Local Knowledge: Do You Know the History of Sun Valley?

Ask any local around town for a bit of advice (i.e. best après ski bar, restaurant or rental shop) and they’ll be more than happy to share everything they know and then some about whatever it is you’re looking for. But when it comes to something dating back to before they first started ski bumming here, only the weathered few may be able to help you.



Sun Valley has always been touted as the Alps of North America, the playground for the rich and famous. But what about before they installed one of the world’s first chairlifts on Proctor Mountain in 1936?

Before Sun Valley became a winter destination, an Austrian count named Felix Schaffgotsch, was hired by Averell Harriman to scout the US for a good place to build a winter resort. After a long search throughout the west, the town of Ketchum appealed to him because of the proximity of Baldy and the surrounding mountains to Ketchum, the adequate snow fall and generally sunny weather.

Harriman visited Ketchum several weeks later. Pleased with the location, he purchased a 3,888 parcel of land, then known as the Brass Ranch, for $4 per acre. Sun Valley Lodge was built in the next seven months and Steve Hannigan, a successful publicist from Miami Beach, was hired to name the new resort “Sun Valley.” The resort opened in December of 1936!