Historic Leadville Colorado

Leadville Colorado personifies the wild wild West! It is the highest incorporated city in the continental U.S. It was originally called "Cloud City".

It's easy to imagine yourself in another time as you walk down the streets of Leadville. It's an area so steeped in history that you can almost feel the ghosts of the past walking beside you.

If you watch alongside the road to Leadville from Buena Vista, you can still see the old stagecoach road. Just off to the side of the old stagecoach road there is a grave marker. In 1879 gold was shipped via stagecoach between Leadville and Buena Vista, the times and dates of the shipments were kept secret, however the coach was still being robbed quite often. Local officials were stumped as to how the robber knew when the shipments were going out. They set up an ambush just outside of what is now known as Balltown. The stage came and the robber jumped down from the rocks and was met by the lawmen and was shot to death. They were in for a big surprise however, when they removed the robbers hood, one of the lawmen discovered that the robber was his wife! The man was so ashamed and shocked that he couldn't handle taking her body back to town so he buried her there beside the road. The marker reads: "My Wife, Jane Kirkham, Died March 7, 1879, aged 38 years 3 months 7 days". The marker is easily seen from Hwy 24.