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Show {M \:- W lj lL1~}J ~f~.~_!· face plash of color on a monochromatic of it," residents say. Compare, for Jattern of streets oriented around the of eternal order, to Park City's streets ,ding to mountain topography and sed populations in the state's valleys He Park City's transient populace, c market, ebbed and flowed. This h Range continues as a respite for recent decades, Park City still feels !S blend easily with residential areas; taurants share compatible architeclarger metropolises where crowded lbling suburbs, here inner and outer streets are usually safe, and exploras can relaxing in alpine meadows d Town. the following walking and bicycling lings and houses are labeled accordther than current ownership and are ;There convenient for orientation. Be '0 that restaurant hours are seasonal, October, and that houses can change -lvely casual pace, you should find it nprehensive history or almanac, nor are already several. Here, Park City's I history, the background given .for church, or mercantile at the location Lrred. If I have done justice-both to lers should be able to visualize and ; colorful legacy. - "-" '''~Ut '-~\ ( ort.~.¥t.tN')) Introduction () , ,J . __ i- (' \ ..JVU ~ 2>- \14t7 Ever since the founding in 1872 of thismining-turned-skiing boomtown, Park City residents have been self-conscious about their relationship to their western neighbors. In the mid-nineteenth century Mormons left an American Babylon to forge a perfect society near the protective peaks of the Rocky Mountains. Park City's original leaders came west to get rich, challenging what they considered to be the quaint and insular culture of the Mormons. Park City's history was capital-driven. Its historic residents were investors, management, and labor. Parkites dreamed big dreams, made and spent big money, and fought big lawsuits. Mormons knew early on that the mountains held considerable mineral wealth. One of the first claims in the area was staked by Mormon leader Parley P. Pratt. Soon after their arrival in the Great Basin, Brigham Young organized exploration parties to assess the region's resources, not in quest of gold and silver which had little practical value but the way to independence and perfection through pursuit of agricultural riches. "Let the gold be!" he commanded. The invasion of Mormon Utah by outsiders posed a threat to the unity of the Saints. The ragged hoards of '4gers who passed through the territory on their way to the California gold fields two years after Mormons arrived were evidence of the folly of terrestrial pursuits. Federal officials worried that an economically independent Mormon society would become a politically independent one. Fearing a theocratic empire beyond federal control, in 1857 the government sent troops to Utah to put down Mormon rule. Mormons had already displayed an unwelcoming posture toward federal bureaucratic and judicial representatives-many of whom fled the territory within months of their appointments. The short-lived Utah War guaranteed that the territory would stay within federal control. When Colonel Patrick Connor later led a Union army to Utah in 1862 to establish a permanent military presence, he and his troops were largely ignored. Connor's army was recruited from veterans of California's gold fields. Since Mormons weren't in a fighting mood, and his troops were restless, Connor let them do what they liked best. Soon army prospectors swarmed nearby hills and discovered silver across the mountain from Park City in Big Cottonwood Canyon at what would become the world-famous Emma Lode. When the first claim was declared in the Park City area in 1868, the floodgates to fortune hunters burst wide open. A town was soon born. Establishment of a mining industry was the first substantive blow to Mormon automony. In 1869 another blow to Mormon independence fell when railroad companies joined their transcontinental tracks at Promontory Point, Utah Territory. Easy cross-country travel forced |
