Climax grew from a sleepy rail depot into a major molybdenum mining center after Charles Senter discovered a deposit on Bartlett Mountain in 1879. Rail connections soon reached the area, and the Climax Molybdenum Company was formed in 1911. Demand surged during World War I, and after competition for control of Bartlett Mountain, the company consolidated ownership in 1918, though the mine soon shut down when prices fell. Reopened in 1924, Climax supplied 75% of the world’s molybdenum by 1926, adopted underground block-cave mining, and expanded its tunnels, housing, school, hospital, recreation facilities, and ski area during the following decades. During World War II, it became the nation’s highest priority mine, maintained intense production for the war effort, and earned the Army-Navy Production Award. In the 1950s and 1960s, Climax added modern town amenities, expanded output, and became the world’s largest underground mine before the town’s buildings were moved to Leadville in 1960 for mine expansion. Later years brought record blasts, open pit mining, environmental regulation, and continued production milestones, but also an unstable molybdenum market, shutdowns, layoffs, and a long decline after 1982. By the 1990s and 2000s, only a small workforce remained, focused largely on land reclamation and water quality, while the site continued to supply water reaching Dillon Reservoir and still held molybdenum in the heart of Bartlett Mountain.
