Colorado's Ten Mile Mining District was north of Leadville and south of Copper Mountain. Sandwiched between two mountain ranges, fully two miles above sea level, the district had a remarkable history that was a microcosm of the mining West.
The first adventurers came to Ten Mile in 1860, searching for gold--the instant wealth that might be found on the icy streambed bordering an ancient Indian trail through the Ten Mile Valley. But digging through snowdrifts in mid-summer was just too much, the gold petered out, and the boom collapsed.
Twenty years later came a silver stampede in the...