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Photo courtesy of Winter Park Resort
9,000 thousand-foot
high mountain valley lies in a cirque of the Colorado
Rockies bounded on the east and south by the Continental
divide and on the west by the Vasquez Mountains. This
small valley located in Grand County Colorado is just
about 12 miles square. The area has had several nicknames
in its past, like "little Switzerland and "Heavenly Valley".
The valley is presently named for the Fraser River, one
of the headwaters of the Colorado River.
In its early-undisturbed state, the valley was known as a
hunter's paradise. Archeological remains and recorded
accounts of the first explorers indicate that the Utes
and the Arapahos had fought over the area. In addition,
the Lakota, Crow and the Blackfeet native Americans are
believed to have fought over the area as well.
Until
the early 1860's, the Fraser Valley remained isolated in
the Rockies. Pressure to build the shortest possible
transcontinental railroad over or under the Continental
Divide brought several survey parties to the area. The
U.S. Congress also felt it necessary to develop a mail
route from Denver to the town of Breckenridge via the
town of Idaho Springs. This survey was authorized in the
winter of 1861. The expedition took place in May 1861.
It was headed by Edward Louis Berthoud and consisted of
eight people including mountain man Jim Bridger as an
expert advisor. Although a horse trail was established
over the pass (Berthoud Pass), a road for stagecoaches
was not established until 1874. Around 1910,
transcontinental automobile roads were being mapped.
The Midland Trail was designated to cross the Rockies
west of Denver using Berthoud Pass. The ski area that once sat on top of the pass (Berthoud Pass Ski area) was
built in 1943 and a lodge was opened in December
1949. Berthoud no longer operates as a ski area or snowcat area.
In agreement at the time of the building of the
Moffat railroad Tunnel (completed in 1927), the City of
Denver was deeded about 90 acres for a mountain park which
is now the base area of Winter Park Resort. The ski area
was developed in the late 1930's. Winter Park officially
opened January 1, 1940 with a half-mile long rope tow and
only a couple of runs. In 1950 the mayor of Denver created
the Winter Park Recreational Association as a non-profit
corporation which has operated the ski area ever since. Recently however, the City of Denver has leased the operations and some development rights to Intrawest Corporation, a major resort development company.
*Information provided
by the Winter Park Fraser Valley Chamber of
Commerce & Grand County Historical Association.
