thanks for joining us today and welcome in this month's video, I'd like to visit
Woodland Park Colorado this town is so steep and forgotten history that I will
likely revisit it a few times. That said, today's tales about a piece of property
that barely missed Walmart's wrecking ball and how some of the world's
earliest skiing enthusiasts. I am focusing on a piece of land that was
sold in 2005 to Roger Thompson of the Walmart real estate corporation. His
intention was to develop a low-end department store combined with a grocery
store. This new sparked community outrage over fears that the store would eclipse
Main Street businesses damaged historical property and destroy the
city's small-town quality of life. That April town hall meetings were a roar
with accusations preservation concerns and conflicts of interest they pointed
to the fact that the city voters had already voted in 1988 to not allow the
Town Council to build the city funded infrastructure this infrastructure was
designed to entice Walmart into opening a store in Woodland Park the difference
between 1988 and 2005 is teller County's population nearly doubled in those 17
years with so much growth Walmart no longer needed incentives to be
interested in opening up shop. Arguably Walmart did not wreak all of the havoc
that people feared but the list of businesses that closed opened and closed
again since Walmart opened is too large to keep up with.
It's a safe bet to say that the small business market in Woodland Park became
more volatile. But as a whole the town seems better off with a Walmart and its
tax revenue the Town Hall discussions concerning Wal Mart was where we first
learned of the land's historic significance. In response to these and many
other concerns Walmart assured the people of Woodland Park that they would
preserve historic buildings, set aside 37% of the land for open space, pave the
Cristola trail and create a bronze sculpture of a local hero as soon as the
development was approved by the City Council the land and project was
transferred to private developers and no one heard from Roger Thompson again.
These private developers only followed through with two of Rogers promises or
Walmart's promises they preserved the historic buildings on the land and paved
less than a mile of the Cristola trail. The buildings that were spared served
many uses during their time the most obvious is that they were used as some
sort of ranch likely during the 1800s. What's not so obvious is they were once
the hub of southern Colorado skiing and was the home to the first Ski Club west
of the Mississippi River the silver spruce Ski Club was one of three ski
areas developed by Don Lawrie and the buildings that remain were once used as
a warming house for Don's crew. Don was a pioneer of the sport of skiing and
eventually became the president of the silver spruce Ski Club. Don developed ski
areas with the help of volunteers and he funded this with the little donations
they could put together. This was demanding physical labor that was done
in the heat of summer. Lawrie was quoted in the book "Lost Ski Areas of Colorado"
saying, "back then the Ski Club built all the areas with donations and with
volunteer labor we never had any money and we had to improvise and make do. We
worked hard and we ski hard and we had a wonderful time" At this time skiing was
considered somewhat barbaric and was not widely accepted in the United States.
Nonetheless, Don encouraged people to try the sport and coach people to enter
tournaments around Colorado in addition to being a mentor of new skiers he also
participated as a competitor in cross and jumping events some of these events
were said to have drawn up to 800 people. the competition's evolved into a great
fundraising opportunity for many of the local ski clubs. In 1929 Don implemented
a plan to reduce the ski club membership fees in order to make skiing available
to more people. Also at this time he merged his club with the US Western
amateur ski Association. This incorporation literally brought bus
loads of people who were interested in skiing to the Ed lo course in Woodland
Park. By 1936 Don's incorporation of local ski clubs had grown out of its
cross-country skiing routes and evolved into a club that was more focused on
downhill and slalom skiing. The new focus of the club and a larger group brought
with it a new name, "The Pikes Peak Ski Club". That same year he adapted an old
whippet automobile engine into a mechanical tow rope to help people up
the hills this made it so that people could get up the hills without buses or
hiking. More interestingly, it was the first of its kind tow rope that was
widely mimicked in the western United States
In 1948 Don had become the Pikes Peak highway administrator. He decided to find
new ski areas that would be less windy and have more shade with his army weasel
he scouted the north-facing slope on Pikes Peak this slope would later become
known as Elk Park winter sports area but it was better known as the Pikes Peak
Ski Area. The ski run was originally cleared by the highway road crew but
only when they could take time away from their normal responsibilities. It was
eventually completed by the help of volunteers from the local military base
Fort Carson and students from Colorado College. These hearty volunteers spent
most summer weekends working on their ski runs by night they would sleep under
the stars with just a sleeping bag. Similar to the Woodland Park ski run a
warming house was used however in this instance it was an old CCC building that
was moved to the base of the new ski run. in 1954 skiing was finally authorized at
Elk Park. Don had created a fun and affordable ski destination.
All people needed was, skis, $1 toll for the highway, and an additional fee to use
the tow rope. People flocked from the nearby cities to enjoy an affordable
afternoon skiing. Don then went on to be influential in the formation of the
nonprofit Pikes Peak Ski corporation. This charity was used to finance
improvements to the ski areas for many years to come.
In fact Don served on the board of directors of this organization up until
the mid 60s. Pikes Peak became the major ski area for Colorado Springs for many
years. The ski area was very small compared to runs in places like veil or
Keystone Colorado. In the early 1980s they added a $700,000 triple chair made
by Poma USA. Poma provided new terrain above the Timberline or above the trees
but snow is really hard to come by in this area of Colorado the trails were
often windblown and packed after the lift was put in the ski area had a
terrible season with very little turnout subsequently it was not able to pay its
taxes or pay Poma USA for their newly installed chairlift. Skiing on Pikes Peak
or America's Mountain continued until the mid-1980s. By this time the operation
had become increasingly expensive to maintain. This is because all the snow is
man-made or shipped down from higher elevations. The city of Colorado Springs
purchased the property for a brief period but it was promptly determined to
be too expensive and was sold again to Vail Resorts. The lack of snow and
increased cost made it a bad investment Vail Resorts took the opportunity to
close the ski area after the 1984 season. Not only did they close down their
competition but they also closed the chapter of US history about skiing in
southern Colorado. That was an iconic Park to have closed however the heyday
of Pikes Peak organized skiing took place in Glen Cove and Woodland Park
these were the sites that Don and his friends chose before Elk Park grew into
a skiing destination. Heck it was before Colorado was considered a ski
destination. Mr. Lawrie's grand ideas never wavered and he was fortunate to
have seen many of them become a reality. Don died in 2000 and was long retired by
then. But it was his dreams and ambitions that
helped to create the ski scene in Colorado and the Western United States. He
brought the skiing industry to life before boomed at higher elevations and
well-known towns like Aspen, Vail, or Telluride. Don's grandson Don Sanborn was
quoted in the Colorado Springs Gazette in regards to his grandfather saying
"Even in his 90s he still harbored a dream of starting a ski area like at
some Hill behind Walmart in Woodland Park. We told him, 'you need to see what
ski areas are really like now'". While Don was likely well aware of what a modern
ski resort had become. He longed for a more simple and pure vision of his sport
and to some degree we can all understand that. To Don this wasn't an unreasonable
idea especially when you consider that behind this Walmart was where he helped
to make one of the first ski runs in Colorado. This is why I propose that the
Woodland Park Walmart follow through with its promise to build a bronze
statue. By erecting a statue of Don Lawrie and the Silver Spring Ski Club
you