In 1990 it was listed under that name on the National Register of Historic Places, one of only two ski lifts in the country so recognized.

[note 1] It was originally built with motors and other equipment left over from Aspen's days as a silver mining center in the late 19th century.

The development of the ski area that began with the lift began the revival of Aspen into the upscale resort town it has since become, which in turn helped establish downhill skiing as a major winter recreational activity in the Western United States after World War II.

It drew its energy from another pulley system connected to the engine formerly in the 20-foot-high (6 m) short section, based below the lift's grade.

The construction and opening of the lift in 1947 were a major turning point in both the history of the city and the development of recreational skiing in the United States.

Aspen's earliest settlers, in 1879, learned to make and use such skis, often referred to at the time as "Norwegian snowshoes", from two Swedish immigrants among their number, helping them survive a winter in which the snowfall totaled 52 feet (16 m).

[4] In the Colorado Silver Boom years of the 1880s, when Aspen was growing at a fantastic rate, miners working midway up the mountain from the town had, in the winter months, developed a method of riding long boards over the snow down the mountain, with a long metal pole between the legs attaching to the rear and used as a brake.

[6] After the Sherman Silver Purchase Act was repealed during the Panic of 1893, the collapse of that market led to decades of slow decline, a period referred to today in histories of Aspen as "the quiet years".

The Arlburg club, a group of Denverites who had been introduced to the sport on visits to Europe, cut the state's first ski trail near Denver in what is now Winter Park.

[5] One of the first two guides hired was Swiss skiing champion André Roch, then studying at Reed College in Oregon.

He became close friends with the Willoughbys while living at the Hotel Jerome he and fellow guide Gunther Langes waited for the lodge to be completed.

[7]) Roch helped start the Roaring Fork Winter Sports Club, an organization similar to the ones in his native country, at the end of the year.

[5] That lift was the Boat Tow, based on a similar device Ryan had seen on a trip to Kitzbühel in Austria.

A hundred people, paying either 10¢ a ride or 50¢ for the day ($2 and $10, adjusted for inflation, respectively[7])[8] took the trip; many had made the difficult and lengthy drive from Denver for the opportunity.

The city soon began hosting the annual Southern Rocky Mountain Alpine Championships, which brought more people, including radio personality Lowell Thomas, into Aspen at one time than had been there since the mining days.

Fiske, who had married an English countess and taken a job in Britain, joined the Royal Air Force and was one of the first Americans to die in combat.

One instructor, Friedl Pfeifer, was convinced as soon as he saw it that Aspen could be the American equal of Sankt Anton am Arlberg, the Tyrolean resort town in which he had grown up.

[13] Chairlifts had been developed at Sun Valley before the war, and were in use near Aspen at the now-defunct Red Mountain ski area in Glenwood Springs.

2, a second chair to the 11,212-foot (3,417 m) summit of the mountain itself, where a lodge known as the Sundeck, designed by Bauhaus member architect Herbert Bayer,[14] was built.

[15] When the lift was finished late in 1946, Pfeifer and his young daughter were given the honor of the first ride on one of the 124 single chairs.

The ceremony and the day are considered to have finally ended Aspen's "quiet years" between its mining boomtown beginnings and its current cachet as an upscale all-season resort popular with the rich and famous.

The Aspen Historical Society has proposed a skiing museum in the area, possibly including some of the surrounding buildings and the lift itself.