This is the fictionalized story of Horace and Augusta Tabor who, as a young married couple, had joined the many hopefuls heading west to make new lives for themselves, in the 1850s. Eventually they would come to own some of the richest silver mines in Colorado.
Horace and Augusta Tabor first settled on a farm in Kansas. But the unrest occasioned by the anger over slavery and a failed corn crop set Haw, as he was called, on a search for a new endeavor that would take them out of lawless Kansas. He decided the gold fields would be the making of him.
Off they went, Augusta now a mom to the only child she would ever have, Nathaniel, called Maxcy. The trail west was a trial, for sure, but they made it to Colorado intact and set out exploring the rugged mountains looking for the jackpot that would make Haw rich. Augusta struggled along with her husband, who was a bit of a dreamer, but she would have been happy to have an ordinary life. Mining for gold was not the jackpot Haw had hoped for. But they got by, helped out by Augusta's cooking and doing laundry for and selling supplies to the others in the gold fields hoping for the same dream.
In the course of the years, they acquired several mines, none of which was particularly productive, of gold that is. But it turned out that some of the mines were very productive of silver, an ore Haw had overlooked in his dream of gold. Silver made all his dreams come true. In today's money, his fortune may have been in the $2 billion range. Certainly he was the wealthiest man of his day in Colorado.
But money was not good for the Tabor marriage. Haw had always had a tendency to stray and was perhaps a bit too fond of hanging around in saloons and bars. And his wife, Augusta was maybe a bit too stern, to apt to criticize. Haw had political ambitions and wanted her to be part of his effort to charm people and win supporters. He had a mansion built for her in Denver and she settled in to it and enjoyed her life there. But he was mostly absent, pursuing his political dreams and funding projects in Denver and Colorado. His relationship with a young widow, Baby Doe, who he set up in a suite in the hotel he owned, showering her with fine clothes and jewelry, became a scandal.
It was Augusta who pointed out to Haw that his behavior was not helping his political ambitions. If she thought that would bring her unfaithful husband back home, she was mistaken. The marriage ended in divorce and Haw married his pretty young mistress. But Augusta had taken care of herself financially, maybe she wasn't fabulously wealthy, but she had a very comfortable life. At her death, her estate was worth $1,000,000 in 1895, which is about $36 million in 2020 dollars. Things did not work out as well for Haw and Baby Doe, unfortunately. In 1890s, the value of silver started to decline drastically. Tabor lost everything but was appointed Postmaster, a position he held until his death in 1899.
Stupidly, I did not realize that the story I was reading was based on real people. I kept waiting for Augusta to have her moment of triumph over her ex-spouse, but that never really happened. She got old, he got old, even Baby Doe got old and they all died. That's when I finally understood that this story was about an actual marriage that fell apart because people change, circumstances change and love fades. I didn't get that revenge scene I was expecting but that is my fault for misunderstanding. It was a pretty good story. It's great to see someone's dream come true, but sad to see it all slip away.
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