Gunnison County history

Note: His opinion was later proven to be incorrect, as the D&RG railroad did build a route through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in the 1880’s.

The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad arrived in 1881, and the city developed as a trade centre for mining and farming and as a recreation area.

1883: The town goes bust, losing over half of its population.

Silver mining began to decline in 1893 with the silver panic, causing other mining towns in the area to fail.

By 1900 ranching surpassed mining as the top industry in the valley.

1883: The town goes bust, losing over half of its population. Its growth was sustained by the establishment there of Western State College of Colorado (1911). Gunnison is a popular angling centre, with many trout streams and several reservoirs (notably Taylor to the northeast and Blue Mesa to the west) in the vicinity.

In 1923 it became Western State College of Colorado and began offering bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

By the 1950's trucking had become a more practical mode of hauling goods and thus made rail routes in and around Gunnison obsolete.

When it closed in 1952 Monarch Ski Area bought the chairlift.

Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) opened in 1961, kicking off Crested Butte’s history as a ski town and popular tourist destination.

The resort began with a T-bar until 1963 when a gondola, only the second in the state, was constructed.

Emmons, more commonly known as Red Lady, has the third-largest known deposit of molybdenum in the world. It was discovered in Crested Butte in 1977 and began a decades-long battle over the creation of a new mine that is still ongoing.