Climax, CO: The Summit Came First RoadyGoat
1880Climax, Colorado is famous for one thing: it's home to one of the world's largest molybdenum mines, a metal that hardens steel. So you'd guess the name has something to do with that giant operation, the peak of mining. But the name came first, and it had nothing to do with ore. Climax sits at the very top of Fremont Pass, more than eleven thousand feet up. When the railroad climbed the pass, this was the summit, the highest point on the line, the top of the climb. Railroaders called it the climax. The mine came later. So the name marks the peak of a mountain railroad, not the peak of a mine, even if the mine ended up making the town world-famous.
15.0 mi away
