Crested Butte Lodging & Property Management

History in Crested Butte

The East River Valley where Crested Butte is located was once used as a summer residence by Ute Native Americans. However, they were quickly displaced when white explorers first entered the area. The first Caucasians to explore the valley were beaver trappers, followed by surveyors. Captain John Gunnison, after whom Gunnison County is named, was one of the early explorers to enter the area.

In the 1860s and 1870s coal and silver mines began to open in the surrounding area, and many little mining towns formed. However, when silver mining hit on hard times, many of these towns failed. Crested Butte was in a better position to survive because it served as a supply town to the surrounding area.

The other industry that supported Crested Butte was ranching.

When the coal mines closed, the town began to shrink, and eventually the local high school was closed. Students had to travel to Gunnison to go to high school. The town did not revive until a ski area was built on Crested Butte Mountain in the 1960s. From the 1960s to 1990, the Crested Butte public school only facilitated K-5 students, while 6th grade and higher attended school in Gunnison. In 1990 Crested Butte offered middle school in the railroad depot building. In 1992 a new middle school was completed which allowed the public school to facilitate grades K through 8. Finally in 1997, a new facility for the Crested Butte Community School was completed. This included the addition of a public high school.

In 1993 the Crested Butte Academy opened in Crested Butte, bringing a private high school into town. However, on 9 July 2008, the academy was closed permanently due to financial difficulties that had plagued its entire existence.^[5]

U.S. Energy Corp. owns rights to mine molybdenum on Mount Emmons (“Red Lady”) near Crested Butte, and as molybdenum prices rise, the town is fighting to prevent a molybdenum mine from being opened.

In 1977 W Mitchell was elected mayor of Crested Butte, Colorado, where he stopped AMAX (now Freeport-McMoRan) from building a billion-dollar molybdenum mine on Mount Emmons. Because of his battle against the anticipated environmental impact, Mitchell is known as the man who “saved a mountain.”

On 25 April 2011, Thomson Creek Metals announced that it had terminated its Option Agreement with U.S. Energy Corp. to acquire an interest in the Mount Emmons molybdenum project.^[6] Although US Energy continued to maintain its commitment to moving the project forward on its own behalf,^[7] the withdrawal of Thomson Creek Metals was heralded as a major victory in the township of Crested Butte in its battle against the proposed molybdenum mine.^[8]

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crested_Butte,_Colorado}