History

After the mining boom of the 1800’s, those who remained in the Ketchum area turned to ranching, a more stable means of making a living. Sheep largely replaced ore as the major freight shipped from the Wood River Valley. Even with the advent of automobiles and highways, life remained simple. 

Then, after the Great Depression, W. Averell Harriman, Chief Executive of the Union Pacific Railroad, began searching for a way to build rail passenger traffic to the West. Meanwhile, Alpine skiing had gained momentum after the Lake Placid Olympic games of 1932, so Harriman commissioned Count Felix Schaffgotsch, to scour the Rocky Mountains for the perfect site for the ultimate ski resort.

In 1936 he happened upon the mining town of Ketchum. To Mr. Harriman he wrote, “It contains more delightful features for a winter sports center than any other place I have seen in the United States, Switzerland or Austria.”  In a mere 7 months and at a cost of $1.5 million, a four-story lodge was constructed on the former Brass Ranch, along with ski runs created on nearby Dollar and Proctor Mountains.  The present location of the Sun Valley Resort’s primary ski runs on Bald Mountain was not part of the original plan, as it was beyond the ski technology of the 1930s.

Public relations whiz Steve Hannagan, who had transformed a sand dune into Miami Beach, was hired to handle the resort’s marketing efforts.  It was he who named the lodge and its facilities “Sun Valley,” and who encouraged movie stars such as Errol Flynn and Clarke Gable to visit.  By the second winter, the chalet-style Sun Valley Inn was completed and other celebrities like Ernest Hemingway came to play at the elegant new winter resort. 

Mr. Harriman, deciding his clientele should be brought up the mountain in greater comfort and style, came up with the idea of a “chair lift”. He instructed Union Pacific engineer James Curran  to invent one.  Curan had spent time in the tropics designing technology for hoisting bananas onto ships, and with some modification the chair lift was born.  The world’s first child-sized cross-country tracks, and the world’s first ski school, were Sun Valley innovations.

The Village of Sun Valley was incorporated April 13, 1947.  The first Sun Valley City Council was composed of Ed Seagle, Lodge Manager Win McCrea, attorney Phez Taylor and Mayor Win Gray, who would serve in that office for 22 years. Idaho House Bill No. 3 of the 39th Session of the State Legislature, which took effect in April of 1967, provided that all villages incorporated under the general laws of the State and operating with a Board of Trustees must commence to operate with a Mayor and Council.