Longtime Steamboat local Jay Fetcher has shared a piece of history. It’s a letter his mom wrote to her father, in 1949. Her name was Clarissa “Criss” Wells Fetcher. She was born in Plainfield, NJ, in 1914. She was venturing on with her husband, John, to find a Colorado ranch. They looked at Gunnison but then realized that the perfect place was Steamboat.
“There is so much tell thee about it I don’t know where to begin. It is beautiful country. The ranch lies in a wide valley with green rolling hills on each side. The Elk River goes down the valley and it is the eastern border of the ranch.”
The ranch they found was about 700 acres at Clark and 1,400 acres at Hahns Peak. Jay Fetcher writes, “those amounts changed with Steamboat Lake went in.” They bought the ranch from the president of Vanity Fair.
“I’m writing this letter in the sherif’s office. We met him yesterday evening, and he’s letting me use his typewriter. I mustn’t tell any one because it belongs to the county.”
John Fetcher went on to be one of the founders of Steamboat ski area.
Jay Fetcher shares this letter with us as it is a piece of Steamboat and Routt County history.
UPDATED April 24, 2022
From Jay Fetcher: “I thought you would enjoy this from 1962-63 ski season. The Christie lift opened on January 12 at 25 below zero.”
This is the ledger from Steamboat Resort from the 1962-1963 season. Comments include powder days and one skier who broke their ankle on March 23. The total made during the year was $3,315.45.
