COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Known as “the wildflower capital of Colorado,” Crested Butte is a heritage tourism site offering everything from snow sports to hiking and biking to rock climbing, festivals and plenty of events year-round.
Here’s a look at how Crested Butte went from a quaint mining town to the outdoor recreation destination that it is today.
The beginning
Crested Butte was originally home to the Ute Indians, with placer miners moving to the area around the 1960s.
In 1873, geologist Ferdinand V. Hayden gave the town its name by calling present-day Crested Butte Mountain and Gothic Mountain the “crested buttes.”
Crested Butte’s founder, Howard F. Smith, laid out the town in 1878.
Coal mining emerges
The town was officially incorporated on July 3, 1880, with a population of about 400. Around 1,000 miners lived in the surrounding area, with Crested Butte getting its start as a supply town for hard rock mining.
On Nov. 21, 1881, the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad arrived in Crested Butte. This allowed the coal industry and town to expand.
Smith sold his coal mine to Colorado Coal and Iron (later Colorado Fuel and Iron) in the early 1880s on the brink of the coal mining industry taking off during the 1880s and 1890s.
Although it was still small, by 1882, Crested Butte had grown to include 1,000 people, five hotels, and several saloons and restaurants. The town was also home to stables, sawmills, doctors, lawyers, a bank and the Union Congregational Church.
The Colorado Fuel and Iron Co. Big Mine opened in 1894; by 1902, it had become Colorado’s third-largest coal mine, producing 1,000 tons of coal per day. Crested Butte’s coal reserves kept the town going while others failed.
The ski resort
The Colorado Fuel and Iron Co. Big Mine closed in 1952, ending Crested Butte’s coal mining era. In 1955, Crested Butte experienced a local recession, forcing some residents to leave.
However, Hubert Winston Smith founded the Law Science Academy in 1958. It was the town’s first success in attracting a significant number of tourists, with the Crested Butte News describing the academy as being “comprised of distinguished lawyers, physicians, and scholars.”
In 1960, Dick Eflin and Fred Rice bought Malensek Ranch on Mount Crested Butte. Crested Butte Mountain Resort opened in the winter of 1962-63. It featured one of Colorado’s first gondolas.
Although the resort struggled during its first years, it eventually grew to become the popular ski destination that it is today.
Vail Resorts Inc. bought Crested Butte Mountain Resort for $74 million in 2018. The town and resort have continued to grow.
