Law Commons^™

National Forest Land Exchanges And The Growth Of Vail And Other Gateway Communities, John W. Ragsdale Jr

Faculty Works

In December of 1962, Vail opened as a ski area. The lodges, houses, condominiums, shops, and restaurants at its base became the nucleus of the emergent town of Vail and the prototype of the modern recreational gateway community. The term "gateway community" did not originate in Vail. It had, in fact, been employed throughout much of the twentieth century to describe a far more modest species of back country development. The small outposts on the periphery of the great national parks had for decades provided services and supplies to the seasonal tourists streaming into the parks. These were places passed …