Feature

Reluctant Boomtown

A copper-mining company is courting Superior, Ariz., but the former mining town – now re-inventing itself as a modest tourist haven – is unsure whether it really wants a new marriage with extractive industry.

Editor's Note

Men with boots

The transformation of once-scrappy mining towns like Silverton, Colo., and Superior, Ariz., into trendy tourist havens is bound to leave the locals with mixed feelings and some nostalgia.

Dear Friends

Dear friends

HCN’s online reader’s survey; new babies, new books, new music and some visitors.

News

Power from the underground

Geothermal power heats up in Reno, Nev., as the West begins to pay more attention to its underground energy resources.

Essays

Following the tracks

Catherine Fink recalls long adolescent days spent wandering along Colorado railroad tracks, singing at the top of her lungs and discovering the world.

Heard Around the West

Heard Around the West

Jackson Hole needs a brand-new slogan; trees vs. solar power in environmentalist California; trees vs. the view in Lake Tahoe; Arizona’s “extreme commuters”; drunk driver protects his beer; Barry McCahill loves SUVs even though he doesn’t drive one.

Letters

Biofuel won't do it

Run with it, obama

Hello, Clinton? Hello, McCain?

Wake up and smell the newsprint

Degrees of sacrifice

Catching a ride in costa rica

Two Weeks in the West

Two weeks in the West

HCN looks at the various problems of Western wildlife, including Northern Rockies wolves, porcupines, fishers, pikas, and more; and Rocky Mountain National Park tests elk for chronic wasting disease and also gives out birth control.

Related Stories

Mining the West

A potpourri of maps and graphics illustrates the complex nature of hardrock mining in the West today.

A Rico renaissance

The tiny mountain town of Rico, Colo., finds its post-mining economy threatened by a possible mining resurgence.

The short life of Lisbon Valley

A brief timeline traces the brief history of Utah’s Lisbon Valley Mine.

Death of a mine

Utah’s Lisbon Valley Mine was supposed to be a hugely profitable copper producer; instead, it went belly-up in just two years.