| Show Wh ts t's Doing in inThe inThe The OUTDOORS Fraser Fluer Duck carte came to Park elt City At an earl early age Upon arrival here bere Fraser Freers father became a partner artner in a R general store a store atoro that served Park lark City folks tot fot 68 58 y I Fra r Du I h has lived la In Park almost bis hi entire life and ute and knows a lot about t t j big past lie He told I IliS us liS one day b s f the little town tU tucked up am aa lust Let the mountains happened to come into existence M I 1 In the early ir days tay the miners to fa or coming l Hack j i ck from itom o ii tornia p pas passed a a s sod e d i b tome lome of ot these minere miners min ers ere would It gr tip up against It it and General r would hire them or or r they v a old uld enlist so to speak In to th army at Fort Doug las Occasionally ron these miner sold miner sold lers' lers wore were j jM I to go out prospecting t ti on ores oree They hunted hunted hunt hunt- ed HI down ink IDU the southern part art artof of Salt Lake v S tEoy Iley then worked up into the 11 Cottonwood district dis dis- From t u tre t re moving north they entered t s a Park City area in the early liVOi l OI When th t thise h a so e prospectors prospector reached the southern rims rime above Park Park Park-McHenry McHenry Canyon Pioneer Ridge Pinion Ridge Ridge- they unco uncovered red some come ore bodies Park City cs was completely completely com come Unde Undeveloped at that time Cole resident the area was Samuel who ran a sawmill sawmill saw saw- mill at what ame Snyderville The first md tn d development of note was the thu and was located up in la hats tata now called McHenry Oa i n. n This mine came camo to the attention of George H n. n Hearst t ei of publisher William Ran ph Hearst He came to Park ad aud looked the situation sit OH over r. r t bit ut was not particularly particularly parti parti- impressed d by what he saw Still Hearst asked a friend Marcus Marcua Daly Daffy who later became became became be be- be- be came Buttes Butte's beat best known mining mining min ing tycoon tycoon to to keep an eye on progress made here Mao Also him know of any developments on the fhe Rector Skeen property later to to become the site alte of the Ontario Ontarl Mine Ontario Ontario First First Big Producer Rector Skeen n a prospector bad been seeking a job jab at a mine known as the Badger He lie was camped d the story stOl In Ina I a a bough shanty beside a spring a a short distance above Park City Skeen happened to n notice Uce a rock protruding from the ground near Dear his camp one day and broke a apiece pJ piece Dices ce off oU to examine it He He found It to be ore According to reports that was the only exposed rock in the entire entire entire en en- tire area of a large ore body So small they say eay that it could have been boen covered by a handkerchief Soon after lifter development development development devel devel- started on this strike George It R. Hearst tipped off by Daly came onto the scene and bought the claim for between and dollars That was the beginning of the Ontario Mine which was Park City's first big mineral mineraI producer Its It's been reported that the Ontario on some oc oc- occasions occasions callons yielded ore that reached reached reach reach- ed as high as two thousand ounces of silver sliver to the ton or an an ounce of silver to the pound I After a short time the Ontario's On On- tarlo's tario's first sh shaft rt hit bad ground This along with water problems necessitated the sinking of a new shaft and the running ot of a drain tunnel So the Ontario Number Two was sent to the foot COO level where a tunnel from upper Park City joined it ft to be used for drainage and haulage They then continued the shaft to below the foot 1000 level I Huge Pump Installed To draw water up out of the mine a Cor Cornish pump was waa ped In A Cornish pump Webster e explains consists of a string of heavy he a atimer timer pump rods rode with one OnO or 01 more pump plungers attached It is I. operated by a Cornish engine en gine a a single cylinder single- single acting beam engine using steam expansively and regulated by a cataract The Ontario's Cornish pump cost COlt about three quarters of a million dollars dollar Installed It had si ton 70 flywheel that was w. 30 SO feet In diameter d It Its I thousand and sixty long beam was wal made mad of Inch 16 square Oregon I pine pine ant an was waa fastened together er or ever every 20 feet by a piece of I Norway Iron 36 35 In Inches he long ten Inches wide and th three quarters I of an Inch thick The rhe company burned lagging t l lor l or slab dab to run tun the bl big 8 Pw The pump lump raised gallon aUOna ona of wat I every v uy stroke uok OT over T 1600 gei tuft w. w pI- pI leas a 4 jr TN TM t Wa W. t Q al B MID at st and converted contorted to teal for tot fueL fuei I Production n of ot the Ontario Mine In 9 1889 total totaled 9 d dollars d dollar lIat ot ut ras as paid out in dividends dividend Tunnel Necessary As It ii became deeper Ontario Number Two shaft haft also bit hit into I trouble trouble-In in the form dorm of ot what wha t miners call porphyry or swellIng swelling swell ing tag ground The They enose a place lace known as Keetley and established establish ed Camp Forence From there beginning beginning be be- ginning on Auguet August 25 1888 the company proceeded to dig a three thre threemile e mile tunnel planning to tap the Ontario Number Two at the 1500 1600 0 foot level This new tunnel was made five feet wide at the tho top seven feet tall and six Ix at at the bot bot- tom In the first five months they drifted feet Within a year and a II half they were In feet On November 1 1890 fire lire destroyed all of the main buildings at Camp Florence They were rebuilt In January 1892 there was some concern as to whether the Doherty Spring would be drained by the tunnel This same spring waters the fields northeast o ot of t Park lark City On September 3 1892 the drive shaft on the Cornish Cor Cor- nish pump was broken The i 50 pound part was shipped to I ISan San Francisco for tor repair I Buggy To Iron Horse i i The common route roule to Park City during dUring its early mining days was through Parleys Parley's Canyon A man named William Kimball ran a stage line Une from Salt Lake City Stage transfers along the route I to Park were made at the way Halfway House and Kimball Station now known as miners The Kimball Brothers had a barn known as Dexter Stables Stables rIght right t at the bottom of Park City's Mainc Main Alain c Street treet Now the site of Ele Eley Y Motor They rhey had horses and rigs I for tor hire and also engaged in or ore e hauling I During Its Ita mining heyday three different railroad lines ran Into Park City The Union Pacific and Utah Eastern altern sent their spurs up lip Silver driver Creek from Echo The Utah Central rails ralla wound their way up Parleys Parley's Parleys Parleys Parley's Par Par- leys ley's Canyon Once the silver sliver deposits deposIts' of ot th the Ontario thinned out zinc and lead lea d the districts district's major ores ores Profitable mines known as th the e WoodsIde and the Mayflower were opened up in the an and d yielded large quantities of these thee products j I Silver lIver Parks Park's King Parks Park's Richest I Prospector Martin M a art r t l I n McGrath J staked claims on what became the Silver Sliver King 1 1 2 and 3 Thomas Thom Thom- J I as Kearns David Keith and men T i j named Emery and o Farrish arrish had a alease lease knee on the nearby Mayflower Mine In 1889 they leased the Silver King Xing claims under a bond and lease agreement for a reported reported reported re re- ported dollars It soon came to be the richest producer in that mountainous mining country's country's coun try's history The ore of the Sil- Sil tier Yer King was exceptionally rich and there was plenty of it Lead and aM zinc were the main ores milled at the Silver King Silver Sliver had hd now become a byproduct by by- product A very ety small amount ef tI Bold was wi add alid Ii mined Ore Ote C Conveyor vey l t built Quilt builtA A bucket HU 1 stands was wa built to carry th thore theore the theore e ore of the Silver Sliver King down l to tol e l' l Park tk City This tall taU tramway y stretches over 39 towers for tor a 11 total d distance ot of feet teet e sturdy structure transported 8 80 0 buckets feet teet apart each carrying carrying car pounds pound down the tho mile mil e halt and thousand toot descent t lo lu u the terminal Here the ore are wa was WI s loaded into railroad cars It cos cotan cot coat t an estimated seventeen s teen veo to two ty-two cents a ton to lo move the theOle 01 ova Ole e by this thle method Up until 1907 1901 the King was known as aa the Sliver Silver King Mining Mining Min Min- ing Company Then several groups group of claims were incorporated Incorporated and became the Silver Sliver King Coalition These Thue Included I the Alliance Crescent Delmont Belmont Bel Del mont Jupiter Apex Woodside Kearns Keith Mayflower Park City Oden Fairview Massachusetts Massa Musa and other mines Some other small claims claIm ot ol f that era were the American n l Flag lag the New York the the Wabash the Little LIllie Bell Dell and the Quincy The Quincy is about three miles mUes up the canyon from Park lark City It was leased and worked by a Colonel l Ferry erry from Michigan and his relatives These people had worked the Quincy then Quincy then c culled called the old Putnam Putnam down down to about feet and uncovered ore I While Ferry and his associates had struck a productive vein near the surface in their Quincy the Daly West Woot a mile half away was taking ore from this same vein much deeper down Those who hit a vein at Its apex on the surface could under under un Un- der certain conditions condition claim rights to the the entire vein The The- Quincy's owners owner claimed i apex and sued the Daly West Went I The Daly West's lawyers prepared 1 I ed to fight the case The story goes though through that the director of both companies got together one oue evening and settled the whole thing out of court The Daly West squared things by giving the Quincy people shares of its stock Block and taking over o o er the Quincy company I IThe IThe I The various mines used a lot of I mine timber Umber an ana i lagging tagging During I I Ithe the early days large piles of this this' tagging lagging were in the canyon and andon on The Woodpiles the area back of ot the present Marsac School This stored lagging was used for tor fuel and timbering at the mines There was uns an explosion at the Daly West Wesl in 1902 Pow Powder er erat wa at was stored in the mine which a ponder pow pon der monkey would distribute to tIe the miners This particular powder pow der monkey by name must have hare seen that something was wrong that day for apparently apparently he be turl turned ed and aud tan ran from the magazine where the powder ponder was waa stored Durgy Buggy was racing toward a drift or passage that branched ore off from the main tunnel but he never made it All they found when they were able to get pet back bask Into the mine was wal his shoe with a foot in It to Thirty one other miners were I killed Ir in that explosion A record of the the production of Park City's Cit a major mines was compiled In 1947 1917 It listed their I total production as dollars According to reports I dollars was paid out In dividends Park had an estimated population near 11 ear the turn of ot the century of nine thousand people pE I The whole story etory behind these statistics would of course fill I volumes It would be among other other oth oth- er cr things a story of ot work hardship hard hard- hardship I ship greed luck courage humor disappointment and d death e eat a t h.- h. I STAN I |
