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Show Hard times, good times a town with a checkered past by Katherine C. Reynolds Park City's history generally is characterized character-ized as a series of economic booms and busts produced by the mining and ski industries. Indeed, it is a town built of pits and peaks, silver and snow... brought to life with the Hercules powder dynamiting the mines and born again with the frozen powder blanketing blanket-ing the slopes. But the Park City story goes beyond its response re-sponse to the opportunities and vagaries of its economic base. It is a history of community building and industry building. And, most important, it is an account of the individuals whose lofty visions, hard work, and high spirits enabled Park City to survive and evolve from boomtown to bankruptcy and back. The people who defined Park City's early years were not unlike those who determine its present-day identity. Then, as now, they comprised an eclectic mix of men and women from diverse social backgrounds, geographic locations, and personal aspirations. aspira-tions. Parkites have ranged from fortune seekers to daily laborers, from pioneers to olavbovs. and from the economv-minded to 1 i mini " i-ii i ui.l TJ.V T . W- A " 7 , " - . - 4 ' ' the ecology-minded. Among their numbers have been greater proportions of risk-takers and escapists than might be found in a random ran-dom slice of America, but certainly no fewer dedicated community builders and civic patrons. pa-trons. As a 19th century mining town, Park City attracted wealthy investors like George Hearst, father of newspaper magnate William Wil-liam Randolph, as well as immigrant workers work-ers like Flip Wing, Chinese gardener. It was home to prostitutes and gamblers, merchants and miners, and artists and politicians. oatmeal and milk concotion, and "Cornish pasties" were meat turnover-Business turnover-Business owners abounded among the immigrant im-migrant population, and the early saloons along Main Street included J.P. Donovan's, Riley and Towey's, Fitzpatrick and McGo-wen's, McGo-wen's, Swedish Saloon, and Finn Hall. Community Building The late 1800s saw fast-growing Park City take on the trappings of a thriving, permanent perma-nent town, complete with an incorporated government, a newspaper, churches, a city hall, schools, a railroad station, and an opera house. Early Parkites proved to be a civic-minded civic-minded group who willingly devoted theii energies to creating a town as socially and culturally healthy as it was economically healthy. P I r-w - 1-, ... i I n .I...H.I i in. ii ii inn .i i ii r nn .L mymmmmmmuum Enjoying a day off. for political andor social influence. Thomas Kearns, for example, became a U.S. Senator and close friend of President Theodore Roosevelt after progressing from poor to prosperous in Park City. Albion Emery's career moved from Park City postmaster to Speaker of the House in Utah's Territorial Legislature. Susanna Emery-Holmes, on the other hand, turned her riches to fashionable entertaining enter-taining and world-wide travel as "Utah's Silver Queen." After acquiring a fortune near $40 million in mine stock upon the death of first husband Albion Emery, Susanna went on to single-handed management of substantial substan-tial mining and railroad interests, three more marriages, and a net worth of $100 million by 1902. Her apt personal motto asked, "Why live if you can't enjoy yourself?" Susanna's second marriage was to Edwin F. Holmes, a wealthy Chicagoan with lumber and mining interests in the west. During Dur-ing the 28 years before Holmes' death, Susanna's taste for opulence flourished. She entertained lavishly from their 50-room mansion, man-sion, Amelia Palace, which Brigham Young had built for his favorite wife. The elaborate decor included gold leaf wallpaper, ivory enameled woodwork, a Tiffany fountain, silk upholsteries, and rare art and artifacts. Susanna donned fabulous jewels and gowns to socialize with the wealthy and famous from New York to Paris and from London to Peking. The Silver Queen's third marriage, to Servian Ser-vian doctor Radovan Delitch, lasted only two years until divorce, after which Delitch hanged himself while on an ocean cruise. Her fourth marriage, to a Russian prince, befitted her style well, but Prince En-galicheff En-galicheff left her widowed again two years later. At the time of her death in 1942 at the age of 83, the Silver Queen's estate had shrunk to $65,918, but no one could say she had not depleted it with a flourish. Plain Folk and Hard Work As production of minerals and millionaires mil-lionaires grew, so too did the support system of individuals concerned with daily toil and boomtown businesses. These included blacksmiths, merchants, miners, railroad workers, restaurant owners, and other citizens citi-zens whose hard work helped keep the town thriving. Some were from early Utah families, such as Heber Kimball who operated a stagecoach and Samuel Snyder whose sawmill provided timbers for the mines. Many, however, were immigrants from various parts of the world. Cornishmen brought a flair for mining that had carved out Cornwall's copper mines. Many of the Irish who had crossed the Atlantic after the potato famine made their way west to become laborers labor-ers and business owners. Scandinavians were attracted by the lumber industry, and Scots came to work as engineers, blacksmiths, and carpenters. Numerous Chinese laborers came to Utah to work on the Central Pacific Railroad. In the 1880s they were hired to replace men working on the Echo and Park City Railroad because of their willingness to work for lower wages. When the Park City spur lines were completed, they turned to other employment em-ployment in town, typically as cooks, waiters, wait-ers, laundry owners, and vegetable growers. Soon they created a local Chinatown of small connected row shacks east of Main Street and Silver Creek, and by 1890, the census recorded 131 residents in their community. com-munity. Between Chinatown and Main Street was Rossie Hill, settled by a group of people from Rossie, New York. These residents persuaded per-suaded the city to build China Bridge so they could get into town without going through the Chinese community. Painted red and wide enough for horse-drawn wagons, the bridge stood until the fire in 1898. It was quickly reconstructed, but dismantled for safety reasons in 1954. Thus, somewhat segregated, it was not difficult for the Chinese to maintain their Oriental culture and customs. They often sported the traditional long braid and work clothes of blue quilted jackets and cloth slippers. slip-pers. They celebrated Chinese New Year and funerals with firecrackers, music and processions proces-sions through the town. The Cornish, with their old country dialect and expressive lingo, were another fairly distinct dis-tinct group. Called "Cousin Jacks," they had a variety of their own expressions, food, and mining styles. "Stirabout" was a Cornish Visions into Fortunes The rugged peaks and canyons of the Wasatch Mountains, appealing from afar but foreboding for human purposes, long eluded any permanent settlement. Indians roamed through, Spanish explorers kept to the south, and Brigham Young and the early Mormon settlers founded their farming community in the valley below. It would take determined ambition and potential po-tential fortunes to spark the vision of taming the terrain for human use. Initially, such vision vi-sion was the purview of hardy souls who brought little more than picks and dreams to the rocky wilderness in search of valuable mineral deposits. The first Park City strike is generally credited to three soldiers from Colonel Patrick Edward Conner's California Vounteers who were part of the U.S. Army's effort to guard against possible Mormon unrest. un-rest. In October 1868, exploring above Parley's Par-ley's Park in their free time, the trio found an outcropping of metal-bearing quartz that bore silver, lead and gold. Their discovery was the beginning of a bonanza that would evntually yield more than $400,000,000 in silver from the nearby mountains and make millionaires of 23 com- mon men with uncommon perseverance and good fortune. Those who shared the vision of 1 Park City's mining riches ranged from Corn- stock Lode entrepreneurs George Hearst and J.B. Haggin, to California Gold Rush veteran vet-eran Rector Steen, to J.J. Daly and Patrick Kerwin, mine workers determined to make j their own new strikes. ' As fortunes rapidly expanded, so too did the aspirations and activities of the wealthy. - Some occupied themselves building their local enterprises into interstate empires; others concentrated on spending their wealth and living in high style; and still others opted Parade up Main Street. The road from ad hoc mine settlement tc self-governed town proved to be nearly as rocky as the mine shafts dissecting Park City's mountains. The settlement's designation designa-tion as a distinct community first gained im petus on July 4, 1872, when George Snydei hoisted a homemade silk and flannel flaj and declared the community "Park City, Utah." By 1 880, the town had grown to 3,500 res idents and Parkites were determined to forrr their own local government. When they petitioned to incorporate that year, however, the governor refused to sign the bill on the basis that incorporation of such a small plact was "inexpedient." After continued growth The people who defined Park City 's early years were not unlike those who determine its present-day present-day identity ... Parkites have ranged from fortune seekers to daily laborers, from pioneers to playboys ... j 4i f ft Jtm , 1 : ft ft w U . v : . . fig: 5 I - .7-:-' rtt-i J J--Vi 1 .: " ; v I ' J v3 - M st ' if "A" ' " Good Times Park City residents also were a high-spirited, high-spirited, fun-loving group who knew how to enjoy a holiday parade, a picnic under the aspens, as-pens, or a night out at the local saloons. Gambling and prostitution were as important a source of entertainment to some citizens as parlor games and theater were to others. In the red light district, patrons of "the old row" stretched up Heber Avenue at the mouth of Deer Valley. Dubbed "Midnight Angels," the working women at these houses came to Utah from various parts of the country coun-try and were known among miners by names such as "Trixie," "Cropper Queen," and "Frisco." One of the most celebrated madams, "Mother Urban," was as noted for her kind hearted ways and civic charity as for her prosperous enterprise and 200-pound frame. Prostitution thrived in Park City for over 60 years until the last house closed down in 1956. During the 1890s Main Street was bordered bor-dered by some 27 saloons, lively establishments establish-ments where patrons could sing to piano tunes, gamble in back rooms, or simply tip their mugs. Predictably, barroom brawls and general feuds were not infrequent. There were shootings, even killings, and one of only three lynchings in Utah took place in Park City. Later, prohibition further complicated law enforcement, and periodic raids yielded ample bootleg booze as well as the pronunciation pronunci-ation by federal agents that Park City was "the wettest spot in Utah." More sedate entertainment was centered at the impressive brick Opera House, built with $30,000 worth of subscriptions from local residents. The elaborate Dewey Theatre, constructed after the Opera House succumbed suc-cumbed to the Great Fire, had a mechanical floor that provided movable seating to accommodate theater, ballroom dancing, or prize fights. Traveling theater groups and musicians came to town, as did William Jennings Jen-nings Bryant and John L. Sullivan. By summer, winter-weary Parkites were ready for fresh-air amusement. On Excursions Excur-sions to Hot Pots resort in Heber Valley east of Park City they could picnic and take warm mineral baths. Or, they could ride the Denver and Rio Grande train down to the Great Salt Lake for a day of picknicking and floating. Hanging In With a drop in silver prices in 1907, Park City began a roller-coaster existence, plunging plung-ing and climbing at the hands of a fluctuating economy. In 1919, the Walsh-Pittman Act set the minimum price of silver at one dollar an ounce and precipitated a born-again mining min-ing boom. The good old days ended abruptly, ab-ruptly, however, with the Crash of '29 and accompanying unemployment. Hope and hopelessness alternated with changing silver prices during the '30s and '40s, and by 1950 only 1,000 residents remained. Undaunted, the city was already looking toward new beginnings. The first ski lift had opened in Deer Valley in 1945, and skiers slowly began to take note of the wealth of powder and wide slopes. In 1962, the Park City Land Development Company, a subsidiary of United Park City Mining Co., received a loan from the U.S. Department of Commerce to assist in recreation recre-ation development. The birth of Treasure Mountains Resort brought a new era of prosperity, pros-perity, and a spirit of revival. Boarded-up businesses on Main Street became quaint shops and restaurants, the network of lifts and ski trails increased steadily, and summer recreation facilities were added. Park City's varied past is matched by prospects pros-pects of an exciting future, as residents continue con-tinue to look toward a healthy mix of good times, hard work and community spirit. This article was first printed in the Park City Lodestar magazine in 1979. LEFT: Skiers once rode this train into the Spiro Tunnel, then rode a "cage" elevator up the Thaynes shaft. RIGHT: Snow Park. BOTTOM: Park City, as it looked about 1901. Photo was taken from Rossie Hill. City Hall after the fire of 1898. the second bill for incorporation passed in 1882. The struggle for self-governance was not yet over, and the first local election, on August Au-gust 5, 1882, was mired in confusion and controversy about which of two polling places was legal. The Park City Smelting Co. warehouse was designated as the location where voters would select a mayor, alderman, justice of the peace, and constable. When the first voters vot-ers arrived, however, C.H. Withey declared the building his private office and refused them admittance. They moved to another location, lo-cation, but Withey opened for later voters, leaving the town in substantial disagreement as to which location had the official election results. In fact, both turned out to be illegal, since the U.S. Congress had passed a law provid- and the following reconstruction period. Starting in the American Hotel, the fire raged down Main Street as men dynamited their own homes to help save their neighbors'. When the smoke cleared, nearly every building build-ing on Main Street had been gutted, the Opera House razed, City Hall left a roofless shell, the Park Record newspaper office and their valuable documents destroyed, and 500 citizens left homeless. Miraculously, no lives were lost. Tenacious Parkites, accustomed to grueling gruel-ing winters and hazardous mining jobs, rose to the challenge of recovery from the rubble. A Women's Relief Committee was formed, the Park Record continued operation from a tent, and merchants assisted each other to rebuild. re-build. Sparked by a frenzy of civic determination, determi-nation, citizens managed to reconstruct the town within two years. ing for oversight of elections by a five-man commission which did not arrive in Salt Lake City until after the Park City vote. Local government gov-ernment was not realized in Park City until February 1884. As the infrastructure of a permanent community com-munity continued to swell, Park City acquired ac-quired a jailhouse, police and fire departments, depart-ments, telephones, hotels, and schools. St Mary's of the Assumption, the oldest Catholic Catho-lic church building in Utah, was completed in 1883, and seveal Protestant denominations denomina-tions also had parishes. Few Mormons numbered num-bered among early residents, however, since Brigham Young frowned on mining for Latter-day Saints. Community spirit was perhaps never more dominant than during the Great Fire of 1 898 ! I , J jL" ... . . . : . i-f " . pit if-flii ' - i j , i i- mi I iinni;) du nininiiwn 1 ; : , , , , |
