Leadville, city, seat of Lake County, central Colorado, in the Rocky Mountains, at an altitude of about 3110 m (about 10,200 ft), near the headwaters of the Arkansas River; incorporated 1878. It is a mining and processing center for lead and zinc ores and for molybdenum (recovered in great quantities at nearby Climax). Many tourists visit the city, the points of interest of which include the Matchless Mine, the Tabor Opera House (1879), and museums exhibiting relics from the silver-mining days of the late 19th century.
Settlement of the area began in 1859-60 at the nearby gold-mining camp of Oro City, which flourished until 1866. In the 1870s carbonates of lead with a high silver content were discovered, and in 1877 the community (named Leadville in 1878) was laid out as the mining center. It grew rapidly, reaching a population of approximately 35,000 in 1880, but declined when silver prices fell in 1893. A gold boom began in the late 1890s, and iron ore, copper, bismuth, lead and zinc ores, and manganese have also been mined in the region. Molybdenum mining began at Climax in 1924. Population 3,879 (1980); 2,629 (1990); 2,821 (2000).
