Serial Fiftieth Anniversaries...

After having been under the spell of the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's assassination for weeks, it's now turn for some more joyful celebrations, but still in the same half-century category.

Opening today for the new ski season, Park City Mountain Resort continues that string of 50th celebrations that are close to my heart. Sure, I wasn't there when it opened for skiing back in 1963, but I have heard the metamorphosis of the Silver capital of Utah into the largest ski area the state (and in fact the whole North America) counts to this day.

At that time, the last surviving mining company, United Park City Mines, re-invented itself into a ski resort with the help from a federal loan meant to revive what was fast turning into another western ghost town. The $1.2 million dollars loan bought a gondola, a pair of base and summit lodges, a chairlift, a poma, and a nine-hole golf course.

The resort was called Treasure Mountain Resort. Mine company officials urged townspeople to hang on to their properties because, they they also said, "it will be valuable some day." At the time, a town lot and house were only worth about $500!

Tomorrow, I'll tell you about another 50th anniversary, still in the ski business, that's also very dear to my heart...