25-50-100 years ago

The newspaper reported throughout the week that locals miners (see photo) were coming down from the hills to enjoy a turkey feast in town. George Hall and John Tinn came to the city last evening from the Montezuma mill to remain over Thanksgiving visiting friends.Phil Palmer, George Pond and Levi Heavener came down from the Montezuma mill last evening to spend Thanksgiving with their families.T.J. Flynn, Sr., came down from the Topliff mine in Richmond hill yesterday to remain over Thanksgiving with his family. Bert Hammel, time-keeper for the Montezuma mine at Ashcroft, arrived in town yesterday to remain over Thanksgiving with friends. The Turkey Roll at the Elks Club has been a tradition in Aspen for more than a 100 years. Now we play Bingo for a turkey prize, but not much else has changed from this newspaper report of 1907. K-E-N-O! That was the magic word at the Elks Club last night. The always popular game of Keno was the order of he evening, and for several hours the tables fairly swarmed with the antlered head and shout of merriment were heard from all sides. Over 50 fine turkeys of all sizes and weight were distributed as a result of the various card games and with the ever popular dice box.Promptly at 8 oclock Billy Brown, master of ceremonies, started the game going and in stentorian tones announced the numbers as they dropped out of bottle or gooseneck and soon the fascinating sport was in full swing. After a number of games had been played, a short recess was taken during which an appetizing lunch was served, interspersed with several pleasing musical numbers rendered by the Elks famous string band, composed of Professor Harrington, violin; W.C. Tagert, banjo; T.J. Flynn, Jr., mandolin; and W.H. Morgan, guitar. During the recess the monster turkey was raffled off. It was the finest specimen of the bird ever seen here, weighing 20 pounds dressed. Microfilm of The Aspen Times 1904-1909 is missing from the Colorado Historical Societys archives. These 1907 excerpts are from The Aspen Democrat.

Aspens brand-new ski area captured a star, The Aspen Times announced.One of the worlds top skiers, three-time world champ Stein Eriksen [see photo], has contracted to direct the ski school when it opens next year at Aspen Highlands, it was announced yesterday by Whip Jones, promoter of the new area.Presently director of the Heavenly Valley Ski School, Bijou, Calif., and the school at Portillo, Chile, Eriksen is expected to move to Aspen in June 1958 and assume his duties with the new school next November. During his Aspen visit, which he made with his wife, the former Mrs. Merill Ford, Eriksen also purchased the Second and Hopkins Street house belonging to Jones and his wife, Penny.A member of the Norwegian National Ski Team, Eriksen won a gold medal for giant slalom in the 1952 Olympic Winter Games in Norway and earned a first in the slalom, the giant slalom and the combined in the 1954 FIS World Championships in Sweden.Still largely in the planning stage, Aspen Highlands will ultimately offer skiers one of the longest single lifts in the country. It will have a 3,100-foot vertical rise and be 12,000 feet in length.

There was plenty of snow, but would there be plenty of business in winter 1982? asked reporter Mick Ireland. The best opening day conditions in many years provided a silver lining for the cloudy economic outlook that has many employers and employees wondering if prosperity will accompany the return of snow to Aspen this winter. Aspen Mountain had 22 inches of snow on top and at Midway and all lifts were running. About 65 percent of the terrain was open with most of the steeper runs awaiting more snow.Snowmass had 38 inches on top of the Big Burn and reported lifts 1, 2, 3 and 4 were open, servicing about 35 percent of the terrain. Aspen Highlands was open from top to bottom with 36 inches of snow on Loges Peak and 24 inches at Midway. Lifts 1 through 4 were open, servicing about 70 percent of the terrain. Though Snowmass Village was reporting an increase in reservations over last season, the economic picture was uncertain in Aspen as most observers felt that prospective visitors appeared to be holding onto their money waiting for a figurative break in the rough economic weather that has pushed unemployment to a national post-depression high of 10.4 percent. A lecturer seemed clairvoyant in his predictions about the earths climate. The Aspen Times wrote, Fifty years from now the worlds climate will have warmed enough because of the increase in the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that dramatic changes in world agriculture and growth patterns will occur. Once lush garden spots will become semi-arid while tundra in other area may be in line for tilling. This is one of the pictures of life in the 21st century presented at a seminar at the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies last weekend by Dr. Walter Orr Roberts, astronomer, climatologist, world food supply expert and director emeritus of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. By the year 2030 he said the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere will have doubled over what it was in 1860 as a result of the industrial revolution and the continuing increase in the use of fossil fuels.This warming of the atmosphere by even a few degrees (an average of 5 degrees F) will lengthen the growing season in parts of the northern hemisphere but will also cause changes in rain and drought patterns. There is virtually no possibility of worldwide action to prevent the rise in carbon dioxide, according to Roberts, since there will be increasing use of coal in coming years as oil and gas supplies decline. Roberts considers the approaching change one of the most profound short-term changes in the history of the world and the first climatological change which is the direct result of human activity. However, short of nuclear war, he does not foresee conditions or climatic changes which would make life on earth impossible. compiled by Sara Garton