Time Machine: 40 years ago, Front Range cities come one step closer to building another Eagle County water diversion project
Vail Trail/Vail Daily archive
30 years ago
Oct. 7, 1994
The Vail Town Council approved an ordinance paving the way for purchase of an employee housing unit in the Potato Patch Drive Condominiums.
The Vail Trail reported that it was the first purchase of an employee housing unit by the town since the town manager’s residence was purchased in the 1980s.
“The council had not decided if the $70,000 caretaker unit would be leased to a qualified employee,” the Trail reported.
40 years ago
Oct. 12, 1984
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The cities of Aurora and Colorado Springs got one step closer to building a water diversion project known as Homestake II, a series of dams and tunnels intended to send water out of Eagle County for use on the Front Range.
The city councils in Aurora and Colorado Springs approved a 404 permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Vail Trail reported, and Col. Art Williams, the Corps’s district engineer, said he will sign the document when it is sent back to his office.
“His signature will grant final Corps approval for the project to begin,” the Trail reported.
But the project’s major opponent, the Holy Cross Wilderness Defense Fund, alleged shady dealings on the part of the Corps and the cities, saying the permit was kept secret.
A representative for the project said he mailed the draft permit to the Holy Cross Wilderness Defense Fund, but they said they never received it, quoting Roz McClellan, director of the defense fund.
McClellan said she “finally got a copy from a friend who was at one of the city council meetings,” the Trail reported.
50 years ago
Oct. 11, 1974
Vail Mountain announced lift ticket prices for the upcoming ski saying, pledging not to raise prices from the previous year.
“Vail ski resort is doing its part to hold back inflation,” the Vail Trail reported, quoting Vail Executive Vice President Jim Bartlett
“Bartlett announced today that Vail will charge $10 for a daily lift ticket, $5 for children 12 & under; $7 and $3.50 for adult and child half-day tickets. Vail is holding lift prices down in spite of the over $1.3 million in capital improvements on Vail Mountain this summer, and continually rising costs in other areas,” the Trail reported.
60 years ago
Oct. 8, 1964
The Eagle Sanitation District used the pages of the Eagle Valley Enterprise to assert its right to collect money from residents for the sewer service.
Questions and complaints regarding the district’s authority “have come about following the establishment of the system by vote of the people several months ago,” the Enterprise reported.
District attorney Peter Cosgriff replied in a letter to the Enterprise.
“You are advised that the Colorado Statutes CBS 85-5-13 grant to the Board of a Sanitation District certain powers, and among them the following; ‘To fix and, from time to time, to increase or decrease water and sewer rates, tolls or charges for services or facilities furnished by the District,'” Cosgriff wrote.
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Cosgriff said unpaid bills will result in the forfeiture of service and a lien on the property.
70 years ago
Oct. 7, 1954
A bizarre game of basketball in which the players would ride the backs of donkeys rather than running the court was set to take place at the Eagle County high school in Gypsum, the Eagle Valley Enterprise reported.
“The trained donkeys, owned by Cliff Dunham of Oklahoma, probably know more about the game of basketball than the humans on their backs,” the Enterprise reported. “The two teams will be the best from the American Legion Post at Gypsum and the top players from the Lions Club.”
