The Colorado Springs Gazette reminds us that the early days of the ski industry benefited from government stimulus.
Monarch, Winter Park and Wolf Creek ski areas all celebrate 70 years of skiing this winter and they all owe their start, in part, to an unexpected benefactor: government stimulus. It came in the form of the New Deal.
In 1939 — the year all three ski areas were born — the Great Depression had pushed the state’s biggest industries, agriculture and mining, into the dumps. The government was searching for ways to jump-start the anemic economy and give people work. Almost anything was on the table.
And so, when a growing number of ski fanatics suggested that, with a little help, they could turn the new sport into “white gold” that would attract millions in tourist dollars to Colorado, state leaders were eager to help.
Civilian Conservation Corps crews employed by Uncle Sam chopped trees to clear runs and hammered and nailed to build ski lodges. At Winter Park, the city of Denver purchased 100 acres for a “winter sports park” and acquired a permit from the U.S. Forest Service for more than 6,000 more.
Author Dave Philipps also includes a nice bit on the history of Monarch.
By 1939, enough locals wanted to ski that the town of Salida asked the Works Progress Administration to build a rope tow and shelter house. According to the Salida Daily Mail, the New Deal agency allocated $26,406 for the project. By the end of the year, a 6,000-square-foot log cabin sat at the base of a steep run called Gun Barrel (still in use today), where a rickety rope tow climbed 150 feet up a 30-percent slope.
There are so many examples of government programs that really amount to socialism have benefited Americans. And there are so many Americans who are absolutely sure that anything that smells remotely like socialism has to be pure evil. Go figger. There are countless WPA/CCC resources that are still valuable, more than 70 years later. The Interstate Highway System. Medicare. The GI Bill.
Not everything government does is bad.
True. And there are counter-examples like the farm bill which subsidizes corn and soybean production (and by extension, obesity) at the expense of carrots and cabbage. But I’d guess many railing against subsidies in the health care debate, for example, would be plenty pissed to see the price of beef go up if we had a system in which food was priced more honestly. Or home mortgages suddenly not be tax-deductable.
Claims of “socialism” are largely disingenuous, designed to end debate, not engage in it.