Interested in ghost towns and old silver mines?
Z Scale Matchless Mine Big Box Kit (1:220 scale)
The 2012 National Z scale Convention was held in Denver, Colorado.
Keeping that theme in mind I had designed a kit from an old ghost silver
mine in Leadville, CO using photos to recreate 3 of the original
buildings and the main minehead. Here is a photo of the diorama I had
made using all of the kit's components and I added scenery to it. The
base is a slab of a tree trunk and I made the trees from real crushed
dried leaves.
You can find this kit at
http://www.stonebridgemodels.com/index.htm?c=z_struct
It will soon be available in N scale as well.
Here are some other angles highlighting the different views of the structures and accessories.
Now to show you some old photos of the original mine. I highly recommend
that you read up on this fascinating place and visit it next time you
visit Colorado.
From the Leadville.com page comes this documented history:
On March 7, 1935, Baby Doe Tabor was found dead of a heart attack in her
small shack at the famous Matchless Mine, just outside Leadville,
Colorado. She had, for whatever reason, adopted the storage shack at the
Matchless Mine as her living quarters since her husband's death in
1899, 35 years earlier. Contrary to popular belief, she did not "hold on
to the Matchless as it will pay millions again," as some have
incorrectly reported were Horace Tabor's deathbed words. The Matchless
Mine had long since been lost to foreclosure and had failed to produce
even with several new attempts on the part of the new owners. Baby Doe
was living in the tiny cabin only due to the generosity of the current
owners of the worthless mine.
Elizabeth Bonduel McCourt “Baby Doe” Tabor, once a millionaire, had died
in virtual poverty. After her death, 17 iron trunks that had been
placed in storage in Denver were opened, as well as several gunny sacks
and 4 trunks that had been left at the St. Vincent’s Hospital in
Leadville. All that was left from the Tabor fortune were several bolts
of unique, untouched and quite exquisite cloth, several pieces of china,
a tea service and some jewelry, including a diamond and sapphire ring.
The famous watch fob and chain given to her husband, Horace Tabor, at
the opening of the $700,000 Tabor Opera House in Denver was also found,
along with several memorabilia pieces.
This incredible story has captured the imagination of the world for decades.
In 1860, when the California Gulch discovery was made just south of
present day Leadville by the Stevens party, Horace Tabor and his wife
Augusta (the first woman in California Gulch) arrived with their son
Maxcy. They had left their farm in Kansas, arrived in Denver and then,
hearing about the Kelley success in the present day Leadville area,
decided to head west. As Augusta later recalled, “The 19th of February,
1860, I was lifted from a bed of sickness to a wagon, and we started for
the new mining district.”
The Gulch had been panned out, however and by 1862, the Tabors had left
the area, heading back east over Mosquito Pass. Horace had built a cabin
in Buckskin Joe and had become involved in community affairs there...
he ran a grocery store, was appointed postmaster and was elected to the
school board.
But the appeal of the California Gulch eventually brought the Tabors
back in November of 1868, where they once again opened their store.
Horace became postmaster of the town then called Oro City, located in
the California Gulch. Later he built a house and moved to Leadville, and
became the city’s first mayor and second postmaster.
Tabor was known to be a generous man, and that generosity paid him big
dividends. On April 15, 1878, Tabor opened his store as usual. Two
German immigrants, August Rische and George Hook, walked in and asked
Tabor if he would grubstake them. Tabor did, three times; the first
costing him a mere $17.00. A month later, on May 15th, the group knew
they had a bonanza on their hands; the Little Pittsburg Mine. By the end
of the summer they declared a $10,000 dividend to each; this was all
that was needed to spark Tabor into quickly becoming the acknowledged
leader of the silver mining community. He was later to buy, among
others, the famous Matchless Mine.
In 1880, an attractive 25 year old young lady named Elizabeth Bonduel
McCourt Doe, a recent divorcee, arrived in Leadville. Her presence was
soon discovered by Horace Tabor, who began a discreet relationship with
her. By July of 1880 however, it was no longer a secret. Horace moved
out of his and Augusta’s home and asked her for a divorce. She refused.
Horace then consulted with Bill Bush to secure a divorce, which he
secretly did in Durango, Colorado. But it was not legal. Whether Horace
knew this and was simply defiant, or whether he truly didn’t know is
unknown, but the fact remains that he and Elizabeth (soon to be forever
known as “Baby Doe”) were secretly married in St. Louis September 30,
1882. When Augusta Tabor learned of the marriage in St. Louis it was too
late to contest it. The divorce, which Horace continued to pursue
relentlessly, was fought equally as vigorously by Augusta. She asked for
separate maintenance, claiming her husband was worth over $9 million
(plus a number of other properties she was unfamiliar with). Tabor
denied it, which is probably true. More accurate estimates put his worth
at about 1/3 of that.
Horace Tabor’s fame grew, and he even served as a senator. Through
political favors, he was able to secure a 30-day appointment to Henry
Teller’s vacated senatorial position. He was sworn in on February 3,
1883. But the scandal of the alleged divorce and marriage raged on, and
was front page news across the country. It was an embarrassment to
Washington, as well as other prominent figures in high social circles.
On March 1, 1883 the marriage between Horace and “Baby Doe” was finally
legalized. Augusta Tabor eventually received a good part of the Tabor
fortune in a final divorce decree and moved to Pasadena, California
where she died on February 1, 1895. Many say it was from a broken heart.
When Congress repealed the Sherman Silver Act, the government was no
longer in the market for silver. Prices dropped lower than the operating
costs needed for the silver mines, and it became impossible to continue
operations. Horace Tabor, failing to listen to the advice of others and
diversify, faced ruin. In the interim, and adding to the crisis, Tabor
had also made a number of unsuccessful, if not unwise, investments in
foreign mining ventures that failed. He lost huge amounts of money in
Mexico and South America. His reserves were gone, and he and “Baby Doe”
lost everything. But regardless of the now destitute condition of the
Tabors, Horace never lost faith in the future, and until his dying day
he always found work of some kind, hoping to recapture his lost wealth.
At age 65 he was shoveling slag from Cripple Creek mines a t $3.00/day
until he was finally appointed postmaster of Denver just a year before
his death.
By the turn of the century, it was obvious the end of Leadville’s
colorful era was at hand. Many of the famous pioneers had either died or
moved on. And perhaps this was most prominently brought to the
attention of the world when, on the morning of April 10, 1899, Horace
Tabor died of appendicitis.
Leadville today still holds many memories of it’s glorious past as well as the impact the Tabors had on this colorful community.
Courtesy Universal Systems Inc
producers, Colorado History video series -
www.leadville.org 
