%1 http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/ en Crested Butte http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/crested-butte <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Crested Butte</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--2626--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--2626.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/crested-butte"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Crested-Butte-Media-1_0.jpg?itok=PlRXQRkA" width="1000" height="563" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/crested-butte" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Crested Butte</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><span style="color:rgb(59, 59, 59); font-family:lato,arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:15.4px">Located in the Elk Mountains at an elevation of 8,909 feet, the town of Crested Butte began in the 1870s as a supply point for prospectors. Named after the distinctive peak nearby, Crested Butte soon became a hub for coal mining, and later transitioned into a ski town.</span></p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2017-05-19T16:36:28-06:00" title="Friday, May 19, 2017 - 16:36" class="datetime">Fri, 05/19/2017 - 16:36</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/crested-butte" data-a2a-title="Crested Butte"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fcrested-butte&amp;title=Crested%20Butte"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>Founded in 1878, Crested Butte is a former coal-mining town turned ski resort nestled in the <strong>Elk Mountains</strong> of northern <strong><a href="/article/gunnison-county">Gunnison County</a></strong>. The town lies about twenty-eight miles north of the county seat of <strong>Gunnison</strong> and about the same distance south of <a href="/article/aspen"><strong>Aspen</strong>.</a> At nearly 9,000 feet of elevation and surrounded by mountains, Crested Butte routinely experiences below-zero temperatures and hundreds of inches of annual <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/snow"><strong>snowfall</strong></a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Crested Butte began as a supply camp for local <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/precious-metal-mining-colorado"><strong>silver mines</strong></a> in the 1870s and evolved into one of the most productive coal towns in the Rockies during the 1880s. Coal continued to drive the town’s economy until the mid-twentieth century. After the mines closed, a ski resort opened on <strong>Crested Butte Mountain</strong>, the nearby 12,000-foot peak from which the town got its name. In 1974 a historic district of some twenty properties in Crested Butte was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and in 2002 the district was expanded to include 313 historic buildings and other structures.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Early History</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>When the first gold seekers arrived in the Elk Mountains in the 1860s, the area was home to the <a href="/search/google/ute">Ute</a> people, who had tracked game across the mountains and valleys of Colorado for centuries. The Utes drove out many of the first prospecting parties, and the harsh winters and paltry gold deposits dissuaded most others from settling in the area.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The area again became the target of miners in the 1870s, and several silver mines were established in the mountains north of present Crested Butte. The surveying party of <strong>Ferdinand V. Hayden</strong> came through in 1873, and it was from the top of nearby Teocalli Mountain that Hayden named the peak that would later give the town its name. In 1877 Hayden published his <em>Geological and Geographical Atlas of Colorado</em>, which showed significant coal deposits around Crested Butte Mountain and mapped the silver district to the northwest.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The region’s mining activity and geologic promise attracted the attention of Howard F. Smith, an investor in a <a href="/article/leadville"><strong>Leadville</strong></a> smelting company. In the summer of 1878, Smith laid out the town of Crested Butte southwest of the namesake peak, at the junction of the Slate River and Coal Creek. He had a sawmill shipped in from <strong>Cañon City</strong> and built a smelter. Even though he initially struggled to attract settlers, Smith’s timing was good—over the course of the next two years, thousands of miners came to the area seeking gold and silver, turning Crested Butte into the principal supply point for local mines.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Colorado railroad moguls <strong><a href="/article/william-jackson-palmer">William Jackson Palmer</a></strong> and <a href="/article/john-evans"><strong>John Evans</strong></a> watched the development of Crested Butte with great interest; they knew as well as Smith did that the area’s coal beds and plentiful timber represented a major business opportunity. On July 3, 1880, Smith, along with Colonel W.H. Holt and George Holt, formally incorporated the town under the Crested Butte Town Company.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Coal Town</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1880, just before Crested Butte was incorporated, it was found that coal from the exposed beds along Coal Creek produced excellent coke—a higher-carbon, hotter-burning fuel that is used to produce silver, iron, steel, and other metals. The timing of this discovery was particularly convenient for Palmer, who had just formed the <a href="/article/colorado-fuel-iron"><strong>Colorado Coal &amp; Iron Company</strong></a> (CC&amp;I) and planned to build a steel works in <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/pueblo"><strong>Pueblo</strong></a>. Crested Butte’s high-quality coking coal would fuel his steel works, railroad, and other industrial endeavors. He needed only to extend his <strong>Denver &amp; Rio Grande Railroad</strong> (D&amp;RG) into the Elk Mountains.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Palmer wasted little time. Just over a year and a half later, on November 24, 1881, the first D&amp;RG locomotive steamed into Crested Butte. That same year, CC&amp;I opened the Crested Butte Mine, later known as the <strong>Jokerville Mine.</strong> Coke pits were dug below the mine. Crested Butte was officially on the map as a coal town.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Even before the railroad arrived, the town began to attract wealthy investors and build accommodations for the many businessmen and travelers who would soon be passing through. Leadville silver baron <strong><a href="/article/horace-tabor">Horace Tabor</a></strong> opened the Bank of Crested Butte in August 1881, and the town company finished construction on the <strong>Elk Mountain House</strong>, a fancy three-story hotel, in December. By the summer of 1882, Crested Butte had five hotels, a church, a dozen saloons, and a dozen restaurants. As the population surpassed 500, two new schools were built in 1882 and 1883. City hall, a structure that has endured to the present, went up in 1883 at 132 Elk Avenue, and a blacksmith shop opened on the west side of Elk Avenue that same year.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>By that time Crested Butte coal was being shipped all over the state, as well as to Utah and Nevada, for use in homes, mines, railroads, and blast furnaces. But for those who worked below the ground to extract the precious black fuel, Crested Butte’s coal boom came at a tremendous cost. Cave-ins and gas leaks were routine hazards of coal mining, but working in the Jokerville Mine proved to be especially dangerous because of the unusually high amount of gas that accumulated within. On January 24, 1884, the Jokerville Mine exploded, killing sixty workers and injuring dozens more. It was later found that the mine’s fire boss had restricted access to the tunnels that day because the gas had built up, but a miner had either ignored or missed the warning and went in with an open flame. Improperly sealed chambers, entry points built too close together, and the unrestricted use of open-flame lamps also contributed to the explosion. Using a different entry point, CC&amp;I reopened the mine later that year, but gas continued to accumulate, eventually forcing the mine’s permanent closure in 1895. Along with pay rates and unionization, the hazardous conditions in mines played a major role in a series of labor disputes that plagued Crested Butte and other coal-mining regions in Colorado from the late nineteenth through the early twentieth century.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>For much of the 1880s, the workers in Crested Butte’s coal mines were predominantly Anglo-Saxon, hailing from Wales, Scotland, England, and Ireland. Before the decade ended, however, the workforce began to diversify, with Slovenians arriving in 1883, Italians in 1884, and Croatians by 1890.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The town’s layout changed along with its social makeup. St. Patrick’s Catholic Church was built in 1894 to serve the growing population of Italians and Catholic Slavs, and each ethnic group built fraternal lodges to support their respective communities. The Society of St. Joseph, built in 1893, was the first Slav fraternal lodge in Crested Butte, while Croatians established the Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Perpetual Aid at St. Mary’s Lodge, and Slovenian groups convened at the Forest Queen Hotel.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1892 CC&amp;I merged with <strong>John C. Osgood</strong>’s Colorado Fuel Company to form <strong><a href="/article/colorado-fuel-iron">Colorado Fuel &amp; Iron</a></strong> (CF&amp;I), the premier industrial company in the state. In 1894 CF&amp;I opened the Big Mine outside of Crested Butte. By 1902 it was producing 1,000 tons of coal per day. In addition to the mines and coke ovens it established around the town, CF&amp;I left its mark within Crested Butte as well, building a company store and office at 308 Third Street, workers’ housing on Gothic Avenue, a service station, and numerous other commercial buildings and structures. The Big Mine remained the main economic engine of Crested Butte until the rise of oil and gas fuels forced the mine’s closure in 1952. Although mining of lead and zinc continued on nearby Mt. Emmons for a short time, the mining era in Crested Butte had all but ended.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Ski Town</h2>&#13; &#13; <p><a href="/image/mt-crested-butte"><img alt="Mt. Crested Butte" src="/sites/default/files/Crested-Butte-Media-2.jpg" style="float:right; height:250px; margin:15px; width:480px" /></a>In the days before the railroad and automobile, skiing was a practical form of transportation in Crested Butte and other snowy areas throughout Colorado’s mountains, but the activity did not become a recreational industry until after World War II. In the early 1960s, two Kansans, Dick Eflin and Fred Rice, bought a ranch three miles northeast of Crested Butte and converted it into a ski area, complete with one of the first gondolas in the state. After a slow first few years, business at Crested Butte Mountain Resort picked up in the late 1960s. Today, nearly 350,000 people visit the resort each winter, using its 15 lifts to access 1,547 skiable acres.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Like the immigrant coal miners of the 1880s and 1890s, the influx of ski tourists changed the physical makeup of Crested Butte. Hotels, restaurants, and boutiques arrived to cater to the seasonal visitors, and hippies and so-called “ski bums” made up a new group of residents. Eventually, an entirely new town, named Mt. Crested Butte, developed to the northeast to accommodate luxury condos, vacation homes, rental agencies, and large hotels.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the 1970s, however, Crested Butte found that it could not totally break with its mining past. In 1976 a large deposit of molybdenum, a steel-hardening metal, was discovered beneath Mt. Emmons, just west of the town. The next year the US Energy Corporation planned to open a mine there, and Crested Butte residents formed the High Country Citizens Alliance (now High Country Citizens Advocates) to oppose it. They did not need to take action, as the price of molybdenum dropped in the 1980s, and the company decided not to open a mine.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>But with such a large deposit waiting inside the mountain, residents lived for decades with the threat of a molybdenum mine opening and marring the scenic appeal of Crested Butte. From the late 1970s to the early 2010s, several companies attempted to exploit the deposit, but each time they were thwarted either by lawsuits or a drop in prices. Finally, in the fall of 2016, Freeport-McMoRan, now the world’s only molybdenum producer, signed a preliminary agreement to permanently remove its mining claims on Mt. Emmons and return some 9,000 acres to the <strong><a href="/article/us-forest-service-colorado">US Forest Service</a></strong>. In November 2016, Crested Butte voters overwhelmingly approved Ballot measure 2A, agreeing to let the town borrow $2.1 million in order to permanently prevent mining on Mt. Emmons.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Today</h2>&#13; &#13; <p><a href="/image/wildflowers-mt-crested-butte"><img alt="Wildflowers by Mt Crested Butte" src="/sites/default/files/Deer_Creek_Trail_2011.jpg" style="float:left; height:321px; margin:15px; width:480px" /></a>Crested Butte reflects a common economic arc among mountain towns in the American West—it was forged out of an extractive industry that eventually went defunct, then, out of necessity, the town transitioned into an outdoor recreation hub while still maintaining its historic character. Today, Crested Butte is known not only for its winter ski season but also for its summer mountain biking and scenic meadows full of brilliant wildflowers, which have earned it the title of “Wildflower Capital of Colorado.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Cultural heritage is also an important part of the town’s identity. In 1972 the Town Council passed an ordinance designating the entire town as a historic district. It set forth the creation of the Board of Zoning and Architectural Review (BOZAR). The board also served as the historic preservation commission and established review criteria for preservation and rehabilitation of historic buildings. The town ordinances require architectural review for all new construction, preservation, rehabilitation, and additions to historic buildings. In 1974 part of the town was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the “Town of Crested Butte,” and in 2002 the boundaries of that district were expanded. In 1998 Crested Butte was awarded a <strong>State Historical Fund</strong> grant to conduct an intensive inventory and survey that included all primary and numerous outbuildings in the town. In 2005, on account of its firm commitment to preservation, the town was awarded the Stephen H. Hart Award from the Colorado Historical Society (now <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/history-colorado-colorado-historical-society"><strong>History Colorado</strong></a>). Crested Butte was also listed as one of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Dozen Distinctive Destinations in 2008.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Within the current historic district are 189 domestic buildings, 217 outbuildings, 44 commercial buildings, and 15 public/social buildings, structures that reflect the evolving economic, social, and political dynamics of Crested Butte from the late nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries. Horace Tabor’s bank building is among them, as is the original 1883 city hall—known locally as Old Town Hall—the 1883 blacksmith building, an 1883 stone school house, the Forest Queen Hotel, the CF&amp;I office and other company buildings, and several buildings that housed the fraternal lodges of European coal miners.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 2003 the <strong>Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum</strong> moved into Tony’s Conoco Building at 331 Elk Avenue, the same building that housed a blacksmith shop when it was first built in 1883. Community members and fans of the museum facilitated the move by raising a combined $1.2 million to purchase, rehabilitate, and install exhibits in this historic building. Today, the museum features permanent and rotating exhibits about the history of the Gunnison Valley, including the Ute people, the railroad, mining, ranching, skiing, and mountain biking.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/encyclopedia-staff" hreflang="und">Encyclopedia Staff</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/crested-butte" hreflang="en">crested butte</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/crested-butte-colorado" hreflang="en">crested butte colorado</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/crested-butte-history" hreflang="en">crested butte history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/crested-butte-coal-mining" hreflang="en">crested butte coal mining</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/coal" hreflang="en">coal</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/jokerville-mine" hreflang="en">jokerville mine</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-skiing" hreflang="en">colorado skiing</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/crested-butte-resort" hreflang="en">crested butte resort</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/gunnison-county" hreflang="en">gunnison county</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/wildflowers" hreflang="en">wildflowers</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Jason Blevins, “<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2016/10/01/crested-butte-longest-running-mine-battle/">Crested Butte celebrates as longest running mine battle in the West nears end</a>,” <em>The Denver Post</em>, October 1, 2016.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Colorado Ski Country USA, “<a href="https://www.coloradoski.com/snow-report/">Facts &amp; Stats</a>,” updated 2016.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum, “<a href="https://crestedbuttemuseum.com/about-us/local-history/">Museum History</a>,” n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Gunnison County, “<a href="http://www.gunnisoncounty.org/DocumentCenter/View/3453">Gunnison County Economic Indicators Report, August 2014</a>,” 2014.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Ferdinand V. Hayden, <a href="https://archive.org/details/geologicalgeogra00hayd"><em>Geological and Geographical Atlas of Colorado and Portions of Adjacent Territory</em></a> (Washington, DC: US Department of the Interior, 1877).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Chris Rourke, “<a href="https://www.gunnisontimes.com/">CB voters move to ensure Red Lady remains unmined</a>,” <em>Gunnison Times</em>, November 9, 2016.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>R. Lauri Simmons and Thomas H. Simmons, “<a href="http://focus.nps.gov/GetAsset?assetID=d1c49d14-a736-4e40-a2e6-329fd28293fa">Town of Crested Butte (revision)</a>,” National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form (2001).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Duane A. Smith, <em>Crested Butte: From Coal Camp to Ski Town </em>(Montrose, CO: Western Reflections, 2005).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Duane Vandenbusche, <em>The Gunnison Country </em>(Gunnison, CO: B&amp;B Printers, 1982).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p><a href="https://www.visitcrestedbutte.com/">Crested Butte, Colorado</a></p>&#13; &#13; <p><a href="https://mtcb.colorado.gov/">Mt. Crested Butte</a></p>&#13; &#13; <p>Mark Reaman, “<a href="https://crestedbuttenews.com/2016/11/a-few-things-to-think-about-before-filing-an-adu-lawsuit/">A few things to think about before filing an ADU lawsuit</a>,” <em>Crested Butte News</em>, November 30, 2016.</p>&#13; &#13; <p><a href="https://www.skicb.com/">Ski Crested Butte</a></p>&#13; &#13; <p>Duane A. Smith, <em>When Coal Was King: A History of Crested Butte, Colorado, 1880–1952 </em>(Golden, CO: Colorado School of Mines Press, 1984).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-4th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-4th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-4th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-4th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-4th-grade"><p>Crested Butte is a town in the <strong>Elk Mountains</strong> of <strong>Gunnison County</strong>. It is located between <strong>Gunnison</strong> and <strong>Aspen</strong>. Crested Butte began as a supply camp for silver mines in the 1870s. It became a coal town during the 1880s. Coal mining continued until the 1950s. After the mines closed, a ski resort opened on <strong>Crested Butte Mountain</strong>.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Early History</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The Crested Butte area was home to the <strong>Ute</strong> people. They lived in the mountains of Colorado for centuries. The Utes drove out most people who came searching for gold. The hard winters and small gold deposits kept others away.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Silver was discovered in the 1870s. Several silver mines were started. <strong>Ferdinand Hayden</strong> came to the area in 1873. He named a nearby mountain “Crested Butte.” In 1877 Hayden published a book. It was called the <em>Geological and Geographical Atlas of Colorado</em>. He wrote about the coal and silver he found around Crested Butte Mountain.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The area’s coal and silver interested Howard Smith. He was an investor in mining businesses. He saw a good business opportunity. In 1878, Smith planned the town of Crested Butte. He put his town where the Slate River and Coal Creek met. He named it for the nearby mountain. He put up a sawmill and built a smelter. Smith’s timing was excellent. Over the next two years, thousands of miners came searching for gold and silver. He sold them the things they needed for mining.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Coal Town</h2>&#13; &#13; <p><strong>William Jackson </strong>Palmer and <strong>John Evans</strong> were two of Colorado’s most powerful businessmen. They were interested in the coal around Crested Butte. Coal Creek produced excellent “coke.” Coke is coal that burns much hotter than other coal. This hotter burning coal is used to make iron, steel, and other metals. Palmer had just started the <strong>Colorado Coal &amp; Iron Company</strong> (CC&amp;I). He planned to build a steel works in <strong>Pueblo</strong>. Crested Butte’s coke would power his steel works and railroads.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Palmer built his <strong>Denver &amp; Rio Grande Railroad</strong> (D&amp;RG) into the Elk Mountains. A year and a half later, in November 1881, a train steamed into Crested Butte. That same year, CC&amp;I opened a coalmine. It was named the <strong>Jokerville Mine.</strong> Coke pits were dug below the mine. Crested Butte become a coal town.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The town was growing. Hotels were built for businessmen and travelers. The Bank of Crested Butte was opened by <strong>Horace Tabor</strong> in 1881. <strong>Elk Mountain House</strong>, a fancy three-story hotel, was built in December. By the summer of 1882, 500 people lived in the town. Crested Butte had five hotels, a church, and many saloons. Two schools and the City Hall were built. Crested Butte coal was shipped out for use in homes and in coal trains. The coke was sent to Pueblo to power Palmer’s steel mill.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Coal mining was a hazardous job and cave-ins and gas leaks sometimes happened. But the Jokerville Mine was especially unsafe. A high amount of dangerous gas would collect in the mine. On January 24, 1884, disaster struck. The Jokerville Mine exploded. Sixty workers were killed and more were injured. The mine’s fire boss had closed the tunnels that day because the gas had built up. But a miner had missed the warning and went in with an open flame.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>CC&amp;I reopened the mine later that year. However, the gas continued to build up. The mine was closed permanently the next year. The dangerous conditions in other mines in Colorado continued. Miners went on strike for safer working conditions in Crested Butte and other coalmines in the early 1900s.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>For much of the 1880s, the workers in the coalmines were mainly from Wales, Scotland, England, and Ireland. Later, people from Eastern Europe came to Colorado to work in the mines. Slovenians arrived in 1883, Italians in 1884, and Croatians by 1890.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The town changed with the new coalminers. St. Patrick’s Catholic Church was built in 1894. Italians and Catholic Slavs worshiped there. Each group built lodges as gathering places for their communities. The Society of St. Joseph, a Slavic lodge, was built in 1893. Croatians started the Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary at St. Mary’s Lodge. The Slovenian groups met at the Forest Queen Hotel.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1892 <strong>Colorado Fuel &amp; Iron</strong> (CF&amp;I) opened the Big Mine outside of Crested Butte. By 1902 1,000 tons of coal were mined every day. CF&amp;I built a company store, offices, and houses for miners. The Big Mine was the main employer in Crested Butte for 50 years. In 1952, the mine closed. Oil and gas had become the fuel that people needed, not coal. The mining era in Crested Butte had ended.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Ski Town</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Downhill skiing was a sport that started in the early 1960s. Dick Eflin and Fred Rice bought some land near Crested Butte to start a ski area. They put in ski lifts and created ski runs down the beautiful mountains. Crested Butte Mountain Ski Resort was a popular place to ski by the late 1960s. Today, 350,000 people visit the resort to ski each winter. There are now 15 lifts that allow people to ski on its 1,547 acres.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Like the immigrant coal miners of the 1880s and 1890s, the ski tourists changed the town. A new town, named Mt. Crested Butte, was started nearby. New restaurants and shops were built. Condos, vacation homes and large hotels were built to give people places to stay. Skiing related workers, hippies, and ski bums made up a new group of residents.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1976 a large deposit of molybdenum was discovered beneath Mt. Emmons. Molybdenum is a rare steel-hardening metal. From the 1970s to the 2010s, several companies tried to open a molybdenum mine. The people of Crested Butte did not want a mine near their town. It would ruin natural beauty of the area. In 2016 a large mining company gave up trying to open a mine on Mt. Emmons. They returned 9,000 acres to the <strong>US Forest Service</strong>. In 2016, Crested Butte citizens voted to permanently stop any mining on Mt. Emmons.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Today</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Crested Butte started as a mining town. Then, it became a ski town. Today, people visit the area in the summer too. People enjoy the area for hiking and mountain biking. Crested Butte is known for its meadows of brilliant wildflowers. It is called the “Wildflower Capital of Colorado.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>History is important to the town. In 1972 the entire town was made a “historic district.” A group focuses on protecting the historic buildings. The town has received many awards for preserving its history.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The historic district includes 189 houses, 217 outbuildings, 44 businesses, and 15 social buildings. These buildings show how the town changed over time. Some buildings include Horace Tabor’s bank, the Old Town Hall, the blacksmith, and a stone school. There is also the Forest Queen Hotel, the CF&amp;I offices, and the lodges of European coal miners.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 2003 the <strong>Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum</strong> was created. It is located in the old blacksmith shop built in 1883. The community raised $1.2 million. They bought and restored the building. The museum has exhibits about the history of the area. These include information about the Ute people, silver and coal mining, and skiing.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-8th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-8th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-8th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-8th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-8th-grade"><p>Crested Butte is nestled in the <strong>Elk Mountain</strong>s of <strong>Gunnison County</strong>. It is located between <strong>Gunnison</strong> and <strong>Aspen </strong>at an elevation of 9,000 feet. Crested Butte began as a supply camp for silver mines in the 1870s. It became a coal town during the 1880s. Coal mining continued until the 1950s. After the mines closed, a ski resort opened on <strong>Crested Butte Mountain</strong>. In the 1970s a historic district was established that includes historic buildings and structures.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Early History</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>When the first gold seekers arrived in the Elk Mountains in the 1860s, the Crested Butte area was home to the <strong>Ute</strong> people. They had tracked game across the mountains and valleys of Colorado for centuries. The Utes drove out many of the first people searching for gold in the area. The harsh winters and small gold deposits discouraged others from settling there.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Silver was discovered in the 1870s and several silver mines were started. <strong>Ferdinand Hayden</strong> led a surveying team to the area in 1873. Hayden named a nearby mountain “Crested Butte.” In 1877 Hayden published his <em>Geological and Geographical Atlas of Colorado</em>. He noted coal and silver deposits around Crested Butte Mountain.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The region’s mining opportunities attracted the attention of Howard Smith. He was an investor in a <strong>Leadville</strong> smelting company. In the summer of 1878, Smith laid out the town of Crested Butte at the junction of the Slate River and Coal Creek. It was named “Crested Butte” for the peak near the new town. He shipped in a sawmill from <strong>Cañon City</strong> and built a smelter. Smith’s timing was excellent. Over the course of the next two years, thousands of miners came to the area seeking gold and silver. Crested Butte was the principal supply point for local mines.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Coal Town</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Two powerful Colorado businessmen were interested the coal in Crested Butte. <strong>William Jackson Palmer</strong> and  <strong>John Evans</strong> knew that the area’s coal beds could provide a major business opportunity. The coal along Coal Creek produced excellent coke. Coke is a higher-carbon, hotter-burning fuel than other coal. It is used to produce iron, steel, and other metals. This was very convenient for Palmer. He had just started the Colorado Coal &amp; Iron Company (CC&amp;I) and planned to build a steel works in <strong>Pueblo</strong>. Crested Butte’s high-quality coking coal would fuel his steel works, railroad, and other industrial projects.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Palmer extended his <strong>Denver &amp; Rio Grande Railroad</strong> (D&amp;RG) into the Elk Mountains. A year and a half later, on November 24, 1881, the first D&amp;RG locomotive steamed into Crested Butte. That same year, CC&amp;I opened the Crested Butte Mine, later known as the <strong>Jokerville Mine.</strong> Coke pits were dug below the mine. Crested Butte was officially on the map as a coal town.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Even before the railroad arrived, the town was growing. Hotels were built for businessmen and travelers. Leadville silver baron <strong>Horace Tabor</strong> opened the Bank of Crested Butte in 1881. <strong>Elk Mountain House</strong>, a fancy three-story hotel, was constructed by December. By the summer of 1882, the town’s population topped 500. Crested Butte had five hotels, a church, and dozens of saloons and restaurants. Two schools were built in 1882 and 1883. A city hall and a blacksmith shop were built in 1883. Crested Butte coal was shipped all over the southwest for use in homes, mines, railroads, and furnaces. The coke from the mines fueled Palmer’s steel works in Pueblo.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Jokerville Mine was a dangerous place to work. Cave-ins and gas leaks were hazards of coal mining. But the Jokerville Mine was especially unsafe. A high amount of explosive gas would collect in the mine. On January 24, 1884, disaster struck. The Jokerville Mine exploded, killing sixty workers and injuring dozens more. The mine’s fire boss had closed the tunnels that day because the gas had built up. But a miner had missed the warning and went in with an open flame. Improperly sealed chambers, entry points built too close together, and the use of open-flame lamps contributed to the deadly explosion.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Using a different entrance, CC&amp;I reopened the mine later that year. However, the gas continued to build up. The mine was closed permanently in 1895. The hazardous conditions in mines in Colorado continued. Miners went on strike for better working conditions in Crested Butte and other coal-mining regions in the early 1900s.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>For much of the 1880s, the workers in the coalmines were mainly from Wales, Scotland, England, and Ireland. Later, miners from Eastern Europe came to work in the mines. Slovenians arrived in 1883, Italians in 1884, and Croatians by 1890.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The town changed along with these new miners. St. Patrick’s Catholic Church was built in 1894. The growing population of Italians and Catholic Slavs worshiped there. Each group built fraternal lodges as gathering places for their communities. The Society of St. Joseph, built in 1893, was the first Slavic fraternal lodge. Croatians established the Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Perpetual Aid at St. Mary’s Lodge. The Slovenian groups met at the Forest Queen Hotel.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1892 <strong>John Osgood</strong> formed <strong>Colorado Fuel &amp; Iron</strong> (CF&amp;I). In 1892 CF&amp;I opened the Big Mine outside of Crested Butte. By 1902 it was producing 1,000 tons of coal per day. CF&amp;I left its mark on the town. They built a company store, offices, houses for miners, and other commercial buildings. The Big Mine was the main employer in Crested Butte for decades. In 1952, the mine closed because of a lack of demand for coal. Oil and gas had become the fuel that people needed, not coal. Although mining of lead and zinc continued on nearby Mt. Emmons, the mining era in Crested Butte had all but ended.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Ski Town</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Downhill skiing became recreational activity after World War II. Before trains and automobiles, skiing was just another form of transportation. In the early 1960s, Dick Eflin and Fred Rice bought a ranch three miles northeast of Crested Butte. They converted it into a ski area. They put in one of the first gondola lifts in the state and created ski runs down the mountain. By the late 1960s, Crested Butte Mountain Ski Resort was a popular ski destination. Today, nearly 350,000 people visit the resort each winter. There are now 15 lifts that allow people to ski on its 1,547 acres.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Like the immigrant coal miners of the 1880s and 1890s, the ski tourists changed the area. A new town, named Mt. Crested Butte, developed to accommodate the visitors. Restaurants and shops arrived to serve to them. Luxury condos, vacation homes, rental agencies, and large hotels were built to house the guests. Ski industry workers, hippies and ski bums made up a new group of residents.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1976 a large deposit of molybdenum was discovered beneath Mt. Emmons. Molybdenum is a rare steel-hardening metal. US Energy Corporation planned to open a mine. Crested Butte residents formed the High Country Citizens Alliance to oppose it. They were concerned the mine would ruin the scenic beauty of the area. But no action was needed. The price of molybdenum dropped in the 1980s and the company decided not to open a mine.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>With such a large deposit of molybdenum, residents still feared that a mine would open. From the 1970s to the 2010s, several companies tried to open a mine. Each time a lawsuit or a drop in prices stopped the mine. In 2016 a large mining company decided to give up its mining claims on Mt. Emmons. They agreed to return 9,000 acres to the <strong>US Forest Service.</strong> Then, in 2016, Crested Butte voters approved $2.1 million to permanently prevent mining on Mt. Emmons.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Today</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Crested Butte shares a history with other mountain towns in the American West. It started as part of the mining industry. Then, the town became an outdoor recreation area while maintaining its historic character. Today, Crested Butte is known not only for its winter ski season. It is a popular summer destination for mountain biking and hiking. Its meadows full of brilliant wildflowers have earned it the title of “Wildflower Capital of Colorado.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>History is an important part of the town’s identity. In 1972 the entire town was made a historic district. A commission focuses on protecting the historic buildings. The town has received many awards for preserving its history. In 1974 and 2002, the town was put on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2005, the town was awarded the Stephen H. Hart Award from the Colorado Historical Society. It was listed as one of the National Trust for Historic Preservation Distinctive Destinations Award in 2008.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The historic district includes 189 houses, 217 outbuildings, 44 businesses, and 15 social buildings. These buildings show the economic and social history of the town. Some buildings include Horace Tabor’s bank, the Old Town Hall, the blacksmith, and a stone school. There is also the Forest Queen Hotel, the CF&amp;I offices, and the lodges of European coal miners.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 2003 the <strong>Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum</strong> was created. It is located in the old blacksmith shop built in 1883. The community raised $1.2 million to purchase and restore the historic building. The museum has exhibits about the history of the area. These include information on the Ute people, silver and coal mining, and skiing.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-10th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-10th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-10th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-10th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-10th-grade"><p>Crested Butte is nestled in the <strong>Elk Mountains</strong> of <strong>Gunnison County</strong>. It is located between <strong>Gunnison</strong> and <strong>Aspen</strong> at an elevation of 9,000 feet. Crested Butte began as a supply camp for silver mines in the 1870s. It evolved into one of the most productive coal towns in the Rockies during the 1880s. Coal continued to drive the town’s economy until the 1950s. After the mines closed, a ski resort opened on <strong>Crested Butte Mountain</strong>, the nearby 12,000-foot peak. In the 1970s a historic district was established that protects the historic buildings and structures.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Early History</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>When the first gold seekers arrived in the Elk Mountains in the 1860s, the Crested Butte area was home to the <strong>Ute</strong> people. They had tracked game across the mountains and valleys of Colorado for centuries. The Utes drove out many of the first people searching for gold in the area. The harsh winters and small gold deposits dissuaded most others from settling there.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Silver was discovered in the 1870s and several silver mines were established in the mountains north of present Crested Butte. <strong>Ferdinand V. Hayden</strong> led a surveying team to the area in 1873. From the top of Teocalli Mountain, Hayden named a nearby peak “Crested Butte.” In 1877 Hayden published his <em>Geological and Geographical Atlas of Colorado</em>. He noted significant coal deposits around Crested Butte Mountain and mapped the silver district to the northwest.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The region’s mining activity attracted the attention of Howard F. Smith, an investor in a <strong>Leadville</strong> smelting company. In the summer of 1878, he laid out the town of Crested Butte at the junction of the Slate River and Coal Creek. It was named Crested Butte for the peak southwest of the new town. He shipped in a sawmill from <strong>Cañon City</strong> and built a smelter. Smith’s timing was excellent and over the course of the next two years, thousands of miners came to the area seeking gold and silver. Crested Butte was the principal supply point for local mines. On July 3, 1880, Smith, along with Colonel W.H. Holt and George Holt, formally incorporated the town under the Crested Butte Town Company.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Coal Town</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Two powerful Colorado businessmen were interested the coal in Crested Butte. <strong>William Jackson Palmer</strong> and <strong>John Evans</strong> knew that the area’s coal beds could provide a major business opportunity. The coal along Coal Creek produced excellent coke. Coke is a higher-carbon, hotter-burning fuel than other coal. It is used to produce iron, steel, and other metals. This was very convenient for Palmer. He had just formed the <strong>Colorado Coal &amp; Iron Company</strong> (CC&amp;I) and planned to build a steel works in <strong>Pueblo</strong>. Crested Butte’s high-quality coking coal would fuel his steel works, railroad, and other industrial projects.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Palmer extended his <strong>Denver &amp; Rio Grande Railroad</strong> (D&amp;RG) into the Elk Mountains. Just over a year and a half later, on November 24, 1881, the first D&amp;RG locomotive steamed into Crested Butte. That same year, CC&amp;I opened the Crested Butte Mine, later known as the <strong>Jokerville Mine.</strong> Coke pits were dug below the mine. Crested Butte was officially on the map as a coal town.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Even before the railroad arrived, the town began to attract a growing population. Hotels were built for the many businessmen and travelers who would soon be passing through. Leadville silver baron <strong>Horace Tabor</strong> opened the Bank of Crested Butte in August 1881. <strong>Elk Mountain House</strong>, a fancy three-story hotel, was constructed by December. In the summer of 1882, Crested Butte had five hotels, a church, a dozen saloons, and a dozen restaurants. The population surpassed 500 and schools were built in 1882 and 1883. City Hall was built in 1883 and a blacksmith shop opened that same year. Crested Butte coal was being shipped all over the state, as well as to Utah and Nevada, for use in homes, railroads, and blast furnaces. The coke from the mines fueled Palmer’s steel works in Pueblo.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Jokerville Mine was a hazardous place to work and Crested Butte’s coal boom came at a tremendous cost to the miners. Cave-ins and gas leaks were hazards of coal mining, but working in the Jokerville Mine was especially dangerous. An unusually high amount of explosive gas would accumulate in the mine. On January 24, 1884, disaster struck. The Jokerville Mine exploded, killing sixty workers and injuring dozens more. It was later found that the mine’s fire boss had restricted access to the tunnels that day because the gas had built up. But a miner had missed the warning and went in with an open flame. Improperly sealed chambers, entry points built too close together, and the use of open-flame lamps also contributed to the deadly explosion.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Using a different entry, CC&amp;I reopened the mine later that year. However, the gas continued to accumulate, forcing the mine’s permanent closure in 1895. The hazardous conditions in mines played a major role in a series of labor disputes in Crested Butte and other coal-mining regions in Colorado in the early twentieth century.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>For much of the 1880s, the workers in the coalmines were mainly from Wales, Scotland, England, and Ireland. Before the decade ended, miners from Eastern Europe came to work in the mines and the workforce began to diversify. Slovenians arrived in 1883, Italians in 1884, and Croatians by 1890.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The town changed along with its social makeup. St. Patrick’s Catholic Church was built in 1894 to serve the growing population of Italians and Catholic Slavs. Each group built fraternal lodges to serve as gathering places for their respective communities. The Society of St. Joseph, built in 1893, was the first Slav fraternal lodge in Crested Butte. Croatians established the Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Perpetual Aid at St. Mary’s Lodge. The Slovenian groups convened at the Forest Queen Hotel.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1892 CC&amp;I merged with <strong>John C. Osgood</strong>’s Colorado Fuel Company to form <strong>Colorado Fuel &amp; Iron</strong> (CF&amp;I). This became the premier company in the state. In 1894 CF&amp;I opened the Big Mine outside of Crested Butte. By 1902 it was producing 1,000 tons of coal per day. CF&amp;I left its mark on Crested Butte, building a company store and office, houses for miners, a service station, and other commercial buildings. The Big Mine remained the main economic engine of Crested Butte for decades. In 1952, the mine was forced to close because of the lack of demand for coal. This was because of the rise of oil and gas fuels. Although mining of lead and zinc continued on nearby Mt. Emmons for a short time, the mining era in Crested Butte had all but ended.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Ski Town</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In the days before the railroad and automobile, skiing was a form of transportation in Colorado’s mountains. But the skiing was not considered a recreational activity until after World War II. In the early 1960s, two Kansans, Dick Eflin and Fred Rice, bought a ranch three miles northeast of Crested Butte. They converted it into a ski area, complete with one of the first gondola lifts in the state. Business at Crested Butte Mountain Ski Resort picked up in the late 1960s. Today, nearly 350,000 people visit the resort each winter, using its 15 lifts to access 1,547 skiable acres.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Like the immigrant coal miners of the 1880s and 1890s, the ski tourists changed the physical makeup of Crested Butte. An entirely new town, named Mt. Crested Butte, was developed. Hotels, restaurants, and boutiques arrived to cater to the seasonal visitors. Luxury condos, vacation homes, rental agencies, and large hotels were built to house the guests. Ski industry workers, hippies and so-called “ski bums” made up a new group of residents.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the 1970s Crested Butte found that it could not totally break with its mining past. In 1976 a large deposit of molybdenum, a rare steel-hardening metal, was discovered beneath Mt. Emmons. The US Energy Corporation planned to open a molybdenum mine, although residents were concerned that a mine would ruin the scenic beauty of their town. The residents formed the High Country Citizens Alliance to oppose the mine. They did not need to take action, as the price of molybdenum dropped in the 1980s and the company decided not to open a mine.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>With such a large deposit of molybdenum, residents still feared a mine would open. From the 1970s to the 2010s, several companies attempted to open a mine. Each time they were stopped by lawsuits or a drop in prices. Finally, in the fall of 2016, Freeport-McMoRan, the world’s only molybdenum producer, decided to permanently give up its mining claims on Mt. Emmons. They returned 9,000 acres to the <strong>US Forest Service</strong>. In November 2016, Crested Butte voters overwhelmingly approved $2.1 million to permanently prevent mining on Mt. Emmons.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Today</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Crested Butte reflects a common economic arc with other mountain towns in the American West. It was forged out of the mining industry. Then, out of necessity, the town transitioned into an outdoor recreation area while still maintaining its historic character. Today, Crested Butte is known not only for its winter ski season. It has become a popular destination for summer activities, including mountain biking and hiking. The summer meadows full of brilliant wildflowers have earned it the title of “Wildflower Capital of Colorado.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>History is an important part of the town’s identity. In 1972 the Town Council passed an ordinance that made the entire town a historic district.  A historic preservation commission focuses on preservation and rehabilitation of historic buildings. The town requires architectural review for all new construction, preservation, rehabilitation, and additions to historic buildings.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1974 part of the town was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2002 the boundaries were expanded. In 1998 Crested Butte was given a <strong>State Historical Fund</strong> grant to conduct an inventory of buildings. In 2005, the town was awarded the Stephen H. Hart Award from the Colorado Historical Society (now <strong>History Colorado</strong>). Crested Butte was listed as one of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Dozen Distinctive Destinations in 2008.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Within the current historic district are 189 domestic buildings, 217 outbuildings, 44 commercial buildings, and 15 social buildings. These buildings reflect the evolving economic, social, and political history of Crested Butte. The buildings include Horace Tabor’s bank building, the Old Town Hall, the blacksmith building, and an 1883 stone schoolhouse. Also included are the Forest Queen Hotel, the CF&amp;I offices, and the lodges of European coal miners.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 2003 the <strong>Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum</strong> moved into Tony’s Conoco Building. This is the same building that housed a blacksmith shop when it was first built in 1883. Community members and supporters of the museum raised $1.2 million to purchase, rehabilitate, and install exhibits in this historic building. Today, the museum features exhibits about the history of the Gunnison Valley. These include information on the Ute people, the railroad, silver and coal mining, ranching, skiing, and mountain biking.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Fri, 19 May 2017 22:36:28 +0000 yongli 2605 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org