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Show Scene B-5 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1998 SCENE EDITOR: Kirsta H. Bleyle 649-9014 ext. 1 14 THE PARK RECORD www.newschoice.com 4' A. . pi PHOTO COURTESY OF KENT MILES Park City resident Omar Young is one of the children the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Utah has touched. Omar's wish for a golf lesson from Tiger Woods was granted last year. 'Wish" for a successful fundraiser by Kirsta H. Bleyle OF THE RECORD STAFF Last year, the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Utah granted 94 wishes to children with life threatening illnesses illness-es - approximately 28 of which were funded through money raised at the 1997 Great Escape fundraiser, held locally at the Yarrow Hotel. This year marks the fifth anniversary of the fundraiser, which has become famous for its "bachelorbachelorette" auction, placing notable local men and women, paired with impressive travel packages, on the auction block. Saturday, Oct. 3 is the date for this year's Great Escape, which is presented by the Riverhorse Cafe, and will be held at the Yarrow Hotel. The 1997 Great Escape netted over $85,000, making it one of the organization's organiza-tion's three primary fundraisers held each year, said Teri Nelson of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Utah. While each wish costs approximately $6,000, half of the wish cost usually rep resents donated services. Popular wishes wish-es granted in Utah have included tips to Pisney, World, a daywith F-16 fighter pilot Scott O'Grady at Hill Air Force Base, and a Christmas family reunion for a child who could not wait until December. Locally, Park City wish child Omar Young received a golf lesson from Tiger Woods funded by money generated by the 1997 Great Escape. "The money we raise at The Great Escape helps keep the promise that every qualified child that comes to Make-A-Wish is granted a wish without delay," said Suzanne Harris, a Park City resident and chairperson of the event. In addition to the traditional bachelorbachelorette bache-lorbachelorette auction, this year's Great Escape party includes a sit-down dinner, entertainment by "Soul Patrol -Rhythm & Blues Review," and silent and live auctions featuring travel getaways get-aways and gifts. Businesses that want to make donations dona-tions for the silent or live auctions, or wish to purchase tables of 10, may contact con-tact Teri Nelson at (801)277-HOPE. Popular auction items include ski area passes, dinner certificates, and gift baskets. bas-kets. Tickets to the Great Escape are $100 per person; tables of 10 are $850. The event begins at 6 p.m. with a open bar and the silent auction, and is hosted host-ed by KTVX Channel 4 news anchor and Park City resident Kimberly Perkins. Great Escape attendees will also have the opportunity to win a trip to Las Vegas complete with spending money. For tickets or more information, call (801)277-HOPE. Millennium Tired of looking for all the features you want and need in a home office desk? End your search with the Bristecone Collection desk and ODen back bookcase system from Home cmice solutions Simple, low profile, acres of desktop, generous leg room, computer ready. In all... 37 features specifically requested for use in the home office. For quality built, value priced home office small office furniture, visit your nearest Home Office Solutions dealer today. See why our success is in the details. Oak choice of 8 stains Select from 1 2 combinations Line-bored for hidden cabling Modular for future expansion Adjustable pull out keyboard Neutral design to fit with existing furnishings All computer components within arms reach Huge work space for those large projects Quality built by local craftsmen f Longleaf . tiroup. Int. "j. TllL Matching Open 647 94821 888 647 9482 P.O. BOX 680908. PARK CITY, UT 84068 FAX: 435-647-9492 email: jcolburnxmission.com Visit our web site http:www.cltyseareh.comSLCHomeOFFSolution Miners Day: A time to history and resilience Local version of Labor Day pays respect to area's pioneers by Kirsta H. Bleyle , OF THE RECORD STAFF On Monday, Sept. 7, while millions of Americans are downing hot dogs and enjoying a much-deserved day off, Park City residents will be honoring the spirit spir-it of the men and women who helped establish their town the miners. Long before talk of the 2002 Winter Olympics or a gondola from Old Town to Deer Valley, thousands of residents were risking their lives a mile under ground, taking from the Earth the precious pre-cious silver that created the boom town of Park City in the late 1800s. While the modern-day Miners Day is celebrated in Park City every year on Labor Day, the celebration formerly known as "Miner's Union Day" was held in June beginning in 1898, the year of the great Park City fire. About 20 years ago, as near as Park City historian histori-an Hal Compton can tell, the town decided to begin referring to Labor Day as Miners Day thus honoring the town's original laborers. Since the first discovery of silver by soldiers climbing over the mountains from Big Cottonwood Canyon to the present Park City area in October of 1868, Park City has demonstrated the resiliency necessary to rebound from a devastating fire and various recessions in the silver mining industry. Based on exhaustive information gathered by the Park City Historical Society in their no-frills pamphlet "The Life & Times of Park City," the climate of the silver mining industry caused Park City's population to rise from a mere 164 residents in 1870, to almost 10,000 residents in 1898, and back down to 1,500 residents in 1951, the year Park City is included in a book called "Ghost Towns of the West." Today, Park City's population is about 7,000 within its incorporated boundaries, which reach to the Osguthorpe Barn on S.R. 224. The following is a brief history of mining in Park City, based cm1 the Jtis- r, torical society's pamphlet. Information in the pamphlet was gathered from five books: "Diggings & Doings in Park City" by Raye Carleson Ringholz; SCOTT SINEPARK RECORD While today's Miners Day Parade features a variety of participants, the original orig-inal "Miners Union Day," first held in June of 1898, featured only miners. Ready back Bookcases available 19' 4 "Park City," by Katherine Reynolds; "Trail of the Leprechaun," by William M. McPhee; "Treasure Mountain Home," by George A. Thompson and Fraser Buck; and "Walking Through Historic Park City," by Ringholz and Bea Kummer. Most of these books can be found in the "Park City Room" at the Park City Library and Education Center, 1255 Park Avenue. Throughout the account of Park City's mining history, it is interesting to note names of mines and individuals that would later become the names of streets, hotels, and ski runs. When the soldiers first discovered silver in the mountains high above what would one day become the Park City ski area, they marked the spot with a bandanna-due to heavy snow, which resulted in the first mine being named "Flagstaff." Shortly thereafter, lead, zinc and gold were also discovered in the area. VOSEM'S BREAD PARADISE '44- famv 1 -m f Utah's only Certified German Masterbaker f ... m,,mm. rrin.minr n - :nn mMiiMiiwn imJPJ HTrJil,l 1 . ifln I 9 XfiW Jlftj -! i in i. :i lii !)!!: reflect on Park City's in times of adversity From 1850 until 1872, Park City was known as Parley's Park, named after Parley Pratt's toll road which led from the present Park City into the Salt Lake Valley and tolls were collected from the travelers heading to California for the Gold Rush. In 1872, George and Rhoda Snyder named the area Parley's Park City, which was then shortened to Park City and became a town in 1884. It was also in 1872 when the discovery discov-ery of more silver ore led to the opening open-ing of the Ontario Mine and began a boom town atmosphere in Park City. George Hearst (father of William Randolph Hearst) bought the Ontario Mine for $27,000 that would eventually net over $50 million. By 1881, excessive water in the , mines was becoming a continuing problem prob-lem until a Cornish Pump was brought in from Philadelphia, enabling the mine companies to pump four million gallons of water out of the mines daily. Drain tunnels, however, eventually replaced the pumps. One year later, even more silver was discovered and other large claims were established, including the Anchor, Crescent, and Mayflower mines. In 1892, the Silver King Mine was incorporated into what would become one of the largest producers of silver in Park City. During the next year, the origin of the current Miners Day "mucking and drilling" competition began when miner Frank Ward sank his drill 17.5 inches into the rock in just 15 minutes. That year also brought hard times, as the nation's currency shifted from the silver to the gold standard, so the miners at the Silver King Mine agreed to a pay cut ff om one-dollar to fifty-cents. fifty-cents. By agreeing to the pay cut, the miners ensured their mine would stay open while others in town closed. Successful silver mining helped the legendary Silver Queen, Susanna Bransford Emery, establish her reign in 1894 when she was reportedly making $1,000 a day from her interest in the Silver King Mine. Emery's legend lives on, and has become a well-documented piece of Park City lore. In 1897, the construction of the Silver King Mine's aerial tramway allowed buckets to bring ore down to -hb. v' IMSXZO TIME ONLY) . GRAPHIC BY ADAM HOWARD town, which lowered transportation I costs from $1.50 per ton to only 22- ; cents per ton. ; More hard times hit in June of 1898-when 1898-when the Park City fire caused 200 of " the town's 350 structures to burn, destroying 75-percent of the town and l leaving 500 people homeless. But it was also the year of the Spanish- American War, which helped to raise I the price of silver. " Within the mining community of Park City, however, the tragedies con- . tinued, including an incident in July of-1902 of-1902 when a large underground store ol dynamite exploded, killing 34 men frorn the Daly West Mine. The explosion, ; while unfortunate, prompted state lawmakers law-makers to pass, a law forbidding the I underground storage of large amounts of explosives. ; The health risks associated with mining min-ing prompted local businessmen and I the Western Federation of Miners ; Local 144 in 1904 to raise $5,000 to ; construct the Miners Hospital near the; base of the existing Park City Mountain Resort. The hospital, which treated 6,000 miners during its first year, was ; moved in 1979 to its current location in; City Park due to the threat of demoli- -tion. Skiing began to gain popularity in ! Park City when, in 1920, miners began taking the mine train to the top of Thaynes Canyon and skiing down to ; the bottom of the mountain. The same method for moving skiers up the mouri- tain would later be used in 1964, but would fail because the train moved to0-slowly. to0-slowly. . l Die-hard skiers furthered the town's future as a ski resort as 1926 witnessed; skiers enduring a four-hour train ride ; from Salt Lake City to ski at Winter ; Park, which would become Deer Valley in 1981. : Along with the rest of America, Park City was hit hard when the stock.'; market crashed in 1929, causing Silver King Mine stock, among others, to drop sharply. The industry continued to decline through 1946, but perked up some in 1952 when mineral prices began to rise. - While United Park City Mines, in today's headlines, is best-known for its : on-going negotiations with Park City to Please see Miners Day. B-10 Now Oen -1 j i i K II 1 I I I lliti DPV I |
