The Town that Said 'Hell, No!': Crested Butte Fights a Mine to Save its Soul

"The Town That Said, Hell No!" is the story of a rural Colorado community under siege by AMAX, a huge international mining corporation. This powerful company was accustomed to getting its way, but it met its match in the late 1970s and early 1980s when it tried to overrun a unique and undaunted adversary.

Crested Butte was no ordinary town. Hemmed in by high mountains in the heart of the Central Rockies of Colorado, summers at 9,000 feet are idyllic, and snow covers the ground for eight months of the year. This small, remote town and the disparate and eccentric community it nurtured refused the dictates of Big Business and Big Brother when the town said a firm and resounding "NO!"

A five-year pitched battle ensued where Crested Butte claimed its right to autonomy. The town stood up to the mining giant and defended its intimate sense of place, the vulnerable mountain environment in which the town is nestled, and the delicate balance of values that made the town unique and loved by its loyal townspeople.

This spontaneous, innovative ragtag army manned the front lines in a battle that changed the town and all of their lives. With courage, commitment, humor and derring-do, the town stood its ground for values that connected its struggle with the roots of liberty and the founding principles of democracy.

This is the story of Crested Butte, Colorado. It is also the story of rural America defending itself in the American West.

Paul Andersen has been a writer for 45 years. He has written fifteen books and hundreds of feature articles for regional magazines. He has been a reporter, editor, regular columnist and contributing writer with the Aspen Times for 36 years.Paul's writing career has earned him credits as a television scriptwriter for ESPN and screenwriter for an IMAX film. He has authored a dozen books on regional history and a collection of fiction short stories, Moonlight Over Pearl. In 2015, his book, High Road to Aspen (2014) won the Colorado Book Award's Gold Medal.In 2005, Andersen co-created Nature & Society, an executive seminar for the Aspen Institute that immerses participants in wilderness while exploring philosophical, literary and historical perspectives on man and nature.In 2013, Paul founded Huts For Vets, a non-profit designed to offer veterans healing opportunities in the wilderness at the 10th Mountain Huts of Aspen. With a context of philosophical readings, veterans find solace from psycho-emotional trauma, post- traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury and military sexual trauma.Paul leads wilderness hikes, culture tours, and moderates the Great Books seminar series for the Aspen Institute. He enjoys reading philosophy and literature, writing poetry and playing guitar, piano and drums. He hikes, skis and bikes the mountains and deserts of the American West and beyond. Self-supported bicycle tours have led him across Europe, Eurasia and the Middle East.Andersen was born in Chicago in 1951. He grew up in suburban Glenview, graduated New Trier High School in 1969, and earned a BA degree from Western Colorado University. Paul lives at Seven Castles in the Frying Pan Valley, 25 miles from Aspen, with his psychotherapist wife, Lu Krueger-Andersen. Their son, Tait, and his wife, Sarah, live nearby in Basalt