Crested Butte is a quintessential little mountain town that began as a mining town and has become a lifestyle community with an addiction to recreation and the great outdoors.
Crested Butte was founded on coal and silver mining around 1879 and served as a supply town to all of the surrounding mining camps. The location of the town was perfect as all roads from the mining camps led through downtown which is why Crested Butte became the transportation and supply center in the northern part of Gunnison County. As long as the mines were operating, Crested Butte thrived. In all, coal, silver, copper, iron and ore were mined in the area.
The Town was incorporated in 1881, just after the railroad began making trips from Gunnison to Crested Butte. This opened the door to the outside world to come and explore Crested Butte and people arrived by the train load to visit. The beauty that you see today was the same that the early settlers saw; unending vistas in every direction.
With the idea of a ski resort in mind, Dick Eflin set out with his partner Fred Rice to look for a place to start a ski resort. Once they arrived in Crested Butte and took a look around, they knew that this was the place. They purchased the Malensek ranch and skiing commenced in December 1962, the rest is history.
Crested Butte is fondly known as the “Last Great Ski Town in Colorado” and in 1990 earned the title of “The Wildflower Capital of Colorado”. And as for lifestyle, work hard, play harder.