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At the beginning of the twentieth century, Lake Tahoe and the Donner Summit region became California’s first developed winter sports areas. Plentiful snowfall and newly built highways opened up the summer playground for visitors year-round, and skiing flourished. The Sierra Ski Club formed in 1925, attracting members eager to experience everything the mountains had to offer. People flocked to the slopes, visiting places like Clair Tappaan Lodge in Soda Springs, boasting one of the summit’s earliest ski tows, and the Yuba Gap Lodge, a pioneer in night skiing. Join Ingrid P. Wicken, award-winning author and ski historian, as she recounts the fascinating beginnings of this celebrated ski hub.

Native Americans used the healing waters of the Wagon Wheel Gap hot springs for thousands of years prior to American settlement. An area rich in geologic features enticed pre-treaty explorers. But it was the 1873 Brunot Treaty that brought mining interests and a silver boom to the San Juans. Modernization to a first-class resort followed. More than three thousand acres and six miles of world-class fishing attracted illustrious guests such as Walt Disney, John Wayne and Dwight Eisenhower. Follow the history of this century-old ranch, including its various owners, from its infancy through to the establishment of the surrounding exclusive community. The 4UR Ranch has been in the Leavell family for more than forty years. Now with the fourth generation contributing, the Leavells hope to be welcoming guests for many years to come and continue their stewardship of this extraordinary valley.

Nestled in the magnificent San Bernardino Range, Southern California's premier mountain resort, Lake Arrowhead, annually plays host to four million visitors. Winter sports enthusiasts, as well as hikers and city folks seeking summer relief, enjoy the alpine atmosphere. Completed in the 1920s, Lake Arrowhead Village was constructed on precipitous lands once trod by Paiute and Serrano tribes and left vacant by a failed 1890s irrigation project. The picturesque community drew Hollywood's cameras, as well as its leisure-seeking stars. When the lake's dam was declared unsafe following a 1971 earthquake, residents rallied to fund the downstream Papoose Lake, preserving the historic reservoir. Author Rhea-Frances Tetley recollects the people and events that made Lake Arrowhead a premier high-country resort.

Lured by the promise of land and opportunity, miners, cowhands, laborers, settlers and fortune-seekers poured into Colorado during the mid-to-late 19th Century and into the 20th. To accommodate the population boom, industrious Coloradoans built scores of hotels some elaborate, some modest, all a touchstone to this critical era in Centennial State history. Join Alexandra Walker Clark on this tour through Colorado's historic hotels. Discover how the Oxford and Brown Palace Hotels have managed to maintain their elegance, while others such as the Timberline Hotel of Holy Cross City and the California Hotel of Independence have vanished. With timeless recipes from hotel kitchens, learn how hotels have adapted to eras like the Native American desertion and the Roaring Twenties.