Hemingway Haunts
Author
Ernest Hemingway embraced local nature and nightspots
with a vigor matched only by his fictional and largely
autobiographical character Nick Adams.
As Adams
lived in Michigan's wilderness, Hemingway meandered the
meadows of Sun Valley and the Big Wood River.
Hemingway's
time in Sun Valley began in 1939 when he came to the area
after Union Pacific Railroad chairman Averell Harriman
invited Hemingway and other celebrities to Sun Valley.
In the
fall of 1939, he finished his novel For Whom the Bell
Tolls. He worked on it while staying in suite 206
at the Sun Valley Lodge.
The author
made his hunting haunt the Silver Creek area near Picabo,
shooting feathered prey and big game.
They
were going after partridges so he pulled out the tube
of the magazine and poured the long-rifle cartridges into
his hand and then put them into a chamois pouch and filled
the magazine with .22 shorts. They made less noise and
would not tear the meat up if he could get head shots.
--"The
Last Good Country" by Ernest Hemingway
"The
Last Good Country" was first published in 1972 in
a collection of Nick Adams stories.
Though
none of Hemingway's fiction or nonfiction is set in the
Wood River Valley, the actions of his characters and the
hunting knowledge revealed were drawn from his life, which
included his time here.
In 1946
and after 1948, Hemingway stayed at the Ketchum Korral
room 38, along State Highway 75 at the south end of town.
Then known as MacDonald Cabins, Hemingway stayed while
the Sun Valley Lodge was being used as a hospital by the
Navy during World War II.
The author
described a bar in his story "A Clean and Well-Lighted
Place."
In Ketchum,
he often went to the Alpine Club (now Whiskey Jacques)
and the Casino Club, which still exists on Main Street.
In ill
health, the Nobel and Pulitzer prize-winning author feared
he could no longer write and so shot himself dead at his
home in Ketchum.
Sites
to visit include the Hemingway House, Hemingway's grave
and his memorial.
Hemingway
ended his life at the Hemingway House, now owned by the
Nature Conservancy, off Warm Springs Road.
The house
can be seen from Saddle Road off State Highway 75, three-quarters
of a mile north of Ketchum. The best view is from the
west side of the highway.
Take
Saddle Road Extension toward Warm Springs Road, then turn
right on Northwood Way and look uphill to the left. The
house has four big windows with green trim and a green
balcony.
Hemingway's
grave is in the Ketchum Cemetery.
Drive
north on State Highway 75 through downtown Ketchum for
half a mile and turn right into the cemetery. Take the
right-hand road and stop after the curve. Walk into a
stand of four pines to the right and look for two granite
rectangles flush with the ground.
A memorial
to Hemingway stands on Trail Creek Road one mile northeast
of Sun Valley Lodge.
Look
for a sign on the right and take the trail going downhill.
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