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Show : lV I If'iovy Joe Davich Reminds of Early Days When Tokens Were Most Valuable initial order of tokens had been placed with a local stamping company having their own standard "stock" die. Later another an-other order was placed with another stamping company, possibly out of State, this company com-pany having their own standard "stock" die which had the variations var-iations found on the token. The token itself was used in small purchases at the commissary. com-missary. In order to play a game of pool, or play at the card table, one had to pay a fixed price. The token saved a lot of change-making and bookkeeping book-keeping for the management of the club. To my knowledge thus far, the Park Utah Mining Company was the only company in the area that ever issued a token, although al-though in my collection I have a token stating, The New Corn-stock Corn-stock or Grand Pacific Bar. Whether this particular specimen speci-men was once used by the California Calif-ornia Comstock Company is a mystery to me. Maybe some "old-timer" would volunteer some information on this subject. sub-ject. Certainly the operation of the Park Utah Club would bring back many memories to the old-timers. old-timers. Am sure they could add much to the history that has been stated in the two series and I certainly would welcome any additional information on the subject. Besides the tokens and historical his-torical data concerningthe Park City merchant, I am seeking the coupon booklets, letter heads, statements, charge slips etc., that can be saved for the future years, and possibly in some day to come, to have a publication pub-lication of it all. Hours and hours of research must be spent on the various articles, and it's through the generous offering of many, who have made this possible. Many of them have requested their names be withheld. Anyone having hav-ing information they would volunteer, vol-unteer, and making such a request, re-quest, they can be certain their names will not appear. Joe J. Davich, 360 South 11th East, Salt Lake City, Utan 84102. Series 9 By Joe J. Davich (Continued from Series 8) The company felt with the three large bunk houses filled to capacity, something further was needed for the single men staying there. In a separate building they opened up a commissary, com-missary, where one could purchase pur-chase soda-pop, ice cream, candies, etc. and clothing items. No liquor of any type could be purchased on the premises. If the worker desired to make a large purchase, this could be arranged through the pay-roll deduction at the company office. of-fice. 1 The company placed three card tables and pool tables as a means of entertainment. This proved most successful as many of the men stayed at the bunk houses for weeks before making a trip into Park City or Heber City. After the year of 1917 when prohibition did arrive, many pool halls opened in Park City. And pool was a favorite game. The game was played by the hour and it was told that many top pool players could be found in Park City. Many others enjoyed by the hours a good game of pinochle, crib, or even sluff. Playing a game of pinochle was a game of science for the serious player and certainly many friendly arguments would arise by a partner making the wrong play, when it came to making a tally one could find a good-sized bakery in full operation preparing prepar-ing the bread, pastries, etc. for the large boarding house. Also the baking department prepared baked goods that were sold to the residents of the company houses plus the residents that lived down in the valley. I am fortunate to have two tokens that had at one time been used by the Park Utah Club. They have no specific year they were used other than some time between 1924 and 1930. For one to say how many was on the original order, would be just a hypothetical guess. But from good authority I was told that during the war years, a large bag of tokens was donated to the worthy scrap drive. Thereby such tokens are quite rare today, as any way we look at the year of 1924, it's a longtime ago. Many have never seen such a token and I did want to share this photograph with the readers. read-ers. The token in size is the same as the U.S. nickel, being classified as 21MM and of brass metal. On the obverse (front side) the wording of PARK UTAH CLUB appears. And on the reverse (back side) " good for 10? in trade" appears. In this particular photograph one might take notice of the cent figure. Two "die" varities do exist, one having the small cent figure, the other havingthe large cent figure. Possibly the of points for the game. The company selected Mr. Roy Lenzi, an old-timer from Park City to manage the commissary. com-missary. He also held the position as the Postmaster at Keetley. He remained there until the year of 1930, after which the facilities were closed. Transportation in that period of time seemed to be an obstacle. ob-stacle. Even though the auto had made its appearance, not too many owned one. So if the worker wanted to make a trip to Park City more than likely he would ride in with some of the workers who drove back and forth. On his return to the Park Utah he could engage a taxi. One finds that in 1925-1926 several taxi cab companies existed in Park City. One could hire a taxi operated by George M. Archer and J. E. Jenkins. Tony Bonacci operated his fine car from 1926 to 1930. B. M. Yokum and John Sweatfield also had a license to operate a taxi service. It's interesting to note that the Park Utah Company owned quite a number of homes located near the mine. The mining officials of-ficials and bosses lived in the homes. At the boarding house |
