Finding Aid of the Mineral King Development records 0037

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Finding Aid of the Mineral King Development records 0037

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Table of contents

Personal Papers

Box 1, Folder 1-5

Correspondence-- Originals 1965-1978

Scope and Content

This subseries consists of five folders of correspondence kept by Dr. and Mrs. Koch-- mainly with government officials, environmental grouups such as the National Wildlife Federation, and the press. Most of the letters are pleas to understand the plight of the Mineral King valley during the years in which Disney Productions was attempting to obtain the land to build a resort. There is much corrspondence between Mrs. Koch and the National Wildlife Federation concerning the latter's stance on the proposed Mineral King development.

Box 1, Folder 6-8

Correspondence--Photocopies 1965-1978

Scope and Content

This subseries is comprised of three folders of photocopies of letters from many individuals as well as corporate and government entities. Represented in this series are letters detailing the controversy over the development of Mineral King from the Sierra Club, Walt Disney Productions, the U.S. Senate, the Los Angeles Times, the U.S. Forest Service, etc.

Box 1, Folder 9

Memoranda 1965-1978

Box 1, Folder 10-11

Periodicals 1967-1977

Scope and Content

The two folders in this subseries contain magazines and articles from magazines regarding the Mineral King controversy. Complete magazines include the March 1972 issue of Harper's Magazine, the January 1967 issue of Western Ski Time, and two issues of The Sierra Club Bulletin (October 1973 and March 1974). Articles and photocopies of articles come from The Sierra Club Bulletin, Natural History Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, Ramparts, Reader's Digest, Defenders of Wildlife News, Econometrica, Desert, Harper's Magazine, and Journal of Forest History.

Box 1, Folder 12

Pamphlets and Guides 1963

Scope and Content

One folder comprises this subseries, with two slightly different copies of a leaflet called "Mineral King: The Place, the Issue, the Challenge" and two copies of a booklet called Mineral King Guide by Pat Adler. The two copies of the booklet are dated 1963 and 1975 (revised).

Box 1, Folder 13-14

Speeches, Transcripts & Editorials 1967-1973

Scope and Content

This subseries contains two folders of typed, handwritten, and photocopied speeches, transcripts, and various editorials from entities such as the Sierra Club, KABC TV, Jean Koch (for the Mineral King Task Force), The Mineral King District Association, Walt Disney Productions, and Congressman Jerome R. Waldie (supporting a march on Disneyland in 1973). There is also a letter/petition from a Fred M. Wilkins to Fred Eissler (Sierra Club director from 1963 to 1969) imploring him to do whatever he can "to stop this monstrous [Disney] project.

Box 1, Folder 15-16

Enviornmental Impact Statement-- Comments 1975-1976

Scope and Content

These two folders contain articles and comments regarding the March 1975 draft of an enviromental impact statement on the proposed Mineral King development. All comments are addressed to Douglas R. Leisz, Regional Forester [San Francisco] since it was the U.S. Forest Service which published the Draft Environmental Statement. There are several copies of the comments of Michael R. Asay, an economist at the University of Southern California, as well as letters from Claire T. Dedrick (Secretary for Resources under California governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr.), from Roger Gymer for the Environmental Information Council, Richard and Jean Koch, and several others. (The actual Draft Environmental Statement and the Final Environmental Statement are in Box 2.)

Box 1, Folder 17

Newspaper clippings 1969

Scope and Content

This small subseries includes two newspaper clippings mentioning Jean Koch--one of them unrelated to the Mineral King controversy-- and two photocopies of newspaper articles from the Visalia Times-Delta (1969 and 1975) regarding Mineral King, Silver City, and the Disney project.

Box 1, Folder 18-19

Summary and Background

Scope and Content

The first folder in this subseries contains what appears to be the typed draft of a book-length manuscript on Mineral King, though the author is not stated anywhere in the draft. The material provides useful background information on the cultural and physical history of Mineral King as well as details of the Disney project controversy and litigation.

The second folder contains flyers and other typed and printed information on Mineral King, including the controversy over the proposed Disney project. One eight-page manuscript--probably intended as a pamphlet-- is titled "Mineral King: National Game Refuge or Disney Wonderland?" and was authored by the Mineral King Task Force of the Sierra Club in 1970. Much of the information in many of the flyers and intended pamphlets appears to have come from Pat Adler's "Mineral King Guide." (The actual guide is in Folder 12.)

Bound volumes

Box 2

Mineral King: Final Environmental Statement 1976 February 26

Scope and Content

Approximately 600 pages in length, the Final Environmental Statement of the Mineral King Recreational Development was published in February 1976 by the United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Region 5, Sequoia National Forest. The first 285 pages contain the actual Statement, conclusion, and bibliography; the remainder is the appendices.

Box 2

Mineral King: Draft Environmental Statement 1974 December 30

Scope and Content

The Draft Environmental Statement Mineral King Recreation Development is a spiral-bound volume of approximately 300 pages published by the United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Region 5, Sequoia National Forest, on December 30, 1974. Comments on the draft are included in Folders 15 and 16.

Box 1, Folder 20

Mineral King Study Group 1973 July

Scope and Content

This bound volume is comprised of a series of reports and articles compiled by ten Environmental Studies students from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1973. In the Introduction to the volume, they are referred to as the Mineral King Study Group. This group, under the guidance of Penelope N. Campbell and Dr. Orrin Sage, conducted a six-month study to determine the optimum use of the Mineral King area by exploring the surrounding controversy. The manuscripts include a history of Mineral King and reports on geology, flora and fauna, population, recreational demand, and the government officials and agencies concerned with the development of Mineral King.

Box 1

Scrapbooks 1964-1976

Scope and Content

The scrapbooks are actually four 3-ring binders dating from April 1964 to approximately August 1976. All of them consist of newspaper clippings pasted onto notebook paper and pertain to the Mineral King development controversy and related issues.

Business Activities

Box 1, Folder 21

News Releases 1967-1977

Scope and Content

This folder consists of several news releases issued between 1967 and 1977 pertaining to the proposed development of Mineral King. The releases were issued from the United States Department of Agriculture, the Sierra Club, Congressman Jerome R. Waldie, and California Assemblyman Alan Sieroty.

Box 1, Folder 22

News and Newsletters 1965-1978

Scope and Content

There are a few newsletters of the Mineral King District Association in this folder; however, most of the newsletters are those of the Sierra Club's Mineral King Task Force.

Box 1, Folder 23

Publicity 1968-1973

Scope and Content

Much of the contents in this folder consists of flyers regarding a "March on Disneyland" in 1969, a screening of a documentary film on Mineral King in 1972, and a Mineral King "Hike-In" in 1968.

Government Activities

Box 1, Folder 24

Testimony 1976-1978

Scope and Content

This folder contains material pertaining to testimonies and depositions on the Mineral King controversy and includes information from the Subcommittee on National Parks and Insular Affairs, Sierra Club's Mineral King Task Force, the Desomount Club, Skiers to Keep Mineral King Natural, and various individuals commenting on a variety of bills and resolutions introduced between 1976 and 1978.

Box 1, Folder 25

Bills 1967-1977

Scope and Content

This folder contains the text of a number of bills introduced between 1967 and 1977 including the following:

H.R. 9629: To transfer the Sequoia National Game Refuge to Sequoia National Park (1967)

H.R. 16331, H.R. 3089, H.R. 5272, H.R. 5752, H.R. 6823, H.R. 6882: To enlarge the Sequoia National Park in the State of California (1972, 1973, 1975)

S. 3322, H.R. 13280, H.R. 4354: To enlarge the Sequoia National Park in the State of California by adding to such park the Mineral King Valley area, to provide for certain planning respecting the management of such addition, and for other purposes (1976, 1977)

Box 1, Folder 26

Government Publications 1964-1977

Scope and Content

Several of the items in this folder are publications of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including a booklet called Mineral King: A Planned Recreation Development (1969) and a sample "Prospectus for a proposed Recreational Development at Mineral King in the Sequoia National Forest" (1965).

Box 1, Folder 27

Miscellany 1967-1977

Scope and Content

This slim folder includes several miscellaneous items such as a California Highway Commission "Route Adoption Report" (1967), nine completed handwritten public surveys on Mineral King, a typed bibliography on Mineral King, a couple of maps that show where Mineral King is in Sequoia National Forest, a Walt Disney Productions "Notice of Annual Meeting of Stockholders" (1972), etc.

Collection Contents

Personal Papers

Correspondence-- Originals

Correspondence--Photocopies

Memoranda

Periodicals

Pamphlets and Guides

Speeches, Transcripts & Editorials

Enviornmental Impact Statement-- Comments

Newspaper clippings

Summary and Background

Bound volumes

Scrapbooks

Business Activities

News Releases

News and Newsletters

Publicity

Government Activities

Testimony

Bills

Government Publications

Miscellany