# Riblet Tramway Company > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Riblet_Tramway_Company > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Riblet_Tramway_Company.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riblet_Tramway_Company > Source revision: 1281352893 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) This article is about the tramway company. For the cut of meat by the same name, see [riblets](/source/Riblets). For the aerodynamic device, see [skin friction drag](/source/Skin_friction_drag). The **Riblet Tramway Company** of [Spokane, Washington](/source/Spokane,_Washington),[1] which operated from 1908 to 2003, was once the largest ski [chairlift](/source/Chairlift) manufacturer in the world.[2] ## History The company was founded by Byron Christian Riblet, who was born in [Osage, Iowa](/source/Osage,_Iowa), in 1865 and earned a degree in [Civil Engineering](/source/Civil_Engineering). Arriving in [Spokane](/source/Spokane,_Washington) in 1885, his first work was laying out [railway](/source/Railway) and [streetcar lines](/source/Streetcar_line). He also built [dams](/source/Dams) and [irrigation](/source/Irrigation) 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](/source/Sandon,_British_Columbia), 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 tramways](/source/Aerial_tramway) in the booming mining district, building 30 in the next decade. Riblet returned to [Spokane](/source/Spokane,_Washington) in 1908, after working in the [Kootenays](/source/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 [chairlift](/source/Chairlift) in 1938 at [Mount Hood](/source/Mount_Hood), [Oregon](/source/Oregon). Byron Riblet died in 1952, but the company boomed with the postwar rise of [ski resorts](/source/Ski_resort). 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](/source/Washington_(state)), [Oregon](/source/Oregon), and [California](/source/California), and as far away as [Australia](/source/Australia), [New Zealand](/source/New_Zealand) and [Chile](/source/Chile); one secondhand American lift has also been relocated to [Pakistan](/source/Pakistan).[3] They have the most double chair lifts operating in the U.S. ### 1974 World's Fair During [Expo '74](/source/Expo_'74) Riblet built both the skyride a Gondola tramway over [Spokane Falls](/source/Spokane_Falls) and the [A&W](/source/A%26W_Restaurants) SkyFloat a chairlift that went over the fairgrounds.[4] After the World's Fair, the chairlift was dismantled and went to [Schweitzer Mountain](/source/Schweitzer_Mountain). The Gondola became one of the attractions at [Riverfront Park](/source/Riverfront_Park_(Spokane,_Washington)) and was replaced by a new Gondola system in 2005.[4] ### Decline 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.[5] ## See also - [Detachable chairlift](/source/Detachable_chairlift): the technological successor to the fixed-grip chairlift - [Magic Mile](/source/Magic_Mile), Riblet's first chairlift ## References 1. ["Riblet Tramway Company"](http://www.riblet.com/). *www.riblet.com*. Retrieved 2024-06-19. 1. KSPS PBS Public TV (2024-05-11). [*Meet Me By The River: Expo/50 | KSPS PBS*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g8VBed2qik). Retrieved 2024-06-19. – via YouTube. 1. Osberger, Madeleine (2 January 2016). ["Where chairlifts go in their next lives"](https://www.aspendailynews.com/where-chairlifts-go-in-their-next-life/article_4199df3e-0ee1-581b-8356-6c4100433594.html). *Aspen Daily News*. Retrieved 30 December 2021. 1. ["Expo Time Capsules"](https://www.inlander.com/culture/expo-time-capsules-27885705). *Inlander*. Retrieved 2024-06-19. 1. Sowder, Douglas (2003-05-13). ["To: Our Friends in the Ski Industry"](http://www.riblet.com/Press%20Release.htm). Riblet Tramway Company. Retrieved 2007-01-23. ## Sources Martin J. Wells (December 2005). *Tramway Titan: Byron Riblet, Wire Rope and Western Resource Towns*. [Trafford Publishing](/source/Trafford_Publishing), Victoria. ISBN 978-1-4120-5093-7. ## External links - [Company website](https://riblet.com/) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Riblet Tramway Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riblet_Tramway_Company) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riblet_Tramway_Company?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.