Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1879-02-28
LElDNlLLE.
Life in this Busting Camp-Town--The
Theatres, the Churches, the Hotels.
and the Lodging. Houses.


heretofore, it is true, but not with the
most satisfactory results. Besides,
Leadville is constantly changing. 1t is
\ kaleidoscope i'll the suddenness Of its
transformations, though its colors are Of
the simplest kind, and of the most
sonlbre, too. Entire streets open up,
are built upon, and settled in u week.
Stores, houses, log-cabins, and hotels
spring up side by side. There is an
opera house, constructed out of rough
pine boards, looking for all the world
like an unfinished hverv.stable, which
has been opened this week by the For
roster company, and where there is n
dress-circle and II gallery. There is
also Theatre Comique, where the IL
legitimate drama tiourishes to the de-
light of the sturdy miners. Religion is
not furnished to this back.mountain
population in chunks. But there is n
church and a school-house. Consider
ing that there are 10000 adults i'll the
camp, 1t is not surprising that the con-
gregaton often swellS up TO rs many rs
forty or fifty hearers.
THE PRINCIPAL. HOTEL,
surnamed the Grand, is n two-storv
frame building, with neat gables and an
imitation Mansard roof. 1t is actually
covered with coat of white paint. The
office is about six feet wide by sixteen
long, and was evidently not planned for
the accommodation of loafers. That
large class Of the population are given
room in the bar and billiard hall omen.
ing from the office. A solitary barber
plies his occupation 1T one end of the
same apartment, charging 70 cents for
II shave and 81 for hair cut. The
Grand turns away from fifty to one
hundred people day who apply there
for lodgings. OF course there are other
hotels with equally imposing titles, but
they are little else than boarding houses,
and far below the Grand i'll their APP
pointments. All are constantly filled,
and new arrivals are compelled to seek
shelter i'll lodging houses,o of which there
are great number. The one in which
our party remained on the first nights
of their arrival in Leadville may be ia
ken rs fair sample. II was n one-story
log-cabin, with rear addition, con-
structed OF green pine boards. Rude
hunks were placed around the two back
rooms i'll tiers rs in sleeping car.
The hunks had each set of wooden
blankets. The floors were bare. For
this accommodation the travellers were
charged halfa-dollar each. At the
more pretentious lodging houses, where
two people are assigned to room with
Il bed i'll it, the price is double.
But after ali these details afford the
reader little ilea of
LEADYIlLE AS IT Is.
Let the worthy person who is sufficient
Is Interested in this subject to peruse
these lines imagine himself penned up
III the widest fastness of the ROCKY
Mountains ut an attitude of 10000 feet
above the sea. He is literally on the
mountain tops. Yet far above Lead
vile on every hand rise the bald crowns
of the snowy range -desolatc, bleak,
and absolutely without vegetation ofany
kind. Here in the gulches are forests
of pine and evergreen, which extend
far up the sides of the adjacent peaks.
But the timber line is as strongly mark
ed and rs clearly cut on every side rs
If human hands had been mt work
clearing away every trace of tree or
shrub along the line of survey, and as
if the same hands had planned oil the
mountain summit TO the smoothness
and barrenness OF u country school
yard.
To the stranger, coming from the lux
uries and comforts of civilization, Lead
willie presents an aspect of unutterable
desolation. Valley and mountain are
alike covered with snow. Through the
spectral pine trees the storm wind
rushes in the day time and i'll the night
time, and often one hears the hysterical
shrek of Il wild guest that has come
swooping down from the mountain tops
through gorge and chasm in an agony
of rage and despair. The camp or vii
lage stands
IN 4 PINE CLEARING,
and all aboutare freshly cut stumps and
logs, some split into rude boards, and
others chopped off nj the ends prepare
tory to being lifted into the walls Of a
projected cabin. Through the trees
which still remain in large numbers
undisturbed, one catches glimpses oil
implanted frame structures and
cabins built here and there irregularly,
according to the fancy Of the original
squatter. 1t is true that some order is
being evoked from the architectural
chaos. Streets are being laid out and
lots surveyed. But there is not rod
Of fence ia the town, and often the pc
destrian is at loss to tell whether he il
walking on the public highway OF
through citizens back yard These
defects in the construction of the town,
however, are being rapidly remedied
and that, too, by the surest natural
agency-speculation.
PRICES OF REAL ESTATE
are laughably high. On the main street
$3.50 a front foot is considered an
average valuation, and owners are
actually afraid to sell at that figure for
fear that they may not make as much
as they may few months hence by
holding on to their property. The edi.
tors Of the Daily Chronicle bought lot
for their Office two months ago for $l75,
and last week refused $1,000 for il. On
Harrison avenue, running at right
angles with the main street, residence