Written by Hayden Seder
The West is full of unique mountain towns, with storied histories, small-town charm, and retaining the kind of values that drew people to them in the first place. But few can compare to Sun Valley, which many argue is the “original” mountain town, and has been able to maintain so much of the original allure that made it such. A truly unique confluence of community, culture, and wilderness, Sun Valley is still the perfect mountain town that it was throughout its storied history, from its start as a mining town to becoming the country’s first ski resort.
Photo courtesy of The Community Library Center for Regional History
Mining History
Though the Sun Valley area has been populated for thousands of years, from when Indigenous members of the Shoshone, Bannock, and Lemhi tribes migrated to the area, the Sun Valley we know today began to take shape with the discovery of gold in the West in the 1870s. European settlers and prospectors began to settle in the area, searching for gold (and ultimately forcing out the tribes that had settled in the area). By the early 1880s, the discovery of silver, lead, and other minerals had led Sun Valley to become a booming mining town, complete with numerous saloons, restaurants, hotels, bordellos, and all manner of businesses to match the growing demand on the area. This mining history is still visible today, from the annual Wagon Days parade, which showcases the numerous ore wagons used during this time, to the many buildings that once housed these early mining town establishments (such as the Casino; the Lane Mercantile building, now Enoteca; the Greenhow & Rumsey Store, now Sun Valley Culinary Institute; and the Dynamite Shed, now TNT Taproom).
By 1893, the boom had ended and many of the small towns that had been built around smelters (like Muldoon, Galena, Broadford, Doniphan, and Boulder City) were abandoned, while the remaining towns in the area (Ketchum, Hailey, and Bellevue) were mainly occupied by sheepherders, the main source of economy for the Valley.
Ski History
Sun Valley could have gone the way of many small towns that were abandoned after the mining boom and simply sat either empty or sparsely populated. But everything changed, for both the area and the country, when Sun Valley was developed as the country’s first winter destination resort. Count Felix Schaffgosch arrived in Sun Valley in 1936, when Ketchum had only a year-round population of 100 people. Hired by the Union Pacific Chairman Averell Harriman to scout the West for the location of the first ski resort, the Count was enamored by the area, and within a year the Sun Valley Resort had been built and its doors opened to international publicity.
With skiing and ski resorts being more a European attraction at the time, Americans were not accustomed to the sport of skiing or using their winter holidays to go to ski resorts. To demonstrate to his target market how easy it would be to get onto the slopes to ski, Harriman instructed a Union Pacific engineer to design the first modern chairlift in the world.
With the resort open, local trails created, and this newly invented chairlift, visitors flocked to the area to see it for themselves, as did celebrities, initiating a lifelong legacy of famed people of all ilk visiting and living in the area. Some of the biggest visitors during Sun Valley’s meteoric rise to fame were Ernest Hemingway, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, and Marilyn Monroe.
Sun Valley Today
The Sun Valley of today differs in many ways from its heydays as both a mining town and when it was first developed as a ski resort: The population has expanded, areas that were once wild have made way for development, and many of the original buildings erected during its gold-mining era have been torn down or remodeled. But the ethos of the area has changed little, with the population expanding due to those who seek to live in this wild area, where accessing the outdoors takes but five minutes, lift lines are practically nonexistent, and friendly smiles abound. Over the years, this area known only for its outdoor recreation and world-class skiing has made a name for itself in first-class arts, culture, and dining. The pioneering spirit of the West’s original mountain town can be felt every day here, whether you’re visiting for a few days or spending a lifetime here.