Colorado gold; it's easy to visit historic gold country just west of Denver

But the surrounding hills still bear testimony to a mining past. Back-country jeep tours give fascinating glimpses of old mine sites, abandoned camps, and rickety cabins. Tiger Run Tours has 2-hour trips ($35) at 9, noon, and 2:30; call (303) 453-9185. The Summit Historical Society offers a range of experiences. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 1 1/2-hour walking tours include more than 40 buildings. Or tour Lomax Placer Gulch and pan for gold. Hour-long tours visit the Washington Mine, outside of town. Sign up for events ($2 each) at the town's visitor center, 309 N. Main Street.

Don't miss Fairplay, just 20 miles away over scenic 11,539-foot Hoosier Pass. The South Park City Museum is a collection of 40 historic buildings saved and relocated to replicate an 1860s-to'80s boardwalk town. In the one-room schoolhouse, slates at each tiny desk are ready for sums or penmanship. The doctor's office displays its ghastly tools, and a complete drugstore lines up amazing elixirs, salves, and liniments. The museum ($2,50) is open 9 to 7 daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

To reach Leadville from Fairplay, head 21 miles south on State 9 -to Antero Junction, 14 miles southwest on US 24 to Buena Vista, and 37 miles north on 24. The Buena Vista-toLeadville se(-tion passes Collegiate Peaks, all higher than 14,000 feet.

Leadville: old-fashioned summer events, mine and rail tours Gold drew settlers here in 1860, but the area's real fame came from silver. In the 1870s, Leadville boasted 115 gambling houses and 120 saloons for a population of 15,000; in a peak year during that period, it produced $11.5 million in silver.

This town is lively, although still recovering from the closure of its molybdenum mine, a major employer. Each summer it hosts old-fashioned Fourth of July events and, on August 4, 5, and 6, Boom Days. Weekends from June 24 to July 16, Oro City opens its canvas flaps and an 1860s miners' tent camp comes to life. All summer, you can tour the famous Matchless Mine (owned by Baby Doe Tabor, heroine of the opera Ballad of Baby Doe), see melodrama at the Tabor Opera House, and enjoy nearby fishing and hiking. For details on Leadville events, see page 24. The chamber of commerce (Box 861, Leadville 80461) publishes a free guide to recreation, lodging, and dining.

The restored Leadville, Colorado & Southern railroad, which once hauled gold and silver miners, reopened last year and now takes tourists on a scenic 24-mile round trip. It's the country's highest non-cog railway, reaching 11,100 feet. You pull out from the 1883 depot, at 326 E. Seventh Street, on a standardgauge train of the 1930s to 1950s; on the nearly 3-hour trip, you see old mine workings, and some sweeping views of the Continental Divide. Trips leave at 9:30 and 2 daily from May 27 through August 31, weekends only in September. Tickets cost $15, $9 for ages 12 and under; to reserve, call (719) 486-3936. Just outside town, the Pa and Ma Guest Ranch offers scenic horseback trips past old gold camps, through aspen forests, and into wildflower-strewn meadows. You can ride by the hour ($8) or join breakfast ($12) or chuckwagon rides (various rates). For more, call the chamber of commerce at (719) 486-3900.