By Riley Bradshaw, Wood River Museum Intern
F 00404), Jeanne Rodger Lane Center for Regional History.
As summer slowly draws to a close Wagon Days Parade and Celebration quickly approaches. Held annually during Labor Day weekend, since 1958, thousands have gathered in the Ketchum and Sun Valley area to witness the infamous Big Hitch in the Wagon Days Parade.
The parade is a non-motorized spectacle, which celebrates the valley’s rich mining past. It pays homage to the many communities that shaped the Wood River Valley. Most notably is the parade’s grand finale, known as the Big Hitch. It is the caravan of six very tall ore wagons pulled by mules. Built for narrow rough mountain roads, they look precarious as they make the sharp right turn from Sun Valley Road onto Main Street.
All the vehicles: wagons, buggys, carriages, or carts, highlight a particular chapter in the Valley’s history. This annual event embodies the many defining histories of the Valley including this Wagoneer Sam Sanders shown in this 1924 photograph. Sanders had operated the ore wagons under Horace Lewis, son of Ketchum’s founder Isaac Lewis. More commonly known as “Uncle Sam,” Sam Sanders was the last driver of the ore wagons when they were still being operated, until the Ketchum Fast Freight Line closed.
Note this story was originally published in August of 2023 in the Idaho Mountain Express.
