Where’s The Spirit?
Originally Published in October, 2000.
In 1936, Union Pacific Railroad president Averell Harriman created Sun Valley, Idaho, because he had enjoyed skiing in St. Anton, Austria. But there was no uphill transportation in St. Anton and he had to climb to ski, so he had engineers invent the chairlift in his railroad yard in Omaha, Neb., in July. The many different parts were designed, fabricated and transported to a remote hill near the end of a railroad spur in Ketchum, Idaho, and then hauled up the hill on the backs of mules. Five months later, just in time for Christmas, the lift carried skiers up Dollar Mountain.
In the Thirties, U.S. Forest Service permits could be had for the asking and the American destination ski resort was invented. Harriman had enough capital behind him to buy 4,500 acres of land around that first chairlift so he could build a base village, too. A year later, a young snow surveyor walked into a bank in Bishop, Calif., and asked to borrow $84 against his Harley to buy the parts for his first ropetow. The banker initially turned him down but when he left, the banker’s secretary said, “If you don’t loan that nice young man that $84, I’m going to quit.” The banker loaned the young entrepreneur the money and since then Dave McCoy has personally supervised the construction of all 31 lifts on Mammoth Mountain. At one time during his more than 60-year career, Dave even owned the bank that loaned him the original $84.
Posted from Ski Magazine
