The Story Keeper #1 : The Aspen Invitation

CONTAINER CORPORATION OF AMERICA
CHICAGO 3, ILLINOIS

December 2, 1947

OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

Mr. Stuart Mace
Toklat Husky Kennels
Morningside Park
Boulder, Colorado

Dear Mr. Mace;
I am writing you this letter in duplicate, sending one copy to your Boulder address and one in care of Mr. Walter Haug, Four Seasons Club, Aspen, so that if you have left Boulder before this letter arrives, Mr. Haug will give it to you in Aspen. I am also sending Mr. Haug a copy for his information.

Frankly I am very hopeful that you and Mrs. Mace will find that the Four Seasons Cottage will in some way be habitable for you and your family and that you will decide to come up there as early as possible for the winter season. We have followed a strict policy in the development of Aspen to encourage only those whom we consider tops in their line. Of course a lot of people drift in without our doing anything about it, but where we can exercise some control, cooperation, or encouragement, we have tried to select individuals who are leaders in their field. For example, Mr. Herbert Bayer is one of the greatest industrial designers and artists in the world today, and we were able to sell him the idea of moving away from New York, going to Aspen, living there, and helping us do all those things which are in the field of color, printing, +design, typography etc. Just recently, Mr. Louis Neilsen, who is one of the best men in the country on French and Danish pastries, has left Brooklyn, New York, and taken over the Epicure Shop, where he is going to make available unusually high quality pastries and also furnish on a wholesale basis some of this for the Four Seasons Club and the Hotel Jerome. In the matter of chefs, we sent all the way to Switzerland to obtain two first class men who have now been with us a year and who have already won us and themselves an enviable reputation as to the quality of food; in that case it took us six months of tough work with the Immigration authorities, visa and passport people to get to come, but it was worth while. Of course in Friedl Pfeifer and Fred Iselin we have two of the greatest ski instructors in the world in Aspen. The new manager of our ski lift and ski patrol is Dick Durrance, the world famous Olympic racer, who is one of the top figures in the sport and is internationally known and respected. From what little I have heard about and see on you, it is my intuitive feeling that you are tops in your field, and no doubt the quality of your Huskies, your training of them, and their skill are first class. If we continue to have enough first-raters in all the various activities around Aspen, then there is no question in my mind but what Aspen itself and everybody who lives and works there will have a bright future, even though all starts are necessarily slow, and Aspen will have a world reputation, rather than being a nice local spot with good scenery.

In thinking about it some more, I believe that in fairness to you a top should be set to a monthly rental; in other words if you were to pay the Four Seasons Club 10% of your gross receipts from sled passengers and admissions for showings, it should never be more than $50 a month in any month during this winter season. Also, if you sold any dogs there would be no 10% charge on such sales prices. Therefore, if you should manage to have a $700 income a month, the 10% would ordinarily be $70, but we would put a top limit of $50 on it; if, on the other hand, your income turned out to be $150 for a poor month, then your 10% would simply be the $15.

I also believe we could do a very fair amount of publicity for you by making press releases and running stories in various newspapers, magazines, and particularly in the Aspen Leaf; (incidentally, I am enclosing a copy of the summer folder, the winter folder, and of the Aspen Leaf just referred to). We could no doubt have some of the local photographers, some of whom are really experts in their line, take some pictures of your dog teams, yourself, and your passengers and give that some publicity, and should anything be worked out for the next summer season and for the winter of 1948-49 winter season, we could see that pictures and publicity would be included in our brochures and pamphlets.

I also want to confirm that statement made that the Four Seasons Club will be glad to furnish you with such window glass and miscellaneous small and relatively inexpensive materials as you might need to fix up the cottage, so your only investment would be your time and efforts. The Four Seasons would of course gain in having a partially fixed-up house, and you in turn would be relieved of the expenditures for materials. You can talk over with Mr. Haug whether he could afford to furnish any very, very simple plumbing equipment or whether when the Four Seasons Club is not too busy you could use some of those facilities. Also, I imagine that Mr. Haug would be willing to relay orders that would come into the Four Season Club by telephone to you. You should talk to him about the practicability of taking people back and forth from the hotel to the Four Seasons by dog-sled team, how long it would take, how much it would cost, etc.

I have little question in my mind but what toward the end of April or May 1st when Mr. Haug may want to have possession of the house to make some larger improvements, that we could find somewhere, somehow, some place for you in the general Aspen territory. Mr. Ted Ryan, owner of the Highland Bavarian Lodge is coming to our apartment for a drink this evening, and he might even be willing to lease during the summer, when he isn’t using it, a little cottage next to the Highland Bavarian Lodge. I don’t know whether this is a possibility, but it might be, and I will sound him out; otherwise we might conceivably do something in connection with the Erickson Ranch, although we have had some other plans in mind for it.

With best regards to Mrs. Mace and yourself, I am
            Sincerely,
            Walter P. Paepcke

WPP/lk

Cc Mr. Stuart Mace
     c/o Mr. Walter Haug
     The Four Seasons Club
     Aspen, Colorado
     Mr. Walter Haug
     The Four Seasons Club
     Aspen, Colorado

Dictated but not read.

Next Week: How was it that Walter Paepcke even knew about my parents and their huskies?