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Here are a couple of articles concerning the Jackson Hole Tram replacement dilemma.
Jackson Hole Fun facts:
Jerry Blann is the son of Cliff Blann (now deceased) Mt. Bachelor's First General Manager.
Jay Kemmerer is one of three siblings of the original Kemmerer Family.
$325 million in 1981 is about $900 million (give or take a few million) in today's dollars.
$900 million divided by 3 is $300 million.
Kemmerer mine produces less than 1% of Wyoming's coal.
Kemmerer, Wyoming is named after the Kemmerer family.
Please read lower links describing Jackson Holes' financial position.
I don’t know a thing about Pat Velton.
Boston Globe
March 16, 1981
Associated Press
Gulf Oil Corp. today announced plans to buy Kemmerer Coal Co. for $325 million in a deal that would boost Gulf's coal-production capacity by about 50 percent.
A definitive agreement between Gulf and Kemmerer's parent corporation, Kemmerer Corp., calls for Gulf and its wholly owned subsidiary, Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Co., to pay $325 million in cash for the privately held Kemmerer Coal.
Kemmerer is one of the largest and oldest coal producers in the West, having begun mining in southwestern Wyoming in 1897…
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This article ran in many Sunday papers-
Grande dame ski tram seeing last season at Jackson Hole
Denver Post
January 29, 2006
Author: Rich Tosches
Teton Village, Wyo.
This mountain community, which doesn't yet have a stand-alone Starbucks, is about to lose one of its most famous sources of heart- pounding energy.
For 40 years, the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort aerial tram has been hauling adrenaline-pumped skiers to the 10,450-foot summit of Rendezvous Mountain and setting them down at the gateway to some of the most difficult ski terrain in the world.
Since Lyndon Johnson was president, "the tram," as it is known, has been a mecca to the fearless, attracting ski and now snowboard experts from around the world for the ride of a lifetime.
And for the right to boast.
"You can't strip away the emotion," said resort spokeswoman Anna Olson, sitting in her office and gazing out at the first tower of the massive lift. "Jackson Hole and the tram is part of skiing heritage. Among the hard-core skiers, 'I've ridden the tram at Jackson' is big. It's bragging rights.
"No one asks if you've ridden the lift at Aspen Highlands."
Often, the asking is done in the bars and taverns that dot this land at the foot of the Grand Teton. Mugs of beer are held high as the brotherhood - and, to a lesser extent, the sisterhood - celebrates the conquest of rugged Rendezvous.
But later this year, the tram that launched a thousand sips will give her last ride.
"The tram is nearing the end of her natural life," said resort president Jerry Blann. "She's a child of the '60s that's been going 100 percent, summer and winter, and has earned a graceful retirement."
She is the longest continuous tram in North America, climbing a staggering 12,600 feet - more than 2 miles - including a gasp-for-air vertical rise of 4,139 feet.
Pat Velton has worshiped at the fire-engine red doors of her Austrian-made carriages for a couple of years now. He moved to Jackson to be close to the tram. He is heartbroken.
He is leaving.
"When she goes, I go," said Velton, 22, a ski instructor at the resort and a summer whitewater rafting guide. "I moved here because of the tram. No other reason. I'll be in Oregon next winter. If you're a skier in Jackson and there's no tram, there's no reason to be here."
The tram will bring its last skier or snowboarder to the summit this spring. It brings people to the top in the summer, too, hikers and bird-watchers and those who just want the ride. It will go silent for good in September.
But down below, at the resort office in Teton Village, you'll likely still be able to hear the financial whirring.
The resort is owned by Wyoming coal and banking tycoon Jay Kemmerer and his family. The resort says it wants to replace the tram, which would cost about $25 million. Kemmerer will kick in $5 million toward building a replacement tram from the base to the top along the same route. The rest, the resort says, must come from other sources, from local, state or federal grants or low-interest loans from government pockets.
"The dilemma we have here is that we have all kinds of needs already," said resort president Blann. "You add $25 million to that and it doesn't work."
A study commissioned by the resort said the loss of the tram would mean a loss of about 15 percent of the resort's ski traffic and income. The trickle-down, the study said, would mean an annual loss of $477,000 in sales-tax revenue for the town of Jackson and Teton County and a yearly loss of $418,000 to the state.
Thanks to the energy boom, Wyoming currently has a surplus of $1.6 billion. In February, lawmakers begin deciding how to spend it. But so far, lawmakers have reacted to the idea of subsidizing a ski resort the way most people react when they're about to ski into a tree.
During a December visit to Jackson, Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal told residents and reporters: "I'm not sure it's a governmental function. And if it is, I'm not sure it's a state priority."
Even the locals' hope, state Rep. Pete Jorgensen, D-Jackson, has balked.
"In my mind," he told the Jackson Hole News & Guide, "it would have to stack up against social needs."
The Casper Star-Tribune, which doesn't have to worry about re-election, put it more bluntly in an editorial, taking to task the stunning wealth in Jackson:
"Perhaps it's time to pass the hat around the Jackson Town Square, or at least put out a collection jar at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar. If the state has to pony up to build Jackson a tram, at least give every Wyoming resident a free pass. If we're all being taken for a ride, we shouldn't have to pay for it twice."
Short of hiking, snowshoeing or skinning on your telemark skis, there's no other wintertime access to the top of Rendezvous Peak. The resort said backup plans include a two-person T-bar from an adjoining run or building a short gondola run to the top from the existing Bridger Gondola. The resort estimates either would cost about $15 million.
"It's just stunning up there," said Dann Byck of Ogden, Utah, a tram lover and skier who recently hammered his way down the Rendezvous Bowl and the dreadfully steep Middle Hoback run. "It's steep and it's powder and it's like nowhere else. It's the reason a lot of us come here.
"Losing that tram, well, it would take a premier resort and make it just another mountain."
Financial history of area from areas viewpoint
http://www.jacksonho...nfo/pr.tram.asp
Tram Facts
http://www.jacksonho.../tram_facts.asp
Link to original Post story
http://www.denverpos...arch/ci_3448522
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