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...