Lizzie, Horace, Lillie, and Silver Dollar moved out of their Denver mansion into a tiny rented cottage. At age 65, Horace shoveled in mines until he secured a position as postmaster. Many thought she would leave Horace if he lost his fortune, but Baby Doe remained supportive and devoted until he died in 1899. Lizzie was 45, and resourcefully found ways to "hold on to the Matchless", seeking investors and selling silverware and jewelry for help. She returned to Leadville with Lillie and Silver Dollar and moved into a one-room shed right above the mine to work it herself.

Fifteen year-old Lillie heard stories about her mother's past in Leadville, and so resented her new home that she borrowed train fare from an uncle and went to live with her grandmother in Wisconsin. Silver Dollar heard stories of her father, the self-made silver king, and reveled in the legends. She was adventurous, independent, and enjoyed working at the mine. She acquired a burro, and transportation into Leadville, a mile and a half away. She wrote poetry, and Lizzie helped her to get a song published. "President Roosevelt's Colorado Hunt" was well-received around the state and in 1910, Silver Dollar met the president.

Silver went to parties around town and became involved in scandals of her own. Lizzie now heard stories about her daughter and sent Silver to Denver. There, she worked for a newspaper and wrote a western novel, but then her life spiraled downward. Lizzie and Silver agreed that Silver would join a convent, she moved to Chicago and joined a burlesque show. She lived wildly and sadly, met a tragic fate. Lizzie forever defended that "her" Silver was not the poor girl in Chicago, that her daughter was safe in a convent.

Lizzie lived alone above the Matchless for 35 more years. She dressed in rags, and was too proud to accept charity left at her door. The town was kind, and shopkeepers let her pay for her meager groceries with "valuable ore", rocks picked up around the property, and firemen from passing trains would drop coal for her to find. She kept journals on scraps of paper, recording her communications with spirit voices, angels and saints, her dreams and visions. During a week-long blizzard in 1935, 81 year-old Lizzie, Baby Doe, the Silver Queen, froze to death alone in her shack.

Baby Doe's rags-to-riches-to-rags story is (fabulously?) tragic, and may be my favorite Colorado legend for this very real woman's tenacity and spirit 🖤