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!
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| 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.
