Kevin Kidney

Walt Disney's "Sky Crown" Logo
Originally uploaded by Miehana

In the early 1960s Walt Disney famously proposed building a commercial ski resort in the Mineral King Valley near California's High Sierra. The ambitious plans called for the construction of 14 ski lifts, serving an expected 2 million visitors annually by 1973.

Protests by a coalition of preservationists, led by the Sierra Club and the National Park Service, stopped the ski resort from being built, and in 1978 an act of Congress annexed the Mineral King Valley into Sequoia National Park. Happily, the area remains remote and wild today.

Not much is known about Disney's specific plans for the project, but several terrific logo concepts for "Sky Crown" Resort were sold to the public by Disney Auctions in 2006.

This small-ish art piece, in paint and colored pencil, depicts a sunny snowflake icon extolling year-round vacation opportunities in all kinds of weather. The graphic is by an unknown artist.

There is currently a webcam set up in Mineral King, if you'd like to "visit" and see how the area appears right now! www.mk-webcam.net