The Legend of Lady Silverheels

Once upon a time…a century ago… a lovely dancehall girl called "Lady Silverheels" lived in the town of Buckskin Joe, Colorado. She was much admired by the miners who frequented the town's many saloons. The click of her silver plated high heel shoes brought many a smile to those hard working, hard drinking men.

In 1859, a sever smallpox epidemic hit the community, closing the mines. The townsfolk, afraid of the deadly scourge, all but abandoned the desperately ill miners. Lady Silverheels, in a performance befitting Florence Nightengale, visited sickbeds from one camp to the next, giving aid and comfort to the desperately ill. Finally, she too fell to the dreaded disease. When many of the miners came to seek her out, they found that Lady Silverheels had vanished…Devastated by the loss of her beauty, she had disappeared into the mountains. A search was mounted, but was fruitless…No trace of her was ever found.

Years later, a heavily veiled woman was seen weeping over the graves of the many miners who had died, but she slipped away before she could be discovered. The caretaker of that little cemetery swore that he heard the click of heels on cobblestones as the mists of the evening drew down upon the headstones. Perhaps it was Lady Silverheels.

In any event, the townspeople named a mountain in her honor. Mt. Silverheels rises majestically from the valleys of South Park near Fairplay, Colorado, a monument to the mysterious woman whose beauty and unselfishness intoxicated the mining camp and saved so many lives.

Mt. Silverheels
13,825 ft.