OCR Text |
Show The Future of Skiing in Utah terest the -ner and Winter tourist who is not interested in large "swank" hotels tat least until he gets Salt Luke City) including the opportunity of going through a famous old silver mine working. Of course, I will admit there is a wonderful opportunity for capital interested in providing large "swank" hotels, as there will be hundreds of thousands visiting Little Cottonwood Cotton-wood Canyon and Romantic Alta who will probably want the combination com-bination atmosphere of "swank" and "Back to Nature" in the area. From my observation, from my experience, from my conclusions, Romantic Alta where you may ski and enjoy winter sports more than eight rhonthg each year and go underground into a famous old silver mine, or during July, August and September climb the mountainsides among the riotous-colored riotous-colored flowers and go underground under-ground into a famous silver mine, this trip is ready and waiting i and is the biggest sort of a boom " to Salt Lake City in helping to entertain its winter and summer visitors and fills a heretofore needed attraction. (By Geo. H. Watson, Mavor of Romantic Alta and Scribe of The Great American Prospectors Association). Little Cottonwood Canyon and Romantic Alta at its head is less than twenty-eight miles southeast of Salt Lake City, and can now be reached over a beautiful, broad, scenic highway. I really believe that despite its easy access, the scenic grandeur and beauty of Little Cottonwood Canyon is less known to the average citizen of Salt Lake City today than almost al-most any other canyon within striking distance of the City, and yet I question whether there is a canyon in all Utah comparable in magnificent views within the canyon can-yon and the unparalled views from the canyon. Down across the valley, one can see the famous fam-ous open-cut Utah Copper mine at Bingham, Utah, below him. Since the new, broad, picturesque picture-sque highway has been completed, more than 250,000 skiers have skied in Romantic Alta. a great part of which have been winter tourists from other states, and and more than 200 internationally international-ly famous ski riders visited this area to date, and reported that Alta had the finest winter sports possibilities of any area in the world. Roger Langley, President of the National Ski Association of America, writes: "Wednesday morning, April 5, 1939, I reached Salt Lake City to find Marthin-ious Marthin-ious A. Strand, the National First Vice-President, waiting for me at the station. He drove me to Romantic Alta 28-miles from Salt Lake City. Here the snow was eight feet deep. Geo. H. Watson, Mayor of Romantic Alta, was there to greet us. We had lunch i in his interesting cabin, which I was entirely surrounded by snow, I and we entered by a winter en-j en-j trance from the roof by going down a ladder. Here at Alta is one of the finest winter sports playgrounds I have ever seen so near a large center of population." popula-tion." The snow depth averages eight feet in the surrounding mountains of Alta; the elevation is from 8,500 feet above sea level to 11,069. Therefore, the finest powder snow exists, affording fine skiing for more than eight months of each vear. Trulv. the skier has found a new ski paradise. These are things all of us know who are familiar with Little Cottonwood Canyon and Romantic Alta. The views within Little Cottonwood. itself, are wonderful mountain and canyon visions and there Is nothing which surpasses the panorama which spreads before the traveler, and at its head the picturesque, ('Id, Romantic silver mining camp, where Western mining camp life is lived, the skier finds a skier's paradise and unusual atmosphere. In other words, it isn't like making mak-ing a tour throueh a canvon that has been completely civilized, ending end-ing in a big mountain resort, with city hotel service. It is a "Back to Nature" a bit of the old untamed un-tamed West." Of course, there is a small lodge, a giant chair ski-lift and four rope tows running, run-ning, Dick Durrance Ski School, and good food is served. In fact, there is everything to in- |