While in Leadville, Colorado, Soapy Smith Duck and Zeb the Duck visited the Heritage Museum and Gallery.

A great museum

We thought this would be a quick trip, but there is so much in this museum.  Remember Leadville was a successful mining town.  Before entering the museum, we saw all this mining equipment.  This is a side dumping ore car.

Side dumping ore car

This gravity stamp mill helped crush ore.

Difficult to bring this to Leadville

Here is a shaker-concentrating table.

Shaking makes sense

Shaft Cages served as elevators to raise and lower men and materials in and out of mine shafts.

So necessary for mining

There is so much mining equipment, education and history in the yard of the museum.  You should see this stuff!

When we went inside we learned much about the silver mining in Leadville.  Remember last time you learned that gold was discovered in 1860 and silver was discovered in 1874.  By 1880 Leadville was one of the greatest silver camps in the world, producing $15,000,000 in minerals per year. Two successful mines, the Robert E. Lee and Little Pittsburg had a contest.  Which mine would produce the most silver in a 24-hour period.  Look at the results!

This is fantastic!

Another area of the museum was like a house.  This Cycloid Grand Piano (named for rounded sides) was previously owned by Baby Doe Tabor.

The Tabors were very important in Leadville

The Rocky Mountains are beautiful, but were also very important defending our way of life.  During World War II Germany had a highly trained elite mountain division.  The United States created the 10^th Mountain Division.

Soldiers trained here

These soldiers trained at Camp Hale northwest of Leadville.

Mountain training

This division is credited with help the war end earlier than previously expected.

We are so proud of these soldiers

Leadville is a fascinating city and this museum is wonderful.   For more information about this museum, visit www.leadvilleheritagemuseum.com   We hope you visit soon.