From Silver Mines to Olympic Gold

The Utah Mining Association reminds us that every day we are in contact with the products of mining.  From the smartphones in our palm to the vehicles we drive, nearly everything we touch in our modern world contains minerals and metals that have been mined—and Utah has an especially rich mining history.  The best way to observe and appreciate it is to go skiing!

green marks show the old bucket towers next to the new chair lift

One of the charms of the Park City ski resort in Park City, Utah is the In-Town lift which really does begin—in town!  Its route up the mountain, alongside the towers that once carried buckets of ore down the mountain, serves as a natural history lesson.  The City was discovered in 1868 by soldiers stationed in Salt Lake City looking for silver.  It was incorporated in 1884.  The town grew quickly—partly because of the modern conveniences it boasted:  electricity and running water.

Luckily for skiers, within 50 years silver ore mining began to dwindle, just as the winter sports industry began to gear up.  The first ski jump was installed on an old mine dump in 1930, and in 1963, with the help of a federal redevelopment grant, the town began to reinvent itself.  The J-bars, gondolas and chairlifts that would sweep people up to the summit were imagined and installed. Thanks to the miners, there were already routes through the mountains—following towers that ran cables for the ore buckets and cuts along the ridges where narrow gauge railroads had operated. By 1966 Sports Illustrated recognized a Park City (Treasure Mountain) slope as one of the best in the country. Old trail maps record the development of Treasure Mountain, Deer Valley and The Canyons, now all morphed into the giant Park City Ski Resort of today.  While mining silver ended in 1982, the town has thrived by hosting skiing and arts events ever since—the Olympics were held here in 2002 and the international Sundance Film Festival has been going strong since 1978.

The transcontinental railroad brought miners  dreaming of silver—today airlines bring skiers from around the world who channel gold medal runs on the slopes of Park City resorts.