Climax

High atop the Continental Divide, the Climax Mine opened during World War I to meet military needs for molybdenum, a metallic element that enhances the toughness and durability of steel. Climax became the most successful American company of the Great Depression, even as its workers cursed the mine as "that hellhole near the sky." During World War II, Climax single-handedly supplied the huge Allied molybdenum demand, and in the postwar years became the world's largest underground mine. But i...