In the winter of 1936, two local gals, Marjorie and Roberta Brass, showed Count Felix Schaffgotsch around their family ranch, on skis.
The property covered nearly 4,000 acres, from the eastern edge of Ketchum at Spruce Street heading west two miles toward Trail Creek Canyon. Known as Brass Ranch, a large portion of it became the Sun Valley Resort. The Brass family had lived there since 1912. Less than a year after the tour, the Union Pacific Land Co. of Omaha, whom Schaffgotsch represented, opened the Sun Valley Lodge to guests. The company had purchased 3,888 acres from the Brass family for $39,000.
Roberta went on to become one of the area's earliest ambassadors. Known as Bert, she died Wednesday, Oct. 22, at the age of 97. She was the last of the original Brass family members.
Marjorie and Roberta were the riders of the family, and spent their free time on horseback riding to the hot springs and delivering mail and supplies to the sheep camps in the area.
After the Sun Valley Lodge opened, Union Pacific held Wild West shows in an arena along Sun Valley Road near the current Horseman's Center. Roberta was Sun Valley's first rodeo queen in 1938.
To promote Sun Valley as a year-round destination, Union Pacific sent her around the country outfitted in a spangled white outfit with a white horse to match that had been borrowed from the Canadian cavalry.
As "Girl of the Golden West/Miss Sun Valley," Roberta rode in many parades, appeared at Madison Square Garden in New York City, in Omaha at the home of Union Pacific and at the Chicago stockyards, among other locales. She often attended parties with the local swells to talk up her hometown.
"She was unpretentious and gracious," her niece Jo Heiss said. "She worked at Saks Fifth Avenue in the Lodge (where the Duchin Room is now). Sun Valley had dog races at the arena, which is where she met her husband. She was always smiley, happy and different from Mother (Marge Heiss), who was the lady. She was a good-time gal and had a long, happy marriage. Bert was 'horsified.' And no matter how many places they moved, this place was always her roots."
Roberta Brass Garrettson was Sun Valley’s first rodeo queen. Photo by
