The Riblet Tramway Company of

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the ...

, which operated from 1908 to 2003, was once the largest ski

chairlift An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs. Th ...

manufacturer in the world. The company was founded by Byron Christian Riblet, who was born in

Osage, Iowa Osage is a city in Mitchell County, Iowa, United States. The population was 3,627 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Mitchell County. Geography Osage is located at (43.284618, -92.812129). According to the United States ...

, in 1865 and earned a degree in

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

. Arriving in

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

in 1885, his first work was laying out

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

and

streetcar line A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

s. He also built

dams A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

and

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...

projects. In 1896, Riblet was contracted to erect an ore tramway designed by the Finlayson company at the Noble Five silver mine in

Sandon, British Columbia Sandon is in the foothills of the Selkirk Mountains in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. The near ghost town lies off BC Highway 31A, and is at the confluence of Sandon Creek into Carpenter Creek. By road, the place is ...

, to assist in moving ore down Reco Mountain to the mill at Cody. Apparently Riblet thought he was coming to build a streetcar line. Even so, Riblet decided he could improve the mining tram performance. Over time, Riblet raised more

aerial tramway An aerial tramway, sky tram, cable car, ropeway, aerial tram, telepherique, or seilbahn is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion. With this form of lift, the grip ...

s in the booming mining district, building 30 in the next decade. Riblet returned to

in 1908, after working in the Kootenays, to found the Riblet Tramway Company. The company, which specialized in mining tramways, built them in Alaska, Canada, the western United States, and South America. Riblet built its first

in 1938 at

Mount Hood Mount Hood is a potentially active stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc. It was formed by a subduction zone on the Pacific coast and rests in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located about east-southeast of Portl ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. Byron Riblet died in 1952, but the company boomed with the postwar rise of

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In Nort ...

s. Skiing gained in popularity, and soon ski lifts became the major part of the Riblet Tramway Company's business. They built more than 400 lifts, particularly in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, and

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, and as far away as

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

; one secondhand American lift has also been relocated to

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. They have the most double chair lifts operating in the U.S. The company only built fixed-grip lifts, whose chair grip is woven into the haul rope rather than clamped onto it. But other technologies eventually proved more popular. In early 2003, the firm announced that it was no longer viable and would go out of business.

Installations

Riblet chairlifts can be found in many places still in service, though the majority have been removed. The following tables contain those documented b
liftblog.com
as of September 5th, 2021. More Riblet chairlifts may be in existence, though some listed below may have already been removed. There is a total of at least 265 existing Riblet chairlifts and 268 no longer installed.

References

Sources

{{cite book , author = Martin J. Wells , title = Tramway Titan: Byron Riblet, Wire Rope and Western Resource Towns , publisher =

Trafford Publishing Trafford Publishing is a company for self-publishing using print-on-demand technology, formerly based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and now based in Bloomington, Indiana, USA. History The company was founded in 1995, by Bruce and Mar ...

, Victoria , date=December 2005 , isbn = 978-1-4120-5093-7

External links

Company websiteLiftblog.com
Aerial lift manufacturers Defunct companies based in Spokane, Washington Defunct manufacturing companies based in Washington (state) American companies established in 1908 American companies disestablished in 2003 Manufacturing companies established in 1908 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 2003

Installations

See also

References

Sources

External links