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Ski area gets its start

Steamboat Springs — Ground breaking ceremonies were held Sunday as development on the vast Storm Mountain ski area got its start.

Officials of Storm Mountain, town and civic officials and others interested in the building of the ski area attended as the first dirt was moved in what is expected eventually to be the top ski area in the nation.

The first project calls for trail and area improvement only but it is expected to be the forerunner of building that will cost up to $3 million when completed and give a vast array of runs, lifts and other facilities.

After two years of preparatory work by Storm Mountain president James Temple, the groundbreaking ceremony and the start of preliminary construction work signifies a definite beginning toward the realization of a dream of several enthusiastic young men.

If enough further financing is forthcoming these next two months, there is good chance that a modern double chair lift, rising 1,100 vertical and 4,000 linear feet from the base of Storm Mountain, will be installed this winter.

In any event, a contract has been let to Nash Construction company of Denver to go ahead with the clearing of 40 to 50 acres of land, creating several excellent runs a mile long, rivaling any in Colorado.

The beauty of this venture is that it is just a beginning. The first stretch, although great, only plucks at the vast potential of Storm Mountain as a ski area. It is less than one-third up the side, and it would take three more double chair lifts to reach the top.

Add to this the tremendous variety of runs for beginners, intermediate and expert skiers, the average annual snowfall of more than 200 inches, the relatively low elevation (8,500 feet at the top) and the fine accommodations offered by Steamboat Springs, and the possibilities for the greatest ski area in the nation stagger the imagination.

The men who comprise Storm Mountain read like the pages of an Olympic ski report, with Buddy Werner, the greatest downhill skier ever to come from the United States and rated by many to be one of the top five skiers in the world, serving as the director of mountain development.

Tempermental birds: Turkeys pampered

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Alumbaugh, owners of Chuck's Poultry Farm in Milner, are busy raising some 9,000 nine-week-old turkeys, which will be plump and tender on many a dinner table come Thanksgiving.

The turkeys are a fine stock of broad-breasted bronze and midget bronze, which are, at present, oblivious of their upcoming fate a few months hence.

The Alumbaughs have all the facilities, from scientifically raising and feeding the bird to dressing them out and vacuum-packing them for the refrigerator.

Eight large bins, capable of holding six to eight tons of feed, are located on the Alumbaugh farm. A chute pours feed into a conveyor which is pulled by a tractor to the rangeland nearby where the turkeys are now fed.

Feed consists of half vitamin-packed pellets and half oats. A little later the birds continue to be nurtured as half corn is substituted for the oats. The big turkeys make a big feast, often dressing out at 30 pounds. Midget turkeys are just right for the small apartment cook, weighing in at 10 pounds.

Turkeys are temperamental creatures, especially in their younger days. Unlike the chicken, they insist on an even temperature in their sheds.

"We have to keep the temperature thermostatically controlled," Mrs. Alumsbaugh said. "If it varies they bunch up and can suffocate."

The Alumbaugh's son Larry sleeps in a cabin at the rangeland in order to keep his ears tuned in to the many troubles of the young turkeys.

And troubles they have, as young Larry was quick to point out. The most recent incident was the decision of a great mass of the gobblers to try to ford the Yampa River. At least 100 of them failed to make it, and unfortunately this bunch is not destined to grace tables come November.