Among the more colorful characters of Leadville's golden age were H.A.W. Tabor and his second wife, Elizabeth McCourt, better known as "Baby Doe". Their history is fast becoming one of the legends of the Old West. Horace Austin Warner Tabor was a school teacher in Vermont. With his first wife and two children he left Vermont by covered wagon in 1855 to homestead in Kansas. Perhaps he did not find farming to his liking, or perhaps he was lured by rumors of fortunes to be made in Colorado mines. At any rate, few years later he moved west to the small Colorado mining camp known as California Gulch, which he later renamed Leadville when he became its leading citizen. "Great deposits of lead are sure to be found here." he said.

As it turned out, it was silver, not lead, that was to make Leadville's fortune and wealth. Tabor knew little about mining himself, so he opened a general store Knight Online Gold, which sold everything from boots to salt, flour, and tobacco Knight Gold. It was his custom to"grubstake"prospective miners, in other words, to supply them with food and supplies Knight Noah, but no one that he aided ever found anything of value.

Finally one day in the year 1878, so the story goes, two miners came in and asked for grub. Tabor had decided to quit supplying it because he had lost too much money that way Knight Oline Noah. These were persistent, however, and Tabor was too busy to argue with them. "Oh help yourself. One more time won't make any difference," He said and went on selling shoes and hats to other customers. The two miners took $17 worth of supplies. They picked a barren place on the mountainside and began to dig. After nine days they struck a rich vein of silver.

Later Tabor bought the Matchless Mine on another barren hillside just outside the town for $117 000.This turned out to be even more fabulous than the Pittsburgh, yielding $35 000 worth of silver per day at one time. Leadville grew. Tabor became its first mayor, and later became lieutenant governor of the state.