Magazine content is available exclusively for TIME subscribers.COLORADO: Leadville's Last
In 1875, when silver was discovered in Leadville, the barren ravines leading to California Gulch swarmed with feverish thousands. In the gambling halls and Sallie Purple's fancy parlors, the bonanza kings strutted and roistered. "Haw" Tabor brought in the rich Little Pittsburgh, then the $10 million Matchless. Silver was everywhere a man might throw his pick, and the picks were thrown everywhere. The picks were sold by Charles Boettcher who, in the end, found a slower but surer bonanza.
Methodical Man. A quiet, hardheaded German, Charles Boettcher came to the U.S. in...
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