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Show PARK CITY - FAMOUS SILVER CITY OF UTAH By HOWARD V. ALSTON EVERY county in Utah contains valuable minerals. It Is calculated cal-culated that almost hall the people of the state normally depend on mining tor their livelihood. It furnishes the largest industrial payrolls pay-rolls and more than three-fourths of the total freight tonnage orgi-nated orgi-nated in the state. It provides cash markets for the state's other products and disburses within the state more than three-fourths of its total gross income for labor, supplies, taxes and other services. Park City, in the Wasatch mountains moun-tains 42 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, alone has contributed $326,000,000, of which Investors have received about $25,000,000. The average net income Is con-ilderably con-ilderably less than 5 percent, of gross production. In early days Park City was a mere sylvan glen It received its name from a grassy park surrounded sur-rounded by a grove of quaking aspen. Discharged soldiers from the command of Gen. Patrick Connor Con-nor at Fort Douglas were the first to find minerals in the vicinity. Rufus Walker, as early as 1869, located the Walker and Webster claims. Others staked the Young American, Yellow Jacket, Green Monster, Flagstaff and McHenry lodes. But mining really began when Rector Steen, a prospector, found a rich specimen of silver ore on a mountain trail. With his partners, John Kain and one McDowell, he located the Ontario. An offer of the claim for $6,000 was disregarded, disregard-ed, but a scout for San Francisco bankers put up his last $20 bill for a 30-day option. He interested some Californians and in August, 1872, Hearst, Haggin, Tevis and Chambers paid $24,000 for the prospect. pros-pect. The Ontario proved rich in silver. In nine years it produced more than four million dollars worth of ore. For six years more it was the only shipping mine in the district. Profits from its operations oper-ations furnished much of the money needed for development of other prospects. The Daly-West, Naildrlver, New York, Crescent, Anchor, Mayflower, Alliance, McHenry, Mc-Henry, Silver King and other mines were opened in succession. In the late '80s David Keith, Thomas Kearns and Col. W. M. Ferry took a lease on 25 acres of the old Mayflower workings in Woodslde gulch. Without capital and with much privation these men sank a shaft at a point they thought to be mineralized. After going about 700 feet they finally struck an ore-bearing vein. This discovery led to the organization In 1892 of the Silver King Mining company. From a nucleus of four claims the original company has grown through purchases and consolidations consolida-tions to a property with thousands of surface acres and more than 200 miles of underground workings, which have yielded approximately $100,000,000 worth of ore. But for Park City and other mining min-ing camps Salt Lake City might still be a struggling village in the desert. Such buildings as the Mc-Cornick, Mc-Cornick, Kearns, Ness, Utah Savings Sav-ings & Trust, Judge and others were built with money from Park City. These buildings and other city property improved by mine revenues form a substantial basis for present and future taxation. j Several western mining districts, after periods of flush production, faded Into "ghost camps". Not so with Park City. Activity and pop: ulatlon necessarily have varied widely as mine production has Increased In-creased or diminished. However, after each boom period there has remained sufficient ore deposits and prospect leads to keep a goodly good-ly number of men employed, even though profitable production was temporarily curtailed or entirely discontinued. Perhaps the most noteworthy example of curtailment occurred during the recent depression. Collapse Col-lapse of the metal market made mining aa Industry of lost. For the time in the history of Park City dire want and poverty stalked through the streets. One large company chose to operate at a loss and provide a few development jobs, rather than add to the general gen-eral misery. This company In three years' time lost three million dollars. For many years the population popula-tion of Park City has varied between be-tween 4000 and 5000. Dwellings, stores, theaters, ore-loading terminals, ter-minals, schools, churches and depots de-pots had to be constructed to house and serve a rapidly growing number num-ber of pepple and to care for their economic and social welfare. The people of the city are, and always have been a cultured and cosmopolitan group. They comprise com-prise every phase of civic, religious and political opinion. First settlers came from the Pacific Coast, Salt Lake valley, eastern and mid-western United States. These were followed fol-lowed by northern Europeans, chiefly Irish and English, to be joined later by a sprinkling of Danes, Norwegians and Swedes. Present large metal producers are Silver King Coalition Mines Co., Park Utah Mines Co., Park City Con. and Park City Development Develop-ment Co. A newcomer, which Is just beginning to ship, is the New Park Mining Co. Their principal products are lead, silver and zinc. |