Horace Tabor

Horace Austin Warner "Haw" Tabor (November 26, 1830 – April 10, 1899), also known as The Bonanza King of Leadville and The Silver King, was an American prospector, businessman, and Republican politician. His success in Leadville, Colorado's silver mines made him one of the wealthiest men in Colorado. was born on November 26, 1830, to Cornelius Dunham and Sarah Ferrin Tabor in Holland, Vermont, near the state's border with Canada. His father was a farmer, who grew a number of grains, vegetables and fruits. In the winter months, Cornelius ran the district school, which Horace attended. The rest of the year Horace worked in the fields with his father and his brothers John and Lyman. They also raised cows, sheep, chickens and hogs. He had two sisters, Sarah and Emily. He worked at Fort Riley as a stonemason to earn enough money to get married.

He joined with other abolitionists, including John Brown, the firebrand who later led the raid on Harper's Ferry, to defend the town of Lawrence against pro-slavery men, which resulted in the Sacking of Lawrence.

A member of the Free Soil Party, Tabor was elected to the Topeka Legislature, but that body was soon dispersed by President Pierce at the point of a bayonet. They had a son named Nathaniel Maxcy, They were among the initial pioneers in what is now the state of Colorado. They went to several places looking to mine gold before going to California Gulch in Oro City, near present-day Leadville, in 1860. They began placer mining, settling in Laurette in South Park by 1862. The town of Laurette was later called Buckskin Joe. (McGrath states that they were at California Gulch, Oro City until 1865.) upon hearing that there was a massive silver lode at the Printer Boy Mine in Oro City, (Oro City, which later became a ghost town, was located in what became the southern part of Leadville.)

In 1877, Tabor was elected the first mayor of Leadville. Tabor hired lawman Mart Duggan, who is credited with finally bringing Leadville's violent crime rate under control.

Silver King

When George T. Hook and August Rische were unable to pay for their supplies at the general store, Tabor accepted payment in the form of a grubstake agreement for one third of their profit on the Little Pittsburg mine. ( per million) that he made from the sale of his interest in the Little Pittsburg mine in 1879 He established newspapers, a bank, and the Tabor Opera House in Leadville. He displayed his philanthropy by, for example, donating the land under the Temple Israel in Leadville in 1884. Tabor donated the money for the Tabor Grand Opera House, following the resignation of Henry M. Teller to become United States Secretary of the Interior in the administration of U.S. President Chester Arthur. in late 1883.

Marriage to Elizabeth Doe McCourt

On March 1, 1883, Tabor finally married Elizabeth "Baby Doe" McCourt in Washington, D.C., leaving him a social outcast. and was later reinterred at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Jefferson County, Colorado.

Baby Doe moved to Leadville and lived an impoverished life in the tool shed of the Matchless Mine.

Legacy Tabor Lake in Pitkin County, Colorado, at the base of Tabor Peak.

He was a prominent silver baron who "helped shape the foundation and the future of the Centennial State."

His life is portrayed in the film Silver Dollar and the opera The Ballad of Baby Doe.