Crested Butte, CO
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Crested Butte is a
home rule municipality Statutory city may refer to: * Statutory city (Austria), an Austrian municipality acting as a district administrative authority * Statutory city (Czech Republic), a Czech city with special privileges * Statutory city (United States), a city in the ...
located in
Gunnison County, Colorado Gunnison County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 16,918. The county seat is Gunnison, Colorado, Gunnison. The county was named for John W. Gunnison, a Unite ...
, United States. The town population was 1,639 at the 2020 United States census. A former
coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...
town nestled in the Slate River Valley, Crested Butte is now known as a destination for skiing, mountain biking, and outdoor activities.


History

The East River Valley where Crested Butte is located was once used as a summer residence by the
Ute people Ute () are an Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin, Indigenous people of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau in present-day Utah, western Colorado, and northern New Mexico.Pritkzer''A Native American Encyclopedia'' p. 242 Historically, their t ...
. However, they were quickly displaced when European-Americans first entered the area. The first white people to explore the valley were beaver trappers, shortly followed by surveyors. Captain
John Gunnison John Williams Gunnison (November 11, 1812 – October 26, 1853) was an American military officer and explorer. Biography Gunnison was born in Goshen, New Hampshire, in 1812 and attended Hopkinton Academy in Hopkinton, New Hampshire. He grad ...
, after whom Gunnison County is named, was one of the early explorers to enter the area. In the 1860s and 1870s
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...
and
silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...
mines began to open in the surrounding area, and many little mining towns formed. Mining, along with ranching, formed the nexus of the local economy. However, when silver mining began to decline, many of these towns failed. Crested Butte, however, was in a better position to survive because it served as a supply town to the surrounding area. When the coal mines closed, the town began to shrink, and eventually the local
high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...
was closed. After graduating the class of 1965 (from 1966 until 1990), the Crested Butte public school only facilitated K-5 students, while 6th grade and higher attended school in Gunnison. The town did not revive until a ski area was built on Crested Butte Mountain in the 1960s. The ski resort was constructed on the former Malensek Ranch, in what is now the neighboring community of Mt. Crested Butte. The resort rapidly revitalized the town's economy around tourism. As a result of the renewed growth, Crested Butte began to offer middle school in the railroad depot building in 1990. 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 so that the school now serves students in grades K-12. In 1993 the Crested Butte Academy opened in Crested Butte, bringing a private high school into town. However, on July 9, 2008, the academy was closed permanently due to financial difficulties that had plagued its entire existence. The town has changed from a mining town to a tourist retreat catering to the affluent as the ski resort has taken over the local economy. This has led to a housing crisis- the average home in Crested Butte is worth over $900,000. The
Colorado General Assembly The Colorado General Assembly is the state legislature of the State of Colorado. It is a bicameral legislature consisting of the Senate and House of Representatives that was created by the 1876 state constitution. Its statutes are codified in ...
in 1990 designated Crested Butte the
wildflower A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, rather than being intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is any different from the native plant, eve ...
capital of Colorado.


Geography

Crested Butte is in north-central Gunnison County on the west side of the valley of the Slate River, along Coal Creek. Colorado State Highway 135 runs south from Crested Butte to Gunnison, the
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
. At the 2020 United States census, the town had a total area of , all of it land. Crested Butte lies at an
elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...
of above sea level.


Climate

The climate type is dominated by the winter season, a long, bitterly cold period with short, clear days, relatively little precipitation in the form of rain, but massive amounts in the form of snow, and low humidity. The
Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
sub-type for this climate is '' Dfc'' (Continental Subarctic Climate). The record snowfall amount was 415 inches in the 1977/1978 winter season.


Demographics

As of the
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 1,529 people, 692 households, and 253 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 930 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 97.19%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.26%
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.92% Native American, 0.72% Asian, 0.00%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 0.46% from other races, and 0.46% from two or more races. 2.75% of the population were
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race. There were 692 households, out of which 19.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 28.9% were
married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 5.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 63.3% were non-families. 28.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 1.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.21 and the average family size was 2.69. In the town, the population was spread out, with 13.5% under the age of 18, 11.5% from 18 to 24, 55.6% from 25 to 44, 17.5% from 45 to 64, and 1.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 124.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 131.9 males. The median income for a household in the town was $41,250, and the median income for a family was $49,118. Males had a median income of $27,386 versus $23,073 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the town was $26,789. 11.4% of the population and 2.7% of families were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
. Out of the total population, 3.5% of those under the age of 18 and 0.0% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.


Arts and culture


Festivals

Crested Butte hosts a number of festivals and parades throughout the year. These include Torchlight, New Years, Winter Carnival, Butte Bash College Ski Week and Mardi Gras during the winter months; Extreme Board Fest, Slushuck and Flauschink during spring; the Crested Butte Bike Week, Crested Butte Music Festival, Crested Butte International Film Festival,
4th of July Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'', a 1972 Soviet drama ...
, the Crested Butte Wildflower Festival, Alpenglow Concert Series, Festival of the Arts and Ball Bash during summer; and Fall Fest, VinotokCarla Davidson
"Secret Season: Colorado before the Snow Flies," ''American Heritage'', August–September 2006.
and Paragon Peoples' Fair during fall.


Parks and recreation

The town of Crested Butte has a Nordic Center which has an ice skating rink as well as cross-country skiing trails. The town also has several parks, including Rainbow Park in the western section of town. Several hiking trails also exist, managed by the Crested Butte Land Trust. The
Mountain Bike Hall of Fame The Mountain Bike Hall of Fame (MBHOF) was founded in 1988 to chronicle the history of mountain biking. Formerly located in Crested Butte, Colorado, it relocated to Fairfax, California in 2014 and became part of the Marin Museum of Bicycling. Si ...
was located in Crested Butte before moving in 2014 to
Fairfax, California Fairfax is an List of cities in California, incorporated town in Marin County, California, Marin County, California, United States. Fairfax is located west-northwest of San Rafael, California, San Rafael, at an elevation of . The population w ...
.


Media

Movies filmed in Crested Butte include '' Snowball Express'' (1972), '' Snowbeast'' (1977), '' The Further Adventures of the Wilderness Family'' (1978), and ''
Ink Ink is a gel, sol, or solution that contains at least one colorant, such as a dye or pigment, and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen, brush, reed pen, or quill. ...
'' (2009), '' Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem'' (2007).


Infrastructure

Crested Butte is served by the
Gunnison–Crested Butte Regional Airport Gunnison–Crested Butte Regional Airport is a county-owned, public airport one mile southwest of Gunnison, in Gunnison County, Colorado, United States. Also known as Gunnison County Airport, it serves the valley and nearby Crested Butte, Col ...
in Gunnison. The town runs a free bus service connecting the town of Crested Butte with the ski resort located northeast of town. Additionally, buses connect the town to Gunnison. The town government is currently pursuing a transit and infrastructure strategy to "de-emphasize cars and focusing on walking, biking, rolling and transit". Since the 1970s, several companies have attempted to mine
molybdenum Molybdenum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mo (from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'') and atomic number 42. The name derived from Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lead ores. Molybdenum minerals hav ...
on Mount Emmons (called the "Red Lady") near Crested Butte. In 1977 W Mitchell was elected mayor of Crested Butte and led a campaign which stopped AMAX (now
Freeport-McMoRan Freeport-McMoRan Inc., often called Freeport, is an American mining company based in the Freeport-McMoRan Center, in Phoenix, Arizona. The company is the world's largest producer of molybdenum, a major copper producer and operates the world's la ...
) 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". The same year, 1977, saw the formation of the High Country Citizens' Alliance (HCCA), an environmental organization dedicated to protecting natural resources within the Upper
Gunnison River The Gunnison River is located in western Colorado, United States and is one of the largest tributaries of the Colorado River. Description The river flows east to west and has a drainage area of according to the USGS. The drainage basin of the ...
Valley. Currently the rights for Mount Emmons molybdenum are owned by U.S. Energy Corp. On April 25, 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. Although US Energy continued to maintain its commitment to moving the project forward on its own behalf, the withdrawal of Thomson Creek Metals was heralded as a major victory in the town of Crested Butte in its battle against the proposed molybdenum mine.High Country Citizens' Alliance – Home
Hccaonline.org (November 18, 2010). Retrieved on 2012-01-03.


See also

*
Crested Butte Film Festival The Crested Butte Film Festival is a celebration of international films, held annually over four days in the last weekend of September, in Crested Butte, Colorado. History Celebrating it's 15th Anniversary in 2025, the Crested Butte Film Festival ...
*
Crested Butte Mountain Resort Crested Butte Mountain Resort is a ski resort at Mount Crested Butte in Gunnison County, Colorado, United States. History Crested Butte Mountain Resort opened in 1960 when two men—Fred Rice and Dick Eflin—purchased a ranch on Mt. Crested ...
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Gunnison County, Colorado *
West Elk Mountains The West Elk Mountains are a high mountain range in the west-central part of the U.S. state of Colorado. They lie primarily within the Gunnison National Forest, and part of the range is protected as the West Elk Wilderness. The range is primaril ...


References


Further reading

*


External links


Town of Crested Butte website
{{authority control Towns in Gunnison County, Colorado Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado Towns in Colorado National Register of Historic Places in Gunnison County, Colorado