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PARK CITY — Park City Mountain Resort is one of the only places where you can ski and snowboard in the midst of historic mining sites as you search for fresh powder. The resort even gives tours daily. Now, a new partnership plans to preserve dozens of those structures to highlight the community's mining history.
"This is a story we tell to the world," said Bruce Erickson, Park City planning director. More than a century of mining history, dating back to the 1870s is scattered across the ski terrain of Park City Mountain Resort.
"It's what makes our town unique," said Sandra Morrison, executive director of the Park City Historical Society. Thirty various refineries, mills and mine shafts used to extract silver help show how Park City grew.
"It's probably the only resort in the country that was actually started by a mining company," said Erickson.
That was back in 1963, when it was called Treasure Mountain. Mining operations didn't end until the early 1980s.
"It's important to our guests," said Bill Rock, chief operating officer of Park City Mountain Resort. "It's something that most resorts don't have: you can ski up to an old mine site. It's pretty. It has a great story behind it, and it's important that we work with the community to preserve them and stabilize them."
So, Park City Mountain Resort joined the Park City Historical Society and Park City Municipal to form Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History. The group wants to be certain everyone can enjoy all of the history on the mountain for years to come. The group is dedicated to a five-year fundraising plan, and the resort has committed $50,000 in the first year to preserve the California-Comstock Mill.
"As the mining industry became bigger around the turn of the last century, we started building some really immense structures to be able to process ore on site," said Morrison.
The group has identified several priority mine site preservation projects:
- Thaynes Mine
- Hoist House
- Conveyor Gallery
- Jupiter Mine -Ore Bin
- Silver King Mine -Head Frame Building
- King Con MineOre Bin
- Counter Weight
- California-Comstock Mine
The group plans to get started on the preservation projects as soon as the snow melts away this spring.
