Friday, August 20, 2010

In Griffith family, history was made

Lifelong Ketchum resident’s new book covers 4 generations


By SABINA DANA PLASSE
Express Staff Writer

Photos courtesy of Mary Jane Griffith Conger The Griffith Grocery store in Ketchum was built in 1884. Today, the building houses the Cornerstone Bar & Grill.

When Mary Jane Griffith Conger set out to write down her history of living in the Wood River Valley, it became a project much bigger than herself and her grandfather Al Griffith. It became a history of Ketchum, rich with mining prospectors, merchants, athletes and outdoor enthusiasts. From Conger's love for and dedication to her Ketchum heritage and family, she penned "The Legacy of Al Griffith—A History of Ketchum, Idaho: One Family's Journey Through Five Generations."

The project included the invaluable help of Conger's children, Corinne, Myra, and Michael Salaka Griffith Marin and grandson Carson Rutherford.

"I wanted the history saved, brought out and shared," Conger said.

Conger's project began in 1989 while she was working with other valley residents to start the Ketchum Historical Society, which was a step toward establishing the Ketchum-Sun Valley Heritage and Ski Museum, which opened in 1995.

"In 1879, there were rumblings of ore in Idaho," Conger said. "My grandfather Al Griffith came to meet David Ketchum that summer. The two formed a friendship and explored the area. My grandfather helped David Ketchum build a cabin."

Conger said Griffith left Ketchum that winter for Montana and returned in the spring of 1880 to look for the cabin along Trail Creek. Whatever happened to Ketchum or his cabin has always been a mystery.

"These men were real frontiersman and prospectors," Conger said. "A big Indian war had just ended and there were no white settlers in the valley except for miners over Galena Summit."

The Bannock "Sheepeater" Indian wars had kept white settlers out of the valley until 1879. When Griffith returned, he came with Isaac Ives Lewis, whom he met on the trail in Montana when returning to Ketchum. Combining resources with Lewis and his nephew John H. Lewis and Charles Swan, the group arrived in the valley midday on May 2, 1880, and made a camp, becoming the first settlers of present-day Ketchum. The following day, the men purchased the first four lots in Ketchum for $2.

Ketchum and the valley grew with a rush of mining claims, and Griffith worked as a mine foreman. In 1887, Griffith became co-owner of the Al Griffith & Co. General Merchandise store with W. H. Reynolds in the mining town of Smoky near Dollarhide Mine.

Griffith married Jennie Smith and lived in a cabin in Elkhorn, which today is the site of the 13th hole on the Elkhorn Golf Course. As they raised a family, changes took place in the valley, including the Silver Panic of 1883. Allowing the valley to be viable during these tough times was a branch of the Union Pacific Railroad, the Oregon Shortline Railroad. The railroad contributed to Ketchum's becoming the largest sheep-shipping center in the United States well into the 1900s.

Griffith's prospecting itch continued with a trip to Alaska to mine gold, and his sons Bert and Oscar grew up in Ketchum to be as hardworking as their father. The brothers enlisted in the 20th Infantry in World War I, spent 19 months overseas and then returned home. Griffith died of a ruptured hernia in 1920 as foreman at the Paymaster Mine in Martin, near Arco, but his family continued his legacy, buying the Griffith Grocery store.

"His sons started the store and grew the town of Ketchum," Conger said. "They had the store for 10 years."

The Griffith Grocery store building at the corner of Main Street and First Avenue in Ketchum is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the building houses the Cornerstone Bar and Grill.

The history of the Griffith family continued to build in Ketchum, especially with the opening of the Sun Valley Resort in 1936. In addition, the Union Pacific Railroad contributed to the growth of town, providing passenger service to Sun Valley.

"We were recipients of what Sun Valley had to offer," Conger said. "Sun Valley wanted the community involved. They tried to get local kids involved, and I got to take advantage of this."

Conger said Sun Valley opened up a new world for the people of Ketchum and trained locals to be ski patrol members and ski racers. Conger was already an accomplished horseback rider, and skiing and ice skating added a new dimension to her life, as well as to that of other children growing up in Ketchum throughout the 1930s.

"I was very involved in skating in the shows, which were called carnivals," Conger said. "I loved dancing on the ice. Up until then, my life was all about horses."

Conger went on to become a national ice skater and a judge for many years in Sun Valley and in Alaska. Her brother Jimmy was the first skier from Idaho to make the U.S. Olympic Alpine Ski Team, but died in a tragic ski accident in Alta, Utah, only weeks before the Olympic games in Norway in 1952.

Conger's own children have made contributions to the area, including her daughter's cookie business, Lynndee's Bakery, and her son Salaka Marin's opening Akasha Organics. Conger represented Ketchum in the 2004 Blaine County Heritage Court, a group of women honored for their contributions to county history.

"This book is one family's journey and four generations of people who carry on the Al Griffith legacy," Conger said. "This book is to have in the valley for our local history."

"The Legacy of Al Griffith" is available at Chapter One Bookstore in Ketchum.

Sabina Dana Plasse: splasse@mtexpress.com




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