Item #16000075 UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY.

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The Sun Valley Ski Resort Depicted Near the Time of its Opening



Sun Valley, Idaho.  UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY (publisher)  [n.p.: c. 1940]  SUN VALLEY, IDAHO Reached via UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD.  20 x 30 inches.  Color print.  A few mended edge splits, a few tape stains along top edge, crease at upper left, else excellent.                                  


A very scarce, lovely, promotional poster for the then recently opened Sun Valley ski resort, the first winter sports, destination resort in the United States.  With its soft focus, saturated colors, and skiers in the foreground in period attire, it conveys an unmistakable 1940s sensibility.  The work was likely produced to hang in the offices of the Union Pacific Railroad to introduce Americans to the allure of skiing in the west.  The effectively arranged image shows two skiers who have descended the mountain and paused to view the Sun Valley Lodge, then called the Challenger Inn.


The creation of the Sun Valley Resort was spearheaded by Averill Harriman, chairman at the time of the Union Pacific Railroad.  It was founded in 1936, and the lodge opened the following year.  An avid skier whose wealth allowed him to experience Europe’s finest ski resorts, Harriman sought to re-create something similar in the United States, and at the same time promote the railroad he led for travel to the west.  Also, American interest in winter sports had also been peaked by the 1936 Lake Placid Olympics.  Harriman enlisted an Austrian count to tour the west to find a location for his ski resort; Jackson Hole, Yosemite, Mount Ranier and several other locales were visited and rejected.  The more remote Ketchum, Idaho area was selected at the eleventh hour, just before the count was ready to abandon his search.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Valley,_Idaho

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