History of Vail, Colorado
The Vail Valley was first explored by gold and silver miners in the late 19th century. It was then known as Gore Creek Valley. As time went on each community was developed in to its own unique way.
Vail was named after state highway engineer Charlie Vail. The ski mountain was then cultivated in the mid 1950's by 10th Mountain Division trooper Peter Seibert and a local rancher Earl Eaton. In 1962 on December 15th, Vail opened and eventually grew to become the one of the largest ski areas in North America. At 5,289 skiable acres, Vail is second only to Canada's Whistler Blackcomb Ski Resort, which counts 8,171 total skiable acres.
The ski town began with three lifts: a Gondola at the base of the mountain, a chairlift from Mid-Vail to the top, and another chair lift that dropped off into the back bowls.
By 1969, Vail was the most popular resort in Colorado. The Lionshead Gondola and the Village lift were both added due to the new found popularity of the mountain. A day lift ticket back then was only $8.
By 1970, Vail was becoming the best mountain to ski. By 1962-1963, there were over 55,000 skiers recorded to have skied the mountain.
Vail is continuing the tradition of being the world's premier mountain resort community with the revitalization of amenities and infrastructure.
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Vail was incorporated in 1966, four years after the opening of Vail Ski Resort. The ski area was founded by Pete Seibert and local rancher Earl Eaton in 1962, at the base of Vail Pass. The pass was named after Charles Vail, the highway engineer who routed U.S. Highway 6 through the Vail Valley in 1940, and eventually became Interstate 70. Seibert, a New England native, served in the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division during World War II, which trained at Camp Hale, 14 miles south of Vail between Red Cliff and Leadville. He was wounded in Italy at the Battle of Riva Ridge but went on to become a professional skier after he recovered.
Seibert, with other former members of the 10th Mountain Division, returned to Colorado after WWII with the intention of opening a ski resort. During training for ski troopers at Camp Hale, he bivouacked on Vail Mountain and identified it as an ideal ski mountain. In the early 1960s, Seibert raised funds from a group of Denver investors, including Jack Tweedy, and with Earl Eaton bought a ranch at the base of the mountain and eventually incorporated as Vail Associates. In 1962 the resort opened for its first season. It operated a gondola and two ski-lifts on the mountain owned by the United States Forest Service. The village was established at the base of the mountain for local residents and offered logding for visitors. It quickly grew throughout the valley with housing added first in East Vail and then West Vail, and additional lodging added in Lionshead in the late 1960s. Within the first years the village had a ski shop operated by John Houserman, a hotel and restaurant operated by Pepi Gramshammer, and the mountain had a manager.
History of the Vail Ski Resort
Vail was founded by Pete Seibert and Earl Eaton in 1962, at the base of Vail Pass, which was named after Charles Vail, designer of the highway that passed through the valley.
During World War II, Seibert joined the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division that trained at Camp Hale, 14 miles south of Vail between Red Cliff and Leadville. During the training Seibert and Eaton became familiar with the surrounding terrain, areas of which would become resorts in later decades. They discovered a peak that believed to be well-located and with good snow, calling it No-name Mountain, which later became Vail.
Construction of the resort began in 1962 in the uninhabited valley. It opened six months later on 15 December. There were three lifts: one gondola that ran from the base of the front side to midmountain, called MidVail; a lift from MidVail to the mountain peak; and a lift allowing access to the back bowls. Vail quickly grew to become a popular ski resort, a village formed at the base, near the gondola ski lift, which was taken down in the 1970s.
Also at that time, the construction of Interstate 70 highway had begun, replacing highway Route 6. During the 1970s, the Eisenhower Tunnel was completed and President Gerald Ford and family vacationed at their Vail home, bringing it international exposure. Vail grew into a super-resort, with skiers and vacationers paying European trip prices for a Colorado vacation. Later, Vail's village expanded. In 1970, Denver was awarded the 1976 Winter Olympics with Vail selected to host the skiing competitions. However, Colorado voters denied funding by a 3:2 margin in November 1972 and, three months later, the games were awarded instead to Innsbruck in Austria.
By the 1970 the mountain had been greatly expanded, with a second gondola added in the Lionshead area, which also included a residences and shops at the base of the slopes. On 26 March 1976, when carrying cable snagged on a support tower and two cabins derailed from gondola towers, killing four people and injuring eight. The gondola was closed for the remainder of the season until the Von Roll Lift Company installed a new monitoring system, preventing any further accidents. Soon after the original gondola in the village was replaced with a lift.
Birds of Prey (ski course), Beaver Creek
In 1989, Vail hosted the Alpine Skiing World Championships with great success. The championships were held in Vail/Beaver Creek again a decade later (Vail 99), to even bigger fanfare. In 1985, five high-speed detachable quad chairlifts were opened, the second mountain in the country to use them, after Breckenridge. Vail Associates bought Vail, Breckenridge, Keystone, and Heavenly in California in 1996. The company allowed skiers to buy an all-mountain pass that granted admission to all of their resorts.
In October 1998, the Earth Liberation Front set fire to the resort's Two Elk restaurant, Camp One, ski patrol headquarters, and four ski lifts, causing US$12 million in damage, to protest the planned expansion of ski terrain into lynx habitat. All the buildings destroyed by arson were rebuilt. Poma Ski Lifts Company added three high-speed quads to open the Blue Sky Basin expansion. Most of the lifts suffered only minor damage. However, the drive station for High Noon lift was destroyed, and later rebuilt.
In the early 2000s, hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in the resort. In 2000, Vail opened Blue Sky Basin, an intermediate-expert back-country area with moguls, tree skiing, cliffs, and ridges. Vail has been the number one ski resort in the United States 14 times in a 17-year period.
In 2004, the original Lionshead skier bridge was replaced. At the end of the 2005-06 ski season, the chairlift number one (located at the base of "Giant Steps"), the last double chairlift in operation since the early 1960s, was replaced. According to a press release on 1 August 2006, Vail began offsetting all of its power usage by purchasing wind power credits. They were the second largest corporation in the United States to do so.
In summer 2007, after seven years without a new chairlift, Vail undertook one of the biggest lift improvements at a Colorado ski area when it installed two high-speed quad chairlifts to replace the Highline (double) and Sourdough (triple) lifts. This eliminated a traverse from the Sourdough lift to the Two Elk Lodge restaurant. A new plaza was opened at the bottom of the Vista Bahn Express ski lift in Vail Village in 2008. On 27 February 2010, one of the original black diamond trials (a steep slope for advanced skiers), International, was renamed Lindsey's to honor Vail's Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn. The trail is next to "Giant Steps" and one of two flanking the original lift number one from the base of the mountain. On 10 December 2010, a new high-speed quad chairlift in the Sun Down Bowl, the High Noon Express, opened, replacing a fixed-grip triple.
Vail Resort History
The Ute Indians first inhabited the Gore Creek Valley long before white settlers moved west. The valley offered a cool summer retreat for Indians and during the harsh winters they moved to the arid lands of Western Colorado. The Utes nicknamed the Gore Range “The Shining Mountains.” By the mid 1800’s the first white settlers arrived in the Gore Valley, forcing the Indians to flee. The area became home to ranchers with grazing stock.
When World War II began, the United States Army created a training center south of the Gore Valley at Pando called Camp Hale. The 10th Mountain Division trained for alpine combat here. The 10th Mountain troops fought in northern Italy and upon return, they became major players in the quickly growing ski industry.
A veteran of the 10th Mountain Division, Peter Seibert, returned to Colorado after the war with injuries. Despite this, he was able to return to skiing and became a member of the Aspen Ski Patrol, Aspen Ski School and eventually the manager of Loveland Basin Ski Area by the late 1950’s. While at Loveland, Pete and Earl Eaton began looking to develop another ski area in the Rocky Mountain region. While looking for uranium, Earl discovered a possible area outside of Gore Valley.
Earl Eaton, a Colorado native, began skiing at a young age. By 1940, Eaton was working for the Conservation Corps camp in Glenwood Springs and ski racing in Aspen. In 1941, he headed to Leadville to work in the mines, which eventually led him to Camp Hale for construction. His early jobs in the ski industry included Climax Ski Area and Cooper Hill.
Eaton eventually went back to Aspen where he worked for ten years building chairlifts, trails, and ski patrolling. Seibert and Eaton first climbed Vail Mountain during the winter of 1957. Both agreed that this would be the perfect ski area and Seibert began to look for potential investors.
Vail Mountain was property of The United States Forest Service (USFS) and local ranchers owned the surrounding valley. To get the ski area rolling, Seibert and Eaton needed something that neither of them had, money. Seibert called lawyers Bob Fowler and Jack Tweedy, appraiser John Conway, and oilman George Caulkins of Denver. Fowler and Tweedy were able to create a corporation needed to get the ski area moving, while Conway was able to convince local ranchers to sell their property. To obtain a permit from the USFS Vail needed to have one million dollars in the bank. Caulkins was able to through investors raise the money with a little persuasion. Investors into Caulkins deal paid 10,000 dollars for a condo unit and lifetime season pass.
With the USFS granting their operating permit, Vail’s opening day was set for December 15, 1962. During the summer of 1962, construction crews were busy erecting a Bell gondola from Vail Village to Mid Vail, two chairlifts, condos, and base facilities. Luckily, that fall Colorado experienced a late winter, allowing for most structures to near completion.
To the ski area’s disappointment, the warm winter continued into December producing marginal conditions for opening day. The first year, ticket prices were set at five dollars. The ski company consisted of one gondola, two chairs, eight ski instructors, and nine ski runs. One of Vail’s biggest assets was it was only half the driving distance from Denver to Aspen.
Once Vail was operating, Bob Parker became the new marketing manager. Through Parker, Vail was put on the national map stating that skiers were guaranteed to have a exceptional ski experience. At the ski area, Sarge Brown headed operations. His knowledge of trail cutting and grooming created what Vail is today.
During the 1960’s, Vail Village was growing at an incredible rate. By 1968, Lionshead was developed. For the 1968-69 season, the Bell Gondola Company installed the Lionshead Gondola, a six-cabin tramway. That same year, President Gerald Ford first traveled to Vail Valley. The President was so impressed by the valley that he began to make annual trips, eventually purchasing property.
The 1970’s brought more construction to Vail. Vail Associates erected new trails and lifts, while the town constructed a transit system, library, ice arena, and parking structures. By 1976, Vail’s success was tainted by a gondola accident at Lionshead. Two cabins derailed off of the high towers, killing four and injuring eight. The gondola closed the remainder of the season until the Von Roll Lift Company installed a state-of-the-art monitoring system, preventing any further accidents. Despite this tragic accident, Vail Village continued to grow. The Colorado Ski Museum was founded the following year and remains in Vail today.
Denver won the Olympic bid in 1976 for the Winter Games. Vail was selected, along with the Beaver Creek site to host the downhill events. Denver voters rejected the games, which upset many in the ski industry. By 1980, Vail’s sister resort Beaver Creek opened with several chairlifts and a temporary base lodge.
George Gillette Jr., an avid skier and homeowner in the valley was urged by his family to purchase Vail and Beaver Creek. Upon doing so in 1985, Gillette drastically changed the ski industry in Colorado. His main goal with the resort was customer service and on any typical day, Gillette was just as likely out skiing with his customers as being in a boardroom. During the summer of 1985, Gillette hired Doppelmayr USA to install four high-speed detachable quad chairs including the bubbled Vista Bahn, Mountain Top, Northwoods, and Game Creek lifts. Before 1985, only Breckenridge operated a high-speed lift in Colorado. Armed with the newest lifts, back bowls, and excellent customer service, skier visits soared.
For the 1988-89 season, Vail celebrated its 25th anniversary. The China Bowl opened this same year with a new quad chair, making Vail the largest ski area in North America. The next season, Vail hosted World Alpine Ski Championships, which placed the valley in the media’s spotlight.
By 1992, Gillette, under financial strains was forced to sell Vail Associates to the Apollo Partners of New York. The Apollo Partners had a much different operation philosophy than Gillette, as the key partners were not avid skiers. Despite this, Vail was awarded the World Alpine Ski Championships in 1995 for the 1999-00 ski season. In January of 1997, Vail Associates announced the purchase of Keystone and Breckenridge from Ralston Purina. With four ski areas, Vail Resorts became the largest single operator in Colorado’s ski industry. That same season, CTEC- Garaventa was contracted to replace the old Bell gondola at Lionshead with a new 12-passenger system.
Category III was Vail Resort’s next major project at the ski area. While Category III was in the area’s master plans for quite some time, it was never aggressively pursued. During the 1990’s, the Candian lynx was reintroduced into Colorado. Category III’s terrain was deemed suitable for lynx by department of wildlife officials, but actual lynx sightings were never documented. Despite extreme opposition from local and nationwide environmental groups, Vail Resorts obtained permission by the USFS to install three new high-speed quads for the 1999-00 season. During October of 1998, fire alarms sounded at Two Elk Lodge, Camp One, Patrol Headquarters, Mountain Top Express, Northwoods Express, High Noon Triple, and the Sourdough Triple. Firefighters arrived to see the timber Two Elk Lodge engulfed in flames. While Northwoods, Mountain Top, and the Sourdough lifts only experienced minor damages, the High Noon Chair’s drive station was a total loss. The arson fires baffled investigators, who eventually learned that a radical environmental group, The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) took credit. The following summer, construction of Category III continued and the chairlifts were built by Poma USA out of Grand Junction, Colorado. Along with the Category III, the Two Elk Lodge and Patrol Headquarters were rebuilt. In January of 2000, Category III, renamed Blue Sky Basin, opened to the public.
Poma was brought back during the summer of 2000 to install another high- speed quad in Pete’s Bowl, directly to the northeast of Blue Sky’s main lift. Mountain improvements continued. By 2004, the original Lionshead skier bridge was replaced with a new steel girder structure in preparation for the Lionshead redevelopment plan. The redevelopment includes a new high-end condo structure, restaurants, shops and ice rink on the former gondola-building site.
Investigators finally made a break in the ELF arson fires during 2006. The four people named in the indictments include Chelsea Gerlach, Stanislas Meyerhoff, Josephine Overaker and Rebecca Rubin. Chelsea Gerlach, also known as “country girl” in eco terrorist networks is estimated to be involved with five other arsons, mostly in the Pacific Northwest area.
History of Eagle County
The Ute Indians claimed Eagle County lands for summer hunting and fishing grounds before Europeans explored the area. The first reliable account of European presence in the Eagle River Valley was in 1840 when Kit Carson guided the Fremont party through the region.
Fortune hunters and settlers scoured the state, striking lead carbonate ore in Leadville in 1874. The strike brought many prospectors to the valley, and by 1879 a permanent camp was established and the town of Red Cliff was born. Eagle County was carved from Summit County in 1883 and Red Cliff, named for the surrounding red quartzite cliffs, was the first county seat. The county government moved west to the town of Eagle in 1921.
The evolution of Vail from a quiet sheep pasture to an international resort is credited to the famous 10th Mountain Division ski troops who were introduced to the valley while training at Camp Hale in the 1940s. Following World War II, a group of former Army buddies returned to the Gore Creek Valley to fulfill their collective dream...to develop a ski resort. Vail later emerged as a ski giant and the county has flourished ever since. The Colorado Ski Museum, located at the top of the Vail Transportation Center, documents this great skiing heritage with photographs and memorabilia.
The Eagle County Historical Society Museum is located in Chambers Park in Eagle and documents the history of the Eagle River Valley from the early Native Americans to the families living in the county today.
Eagle County Gold Production History
By A. H. KOSCHMANN and M. H. BERGENDAHL - USGS 1968
Eagle County, in mountainous west-central Colorado, produced about 359,900 ounces of gold through 1959.
Although some prospecting was done in Eagle County in the 1860's it was not until 1879, after the great rush in 1877-78 to the Leadville district about 20 miles to the south (Henderson, 1926, p. 41), that rich oxidized silver-lead carbonate ore was discovered on Battle Mountain in the Gilman district. Many claims were located that year, and in 1880 silver valued at $50,000 was produced (Henderson, 1926, p. 47). In the early 1880's prospectors swarmed over the county and opened small silver and gold mines here and there, but most of these early camps were short lived. Only the Gilman district became a major producer. More than 99 percent of the total metal output credited to Eagle County has come from this district.
GILMAN DISTRICT
The Gilman (Battle Mountain, Red Cliff) district, in southeastern Eagle County on the northeast flank of the Sawatch Range, is between Gilman and Red Cliff, about 20 miles north of Leadville. Gold has been extracted from pyritic gold ores and as a byproduct of base-metal ores.
The initial discovery in 1879 of silver-lead ore in limestone was followed in 1884 by finds of gold ore in the underlying quartzite. The relative importance of the metals mined varied periodically in the history of the district. Before 1905 silver and gold were the major commodities, whereas lead and copper were of minor importance. From 1905 to 1930 zinc was the principal product and from 1931 to 1941 silver-copper ore containing considerable gold was mined. Zinc again regained importance from 1942 through 1959. The total gold production of the district through 1959 was roughly 348,000 ounces.
Precambrian granite, schist, and gneissic diorite are exposed in the bottom of Eagle Canyon and are overlain by thin lower Paleozoic formations that include the Sawatch Quartzite of Cambrian age, the Harding Sandstone of Ordovician age, the Chaffee Formation of Devonian age, and the Leadville Limestone of Mississippian age. Overlying these units is a thick section of Pennsylvanian and Permian (?) sedimentary rocks. A sill of Cretaceous or Tertiary quartz latite appears a few feet above the Leadville Limestone throughout the district. The sedimentary rocks dip about 12° NE. and are cut by bedding-plane faults and a few weak high-angle faults (Og-den Tweto and T. S. Lovering, in Vanderwilt and others, 1947, p. 379-381).
Ore bodies occur in (1) veins in Precambrian rocks and in the Sawatch Quartzite and (2) in replacement deposits in quartzite and limestone of Devonian and Mississippian age. Most production has come from replacement bodies in the Leadville Limestone and the Dyer Dolomite Member of the Chaffee Formation. The veins in the Precambrian rocks contain pyritic gold and complex sulfide ores in which sphalerite, chalcopyrite, galena, and pyrite are the chief minerals. The pyrite-gold veins are almost entirely of pyrite with a little gold. Most of the veins terminate or become thin at the base of the Sawatch Quartzite, but those that extend into the quartzite contain scattered pockets of gold-silver tel-lurides, chief among which are petzite and hessite.
History of the Eagle County Airport
Eagle County Regional Airport is located south of Interstate 70 just off Highway 6 between the towns of Eagle and Gypsum, Colorado.
The original runway was built in 1930s under the direction of the Civil Aeronautics Authority as an emergency landing strip for a Denver to Los Angeles air route.
The airport was dedicated on Sept. 14, 1947 and provided general aviation services for many years. In 1989, there were 277 commercial passengers.
In 1996, a $9 million, 36,000 sq. ft. passenger terminal was unveiled, accommodating a 73 percent increase in passengers during that season. The demands on the new terminal prompted an additional 30,000 sq. ft. expansion in 2001, to accommodate the growing popularity of commercial air service to EGE.
The airport is served by four major airlines: American, Continental, Delta, and United, with non-stop service to 13 hub airports in 12 major cities: Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York (JFK and La Guardia), and Newark.
Since 1994 annual airport operations have increased 214 percent and since 1993 annual passenger enplanements have increased 47 fold. This growth has earned the Eagle County Regional Airport the ranking of third busiest airport in Colorado based on annual airline passenger traffic numbers. Comparing peak day passenger traffic makes Eagle County Regional Airport the second busiest airport in Colorado.
In 2008, a study commissioned by the Colorado Department of Transportation Aeronautics Division found that the total quantifiable impact on the local economy from the airport in that year totaled $982,170,400. In addition, the Eagle County Regional Airport created 10,467 jobs, paying $293,886,700 in wages.
On November 19, 2003, a $2.2 million air traffic control tower opened, giving controllers increased visibility. The new 115-foot-tall air traffic control tower, which replaced the 43-foot tower, allows for four controllers.
In 2006 an Instrument Landing System (ILS) was commissioned and in 2007 a BI-6 radar system was added which has increased the arrival acceptance rate at EGE. The effect of these navigational aids is twofold: allowing aircraft to land in lower visibility conditions and increasing the rate at which EGE can accept the arriving aircraft in low visibility conditions.
Other recent projects for the Eagle County Regional Airport include the completion of a 1,000 foot runway expansion and rehabilitation of the existing runway.
History of the Eagle County Fair
The first Eagle County Fair was held in 1939 and from all reports was a great success, drawing hundreds of people from throughout the county to Eagle for a day of competition and camaraderie. The organizers believed they had hit on the formula for an annual tradition. The fair was to be held on the grounds of the Eagle School (where the county administration building is now located at Sixth and Broadway in Eagle).
In addition to a 4-H exhibit competition, and exhibits by local ranchers, the organizers were planning an exhibit competition for local farm and ranch wives. The women were encouraged to exhibit canned vegetables, fruits, preserves, pastries, and needlework. But that was just a part of the celebration. The organizers planed a full day of entertainment, including a football game between the Minturn and Eagle High School teams (Eagle won, 27-0), concerts, a free local movie, a free lunch for all, and a big dance that evening.
In 1942, the community was feeling the impacts of the war. Most young men in the county had either been drafted or had signed up for military service, resulting in a farm labor shortage that seriously hampered local production. Shortages of products such as rubber and leather, and mandatory rationing made it challenging for ranchers just to keep their operations going. By the mid-1940s, there was no mention of the county fair in the local newspapers, although there is coverage of 4-H activities and exhibits.
By 1950, the Eagle County Fair was suffering growing pains. The large number of exhibits overflowed the school gym in Eagle, and spilled out into the downstairs hall of the main school building. For the first time, local businesses manned commercial booths at the fair, featuring displays of various farm and home appliances.
In 1952 the fair, having outgrown the Eagle School site, was moved to the Gypsum school grounds — but that was the only time the event was staged away from the county seat.
As the summer of 1960 approached, the organizers of the fair were scrambling.
For seven years, the annual event had been held on a designated parcel of the Mayer ranch, on the south edge of Eagle. Most had assumed that location was permanent. When the ranch was suddenly sold to a corporation, the fair lost its home.
That's when the Eagle County Commissioners purchased a 15-acre parcel of land on the west bank of the Eagle River, across from the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad depot. A group of local volunteers moved the livestock barn to the new site in sections. The Eagle Valley Roping Club was building a rodeo arena on the site, and an all-steel, 100 by 50 foot building had been ordered to serve as the exhibit hall at the new fairgrounds. Grandstands had been built for the rodeo arena, and three rodeo performances were scheduled with the Colorado Amateur Cowboy Association.
By 1964 the steel exhibit hall had electricity. This meant the facility would have not only light fixtures, but also the necessary power for cooking ranges and refrigerators. New restrooms and a water line were also installed.
By the 1970s the fairgrounds was settled in its new home and had plenty of room to grow bigger. The county was becoming more urbanized and more families in town were getting involved which made the fair grow larger.
Beginning in the eighties the town got professional help with the Fair and Rodeo. The Colorado State Rodeo Cowboys Association provided the amateur rodeo auction and concert acts. With growth and success in 1986 the county purchased a 145-acre tract of land from the gravel mines for future building.
In the 1990s Eagle County experienced a building boom and by 1999 the new grandstands were built to seat 2,650 people.
In 2006 Eagle County decided to build the 45,000 square foot Eagle River Center west of the fairgrounds. The building was a huge success at its 2006 Fair & Rodeo debut. The center is also used for community and equestrian events, trade shows, fairs and tournaments.