Other people wanted “to keep it that way” too. But to them it meant no development at all.

A wire service article quoted Walt Disney: “When I first saw Mineral King five years ago, I thought it was one of the most beautiful spots I had ever seen and we want to keep it that way.” To Walt Disney, that meant a self-contained “Alpine Village” designed to preserve the natural beauty of the valley.

It was December of 1965. The U.S. Forest Service awarded the right to develop the Mineral King area of Sequoia National Forest in California to Walt Disney Productions.

And now Walt Disney would also build a $35 million year-round resort in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. According to the article, “The Disney firm in its winning bid estimated that the new facility, 227 miles northeast of Los Angeles, would attract 2.5 million visitors annually—800,000 of them from out of state—by 1976, the first full year of operation.”

Just a month earlier, Walt Disney announced that his company had purchased more than 27 thousand acres south of Orlando, Florida. According to initial reports, it would be a $70 million project, dubbed “Disneyland East” by the press, and include a “City of Yesterday” and a “City of Tomorrow.”

“U.S. Chooses Disney to Develop Sequoia Resort.” The news was on page 11 of the Los Angeles Times on December 18, 1965. According to the article, the U.S. Forest Service awarded a preliminary permit to Walt Disney Productions giving the company three years to complete a satisfactory plan. The next step would be a permanent 30-year permit.

With 2,500 permanent jobs at stake, the state would certainly go ahead with the highway, right?

In 1948, the Sierra Club had backed a plan for a ski resort at Mineral King, but the inadequate road killed the project. In 1958, recognizing that Mineral King had possibly the greatest potential for winter sports anywhere in the Sierra Nevada mountains, Tulare County asked the State of California to put in an all-weather road. There was finally progress in 1965 when the state legislature transferred the county road into the state highway system in anticipation of a new road.

There was already a road, but it was narrow, partially paved, treacherous, and only usable in months free from snowfall—not what you want for a ski resort.

The 30-year permit was contingent on an all-weather, 25-mile highway. The route would go through Sequoia National Park. Mineral King was in Sequoia National Forest, under the jurisdiction of the U.S Department of Agriculture. But it was surrounded on three sides by Sequoia National Park, under the jurisdiction of the U.S Department of the Interior.

There just was the pesky matter of access into the Mineral King basin.