"Rear View" from Regional History

A Look Back into the Past of Sheep Ranching in Idaho

By Tess Lightner, Trailing of the Sheep Festival Archives Intern

The image of these sheep in the beautiful field surrounded by hills and snow-covered peaks serves as the best example of the sheepherding life in Idaho. These sheep are grazing on what was the Busterback Ranch, in the Stanley Basin of the Sawtooth Valley and next to U.S. Forest Service land.

Beginning around 1930, this ranch has been passionately owned and operated by the Breckenridge Family, and more recently by longtime Idahoan sheep rancher, Katie Breckenridge.

After graduating college, Breckenridge decided to work for the U.S. Forest Service here in Idaho, and soon after became the manager of the Sun Valley Horsemen’s Center in the late 1960s. A little while later, Breckenridge went on to work with her family on Busterback Ranch, deciding to continue the legacy of the sheep ranch.

What Katie Breckenridge and the whole Breckenridge family has accomplished on this range represents the history and importance to the culture of sheep ranching in the Valley today.

To learn more about sheep ranching in the Wood River Valley, make sure to check the program of events for The Trailing of the Sheep Festival.

By Diana Tellez-Muñoz, Museum Operations and Communications Intern

A well deserving summer has arrived at last after a lengthy winter. With its arrival comes a multitude of delights: the blissful heat, the invigorating beverages the quench our thirst, and the occasional unexpected downpours that bring a refreshing change.

It is a time when friends can bask in the summer sun both poolside and lakeside in freedom, well-earned after a year of diligent schoolwork. College students reunited with their families, ready to embrace the new memories about to be created in which the summer offers. The streets and mountains of the Wood River Valley become alive with the presence of people, their smiles illuminating their surroundings. Nights become lively with chatter, laughter, and some great tunes.

Despite the ever-evolving nature of our world, this cherished aspect of summer and the unmatchable allure of the Wood River Valley remain unwavering, forging an unparalleled experience found nowhere else.

So let us embrace the well-deserving summer, savoring every moment of the precious time it grants us, as we create lasting memories and cherish the beauty of the Wood River Valley, as we have for generations and in following the example of Nelson Bennet, Dotty Thomas, Bobbie Bennet, and their two unidentified female companions in the Boulder Basin area.

F02497, Union Pacific Collection, Jeanne Rodger Lane Center for Regional History.

By Olivia Terry, Regional History Museum Librarian

This photograph from the Hailey Centennial Project Collection depicts one of Hailey’s most famous early residents, the famed and often controversial poet, Ezra Pound with his mother Isabel. Pound was born on October 30th, 1885 in Hailey while his father, Homer Loomis Pound, worked as a registrar for the General Land Office during the silver mining boom. Shortly after his birth, Isabel, moved herself and eighteen month-old Ezra to New York, leaving Idaho for good. We all know the details of who Ezra would become, but has one ever stopped to consider who his mother Isabel was before she became the famous poet’s mother?

The Community Library’s Jeanne Rodger Lane Center for Regional History has in its Ezra Pound Collection, an original letter from Isabel Pound to her mother Mary Weston dated May 22, 1885. At this time, Isabel would have been 25 years old and about three months pregnant with Ezra, however she makes no mention of her pregnancy. The letter details a short trip her husband Homer, “Mr. Pound” (likely her father-in-law), a “Mr. Forte” and herself, took to visit a mine beyond Deer Creek Hot Springs. She describes the landscape, writing “The drive was delightful and merry, the scenery fine. At one eminence we had a picture before us like Bierstadt’s Rocky Mountains, peak after peak until one could distinguish the outline of the farthest blue distance…”

The most moving part of the letter however, may be the more basic but familiar notes of connection between a daughter and mother that we still recognize today. Isabel’s letter gives an account of the many things going on in her life including a sewing project, the satisfaction of securing the approval from her new father-in-law, and the yellow dog she longed to have. She signs the letter with “Lovingly, Belle.”

One could surmise that despite her cheerful descriptions and obvious awe of the Idaho landscape, Isabel must have felt very homesick and far away from her family in New York. This suspicion is underscored when she moved herself and Ezra back to New York in 1887. Her decision to do so likely changed the course of Ezra Pound’s life forever.

By Kelley Moulton, Regional History Librarian

George Matsumoto was a leading character of Sun Valley and Ketchum in the 1970s and 80s. He was the chef at the Ore House Restaurant and was often the man behind the camera, capturing the wild times that were occurring here. George often had a camera with him and captured candid and cheerful shots of The Wood River Valley’s people and events.

In addition, based upon the images in his scrapbooks, he also preserved some of the memories from his travels to Hawaii, New Zealand, the Eastern United States, and more.

Following George’s death in 1998, Paula Barovetto began to search for the scrapbooks containing George’s pictures, which had disappeared. Barovetto, who worked for the Regional History Department, spent six months looking for the scrapbooks and was eventually contacted by a relative of George’s, who had found them in a Ketchum garage.

In volume nine of the fifteen scrapbooks, one of the images showcases a hot air balloon hovering over the base of Dollar Mountain in 1974 while Baldy looms in the background. On the balloon is the logo for Kneissl, a leading ski brand at the time. Other images from the two- page spread feature racers wearing race bibs from various ski races, including the Janet Leigh Celebrity Pro-Am Races, a sleigh pulled by horses, and group shots of people socializing around the ski mountains.

To see more images from the George Matsumoto Collection or more historical images, contact the Center for Regional History at the Community Library.

By Olivia Terry, Regional History Museum Librarian

Pictured here in this turn of the century studio portrait from the Mary Lemon Brown Collection, is Gertrude Edna Lewis Gates (1867-1945). Gertrude was the daughter of Isaac Ives Lewis, one of Ketchum’s most influential men during the silver mining boom.

When Gertrude was thirteen, she and her family moved to Ketchum and built a house near where Sun Valley is currently located. Shortly after, Issac Lewis monopolized business, purchasing the weekly Ketchum Keystone newspaper and the lucrative Elkhorn Mine. He also opened the First National Bank of Ketchum.

Gertrude married a few years later and spent her time in and out of Ketchum. She was said to be a deeply religious woman. Gertrude was no doubt a woman of privilege in the Wood River Valley and her status is underscored by her hat in this portrait. While it appears that Gertrude has everything and the kitchen sink on her head, her hat was extremely fashionable for the second half of the 1890s. Gertrude’s hat appears to feature an entire bird, silk hydrangeas, crushed ribbon, and a mystery element that adds drama through height.  

While it appears that Gertrude has everything and the kitchen sink on her head, her hat was extremely fashionable for the second half of the 1890s.

Nineteenth century milliners not only added feathers to their creations, but it became one of the biggest fashion crazes of the century to place an entire bird onto women’s hats. Leading Parisian designs were disseminated across the world and were copied by local American and European dressmakers for their clients. The practice of decorating hats with birds and giant feather plumes continued into the 20th century, coming to a climax during the Edwardian era with the introduction of the enormous and theatrical “Merry Widow” hat. Shortly after, it fell out of fashion when birds, especially the Great Egret, were becoming increasingly extinct from over-hunting. It is unknown when or where Gertrude acquired this hat, but it’s clear that Gertrude was aware of and had access to the latest fashion of the day. 

By Kelley Moulton

The Sun Valley Ski Patrol has been a part of the Sun Valley story since the resort opened its doors in 1936. The image here shows a training drill from 1953 where the members of the ski patrol are practicing what they would do in the event of a plane crash. The seven visible members are being pulled across the snow by a CAT, ladened with various pieces of equipment. This drill included scaling a mountain and then possibly bringing down the plane crash victims.

The Sun Valley Ski Patrol has been a leader in the industry. Members of the Patrol would train the U.S. Army’s 10^th Mountain Division during World War II, and one of the original directors, Nelson Bennett, would help to revolutionize safety with his invention of the Sun Valley Ski Patrol Rescue Toboggan. The toboggan would become widely used by other Ski Patrols across the country and the technology would continue to be used to this day.

Today’s Ski Patrol features over 60 highly trained members, human and canine, who work to keep recreationists at Sun Valley out of harm’s way. To name just a few of their duties, the Sun Valley Ski Patrol arrange avalanche mitigation, rescue services, and share their invaluable knowledge with our community. Today, the Ski Patrol continues to provide world class service and safety to all who enjoy the mountains around Sun Valley.