The Wood River Valley was a sleepy backwoods until the 1870s, when the discovery of gold, silver and lead transformed it into a bustling mining district. A few years later, W. Averell Harriman, then chief executive of the Union Pacific Railroad, decided to build a European-style winter resort here. When the Sun Valley Lodge opened in 1936, it attracted a Hollywood clientele and set the tone for what was then considered to be the world's finest ski area, complete with the first chair lift in history.