Artifacts: Ernest Hemingway History




 
   Already a world-famous writer, as well as an accomplished hunter and fisherman, Ernest "Papa" Hemingway found Sun Valley in September 1939. Here, his affinity for bird hunting led him to Silver Creek and its surrounding countryside, a place where he could live out the "code" that many of his fictional characters embodied - one based on courage, honor and endurance. In an often hostile and discordant world, this place became his refuge, and the Wood River Valley his home and final resting place.
   As such, Hemingway loved his guns. Whether it be the air rifle he toted in the woods of Wallon Lake, Michigan as a five-year old or the Scott side-by-side he often carried with him on his journeys here and abroad, he admired the simplicity of the gun, even writing about them in his stories using his trademark simplistic style. For Papa, they were not just firearms, and certainly not political statements, but representations of one's character and moral fitness.
   The Pioneer Saloon proudly displays one of Hemingway's prized guns in the bar, a 1953 Winchester Model 21 twelve-gauge shotgun, one that he often used when hunting ducks and pheasant on Bud Purdy's ranch in nearby Picabo. He made a gift of the shotgun to his personal physician, long-time friend and hunting partner Dr. George Saviers. By way of passage, the gun was sold by Dr. Saviers' son, Pierre, to wildlife biologist Maurice Hornocker, who later sold it to Duffy Witmer of the Pioneer Saloon, all proud owners of this beautiful and unique piece of local history.
   Special thanks to Bud Purdy and Roger Sanger for sharing with us the history of this gun for all to enjoy.



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