Legacy Lumber Yard Shutters After 115 Years
Leadville’s business landscape has always shifted, with enterprises launching and folding, partnerships forming and dissolving—and each change sparking its fair share of rumors. To clarify recent headlines, Leadville Today spoke with local owners willing to share their side of the story.
Last month, S.L. Smith Lumber Company—family-run since 1896—announced it would close its doors for good. Known for supplying timber to everything from mine headframes to custom homes, the venerable yard invited patrons to its “largest—and final—sale in store history.” Owner Dick Smith cites the prolonged downturn in local construction, exacerbated by the recession, as the primary reason. With area contractors struggling and fewer building projects under way, Smith says foot traffic and orders simply weren’t enough to keep the business viable.
Founded by Shadrack Lionel Smith at the height of Leadville’s mining boom, the mill incorporated in 1900. A Buckeye steam engine—built in 1883 and still displayed on-site—once powered the saws, and successive generations of the Smith family have tended the yard ever since. Dick Smith is the fourth generation; his late son Chad would have been the fifth. Despite efforts to sell the operation for five years, no buyer emerged. Now, Dick and his wife Charlene plan to stay in town, retire, and spend more time with their family in Denver. The lumberyard will remain open “until there’s nothing left to sell,” honoring over a century of community service.
Two Guns Distillery Clears Shelves in Liquidation Sale
On the corner of Fourth and Harrison, former Two Guns Distillery owners Dave and Donna Dawson have reopened briefly under their original license to liquidate remaining stock. Whiskey, moonshine, and branded merchandise are all available for purchase—along with last-chance tastings—until supplies run out. Store hours are Monday–Thursday 4 PM–10 PM, Friday 2 PM–10 PM, Saturday noon–10 PM, and Sunday noon–6 PM.
While a new tenant is already lined up to convert the space into a tavern and restaurant (rumored to carry a Doc Holliday theme), the distillery license will not transfer. After “Last Call,” the Dawsons will hand the reins—and the building—off to the next chapter in Leadville’s ever-evolving business story.
