This beautiful reproduction poster has been re-mastered from a 1940s advertisement for service on the Chicago & Northwestern Line to Sun Valley Idaho.
The vibrant colors and detail of this classic image have been painstakingly brought back to life to preserve a great piece of history.
The high-resolution image is printed on heavy archival photo paper, on a large-format, professional giclée process printer. The poster is shipped in a rigid cardboard tube, and is ready for framing.
The 13"x19" and 24”x36” formats are excellent image sizes that look great as a stand-alone piece of art, or as a grouped visual statement. These posters require no cutting, trimming, or custom framing, and a wide variety of these frames are readily available at your local craft or hobby retailer, and online. The 24"x36" size has a 1" white border.
A great vintage print for your home, shop, or business!
HISTORY
CHICAGO AND NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY
The Chicago and North Western (reporting mark CNW) was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the "North Western". The railroad operated more than 5,000 miles of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over 12,000 miles of track in seven states before retrenchment in the late 1970s. Until 1972, when the employees purchased the company, it was named the Chicago and North Western Railway (or Chicago and North Western Railway Company).
The C&NW became one of the longest railroads in the United States as a result of mergers with other railroads, such as the Chicago Great Western Railway, Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway and others. By 1995, track sales and abandonment had reduced the total mileage to about 5,000. The majority of the abandoned and sold lines were lightly trafficked branches in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Large line sales, such as those that resulted in the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad, further helped reduce the railroad to a mainline core with several regional feeders and branches. Union Pacific (UP) purchased the company in April 1995 and integrated it with its own operation.
SUN VALLEY IDAHO
Sun Valley is located in Blaine County, which began its life over a century ago in much the same way other Idaho mountain communities did: as a hardscrabble mining area. By 1900, mining was clearly in decline in southern Idaho. Many Idaho mountain mining settlements eventually became ghost towns, but the Blaine County communities managed to hang on, mostly due to the sheep industry.
In 1936, tourism entered Blaine County in a big way with the opening of the Sun Valley resort, which attracted the rich and famous from day one. A particularly famous early visitor was Ernest Hemingway, who spent his final days in the area and is buried in Ketchum. Today many world-famous people maintain first or second homes in Blaine County.
Sun Valley revolves around tourism, with skiing in the winter and outdoor activities in the nearby Sawtooth National Recreation Area in the summer dominating the itinerary.
Averell Harriman, banker and chairman of the Union Pacific Railroad saw the potential for developing winter sports infrastructure in the U.S., and in 1936 he opened the ski resort at Sun Valley, Idaho. Familiar with European precedents, Harriman believed the growing popularity of skiing could help the UP fill its trains, which like its competitors, experienced a dramatic drop in passenger traffic during the Great Depression. For those who could not afford travel to Europe, an American resort of equal charm could potentially fill a market need; it would also bring attention to areas served by the railroad.
Harriman hired an Austrian count to scout Western locations suitable for his resort, eventually settling on a valley in the Sawtooth Mountains near Ketchum, Idaho, a small mining and sheep-herding town on the UP mainline. The railroad constructed a lodge, ski paths and even invented the modern chair lift to carry skiers to the top of the mountain.
