hence the name of the nearby town, Leadville). Silver and gold was also mined here.
As usual leave your comments and feedback below and thanks for enjoying our adventures with us!