"Rear View" from Regional History

By Brigid Miller, Museum Community Engagement Manager

When Union Pacific Board Chairman Averell Harriman envisioned Sun Valley, he saw ski competitions as a means to attract athletes and others to this place, as well as a way to promote Sun Valley. These competitions included downhill, slalom, combined, and ski jumping – and Harriman’s vision came true. Sun Valley ski competitions and the famed ski school brought many accomplished athletes, Olympians, and celebrities to the area.

One of those Olympians was Stein Eriksen, an Olympian gold medalist from Norway. Eriksen is pictured here performing a front flip on Dollar Mountain in 1953. Outside of his Olympic and World Championship successes, he was well known for being able to do flips and other tricks on skis, which helped to popularize and inspire freestyle aerial skiing.

Eriksen moved to Sun Valley in 1953 and worked at the Sun Valley Ski School for a year before moving to Boyne Mountain in Michigan to spread his love of skiing there.  

As we sit at the start of the 2023-24 ski season, it is inspiring to think of all the skiers, like Stein Eriksen, who skied on these mountains before us and helped to shape this place and this sport.

Note this story was originally published in December of 2023 in the Idaho Mountain Express.

By Kelley Moulton, Regional History Librarian

It is once again time for the Sun Valley Winter Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, hosted by the Jeanne Rodger Lane Center for Regional History at The Community Library. Two previous inductees grace this image, Leif Odmark who was inducted in 2010 and Janette Burr Johnson from the Class of 2011.

Both longtime Wood River Valley residents who were well known for their skiing contributions. Swedish born Odmark or as some might have known him “Mr. Sun Valley”, was a very prominent cross-country skier and founded the Sun Valley Nordic Ski School/Touring Center in 1970. Johnson, who was named to the 1952 Olympic Ski Team, would compete on the world ski stage across Europe and the United States before becoming a ski instructor at Sun Valley in the 1960s. In this image, Odmark and Johnson are working out a stunt on Bald Mountain for the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour in 1958. The two would act as stunt doubles for Lucille Ball and Fernando Lamas as their characters slide down the mountain.

The Induction Ceremony for the Class of 2023 will be held in the John A. and Carole O. Moran Lecture Hall at The Community Library at 6 p.m. on December 7^th, 2023. Registration is required for this event and registration information can be found at www.comlib.org. If you are unable to attend, the ceremony will also be livestreamed and recorded. A reception will follow at 7 p.m. at The Wood River Museum of History and Culture and is open to the public.

Note this story was originally published in November of 2023 in the Idaho Mountain Express.

By Brigid Miller, Museum Community Engagement Manager

Ned Bell, Myrna Heiner, and Lee Limes in costume at a party at The Quonset Hut in Sun Valley in the 1950s.

From the leaves changing and the colder weather, fall in the Wood River Valley is officially here. This time of year also means all things Halloween: Carving pumpkins, dressing up in fun costumes, and trick-or-treating. While this picture is not from Halloween specifically, it shows a costume party at the Quonset Hut at Sun Valley in the 1950s.

Halloween is often the one time per year that most people get to dress up in costumes, so it is fun to imagine a time when these types of parties were more common. The image notes say, “another dress up day in Sun Valley” and based on the number of other photos we have in our collection from costume parties and dress up days at Sun Valley, it is clear that these events happened often.

This photo features Ned Bell, who spent 48 years living and working in Sun Valley, Lee Limes a long-time Sun Valley resident who worked at the Ram, Sun Valley Ski School, and at the Gold Mine Thrift Store, and Myrna Heiner, who also worked at the Ram and at Sun Valley Ski School. These individuals, and many others, came to Sun Valley during the early days of the resort and through events, such as this costume party, they helped to build, shape, and grow the area and community around them.

By Tess Lightner, Trailing of the Sheep Festival Archives Intern

The image of these sheep in a 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, bordering 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. Soon after, in the late 1960s, she became the manager of the Sun Valley Horsemen’s Center. Eventually, Breckenridge went to work on the family’s Busterback Ranch, deciding to continue the legacy of the sheep ranch.

What Katie 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 Brigid Miller, Museum Community Engagement Manager

The end of August is always a bittersweet time, summer is coming to a close but the excitement of a new school year dawns. Today this “back-to-school season” is marked by sales, shopping, and commercials, but looking at Mrs. Fisher’s 1^st grade class, I cannot help but wonder what the back-to-school season looked like for these students in 1957. Did the shops have discounts? Did parents take first day of school photos on the front porch? I would like to think that there are some things that remain the same throughout every “back-to-school” season – mixed feelings of nerves and excitement for parents, teachers, and students alike about the uncertainty of what another year will bring.

We do not know the exact date of this photo but based on the summer attire of some of the students, it could be from the beginning of the school year or the end. The year 1957 brought a lot of national and local changes and events that impacted the lives of these students, whether they occurred before or after this photo was taken.

Nationally, throughout 1957 school integration was happening across the south, highlighted by violent scenes from Little Rock’s Central High School in September. In October, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I which marked the start of the “space race” and an increased popularity in space-related toys and education. Locally, the Community Library opened in 1957 offering a place for these students and their families to access books and more. Additionally, in the summer of 1957, students may have spent a few days watching the first annual Wood River Valley Little League Invitational Tournament. As the 2023-24 school year approaches, we know that this year will be similar to the 1957 school year – it will be eventful and full of change.

Note this story was originally published in August of 2023 in the Idaho Mountain Express.

By Riley Bradshaw, Wood River Museum Intern

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.