Sun Valley, Idaho, a beautiful resort

in #blog5 years ago

In the 1930s Averell Harriman, later the Governor of New York and the US Ambassador to Moscow, was the chairman of the Union Pacific Railroad. He knew that skiing was a very popular sport in Europe and that there was not a single ski resort in the US. So, he decided to build a skiing and year round resort in the United States. He hired an Austrian Count to do a location search along the tracks of the Union Pacific.

The Count spent months searching the mountains of the west and surveying many areas that would later become famous resorts, but none of them met his strict criteria.

Feeling defeated and ready to abandon the search, the Count was preparing to wire Harriman the bad news when he heard locals talking about Ketchum, an old mining town in central Idaho. The Count postponed his return home and set out for the Ketchum area.


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Upon reaching the Ketchum valley, Count Felix Schaffgotsch was overwhelmed by the area and wired his employer, saying: “This combines more delightful features than any place I have ever seen in Switzerland, Austria or the U.S. for a winter resort. I’ve found it. Come see for yourself!”

He found the Brass Ranch. It was 3,881acres and could be bought for just over $10 an acre.

Harriman got on one of his trains and came to the town of Ketcham and was immediately seduced by the natural beauty of the place and by the terrain. The Brass Ranch was hilly and contains one very high peak, Bald Mountain. He bought the ranch in a matter of days. Just six months later a resort lodge was constructed for a cost of $1,500,000. Today that amount will perhaps by a small lot in Sun Valley.

When they opened the ski resort they soon discovered they needed a lift for the clientele to mount up to Baldy. So, Harriman commissioned one to be built. It was a version of a loader from ships to bring bananas on board.

Now that the resort was built Harriman needed clientele, so he hired Steve Hannigan to publicize the resort. Hannigan was famous for the publicity he had gotten for Miami Beach. Hannigan named the resort Sun Valley because there always seems to be a sunny day there.

Harriman was ready to promote Sun Valley as America’s first year round resort. The resort soon became very popular and Harriman soon promoted a number of Hollywood films to be shot in Sun Valley. The first was “Sun Valley Serenade” with John Payne and Sonia Henie. Although the film was made mostly on Hollywood sound stages and Payne and Henie never came to Sun Valley, it did a lot to publicize the new resort.

The skiing scenes were filmed at Sun Valley and Austrian ski instructor, Hans Hauser was John Payne’s double and Gretchen Kunigt, an Olympic medalist, skiing for Heine. “Sun Valley Serenade” is shown every afternoon at the Sun Valley Opera House and on the TV screens in every room. You can choose it from a list of selections.

The resort closed for much of World War Two but was reopened in 1943 to serve as a Naval Hospital and recuperation center for sailors from the Pacific Theatre. Open gambling was allowed in Ketcham in those days but because Sailors were often losing their entire month’s salary, the town council voted to close it down.

Bald Mountain, 3,400 vertical feet was developed in 1939. Today, Baldy, as the mountain was beginning to be called, stands with skiers traveling down the River run side with only a truck to bring skiers back to the top. Picabo Street trained on Baldy before winning the World Cup.

Today the resort maintains its high standard of service and wonderful food and amenities. In the 1930s Sun Valley was made famous by movie stars and famous writers. Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Erroll Flynn, Ann Southern, Bing Crosby and others became regulars at the resort and the journalists and their stories and photos soon followed. Today it is a home away from home to Arnold Schwarzenneger, Tom Hanks, and Steve Miller. They all have part time residences there. Sun Valley remains a magnificent resort and a beautiful place to be.


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