A History of Summit County

The settlement of Park City

CHAPTER 6 THE SETTLEMENT OF PARK CITY W. hen silver was discovered in western Summit County in the late 1860s, the settlement pattern of the county suddenly shifted. A new town, Park City, sprouted, growing into a place far different from the county's quiet Mormon towns. And the town grew quickly. Developed to a large extent through outside capital, Park City's mines fueled a booming economy in a location that otherwise may not have developed for another hundred years. Boarding houses, mine build­ings, and mills sprang up; houses, stores, saloons, prostitute "cribs," theaters, and stables spread through the canyons and up the hillsides. This bustling import/export economy stood in stark contrast to the self-sufficient, cooperative economies of neighboring Mormon towns. But you didn't need to go outside the town boundaries to find contrast. One of the most colorful settlements in Utah history, Park City itself was a study in diversity and in the often-symbiotic rela­tionships between miners and merchants, Chinese and Irish people, silver magnates and impoverished prostitutes. 94 THE SETTLEMENT OF PARK CITY 95_ Initial Settlement Knowing that the mining industry-with its lure for seekers of wealth-could disrupt his vision of Zion, and inspired by his ulti­mate objective of territorial self-sufficiency, Brigham Young discour­aged Mormons from seeking precious metals. But Young's anti-mining policies had no effect on gentile prospectors. When Colonel Patrick Edward Connor arrived in Utah with his California Volunteers in 1862 to defend the Overland Mail route, he encouraged his soldiers to spend their free time prospecting.1 Connor hoped not only for wealth but also that the resulting influx of non- Mormons would spell the end of Mormon control of the territory. Soldiers may have made the first discovery of silver, on Flagstaff Mountain, near present-day Park City, about 1868. Other discoveries followed. Then, in 1872, prospectors discovered a huge vein of silver ore in what would become the Ontario Mine in Park City. The boom began. Hundreds of prospectors flooded into Park City, setting up camp on the slopes near the mines and bringing with them new reli­gions, fraternal organizations, and ethnic traditions. A shanty town of tents and makeshift shelters sprang up at Lake Flat, or what is now called Silver Lake in the Deer Valley development. Finds in local mines were reported in Utah's mining periodicals. An entry from the Utah Mining fournal typifies the enthusiastic announcement of mining activity in the area: "New discoveries in Parley's Park. Two smelters of the monitor pattern arrived in the dis­trict yesterday and will be put up on the Hanks ranch to treat the Walker and Webster areas. Five men are at work in the McHenry mine and the Ontario mine is taking out ore and looking very good. There are about 100 men in the district."2 Each find represented new wealth, new business, workers in town, and expansion. Because Brigham Young discouraged mining among the Mormon people, the early Mormon settlement of the area centered on the agricultural and grazing potential of the land rather than on the extraction of the rich minerals beneath the land's surface. In May 1872, George G. Snyder, his wife, Rhoda, and their three children, Sylvia, Lillie and Kimball, arrived in this mountain valley from Wanship. According to local legend, the air was warm and crisp and 96 HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY the fields ablaze with wildflowers. While their team of horses grazed on the abundant grasses, George turned to his wife and said, "We will call this place Park City, for it is a veritable park."3 The higher valley had been known by different names, including Upper Kimball's, Upper Parley's, and Mineral City, until 4 luly 1872 when the Snyders raised a flag made of a white sheet, a red flannel blanket, and a blue handkerchief and proclaimed that the new community would be known as Park City.4 Snyder and his family built a two-room home near what is now the corner of Park and Heber avenues with lumber purchased at the sawmill just up the road. Town Development By 1874, the town of Park City had started to take shape. "On the corner of what is now Park Avenue and 6th Street was the Montgomery store. On the northeast corner of Main Street and Deer Valley was a blacksmith shop," one contemporary recorded that year. "Further up the main street was a saloon and the McHenry Boarding House. South of this house was a meat market. There were four log houses and a number of tents."5 Within a few years after the first mines opened up there were more than 500 men working below the ground. The Ontario and the McHenry mines constructed bunkhouses for their workers.6 Other miners lived in wooden shanties with shingled gabled roofs on the mountain slopes near the mines. One-room and larger frame houses soon replaced the shanties as the town's population increased, and several boarding houses were built to accommodate the men.7 Businessmen followed the crowds of miners to Park City. After the discovery of the Ontario Mine deposit, William Kimball offered daily stagecoach service from Salt Lake City to Parley's Park. Most Mormons obeyed Brigham Young and shied away from the mines, but they did take advantage of the situation, opening stores in town and supplying the miners with food, timber, and services, as they had done earlier with the "49ers" going to California. Some entrepreneurs made it their business to provide recreation for the miners. One 1880 account suggested, "Because of the twenty-three saloons, there were many drunks, judge lohn L. Street fined THE SETTLEMENT OF PARK CITY 97 Park City construction crew. (Utah State Historical Society) these drunks $30.00 or 30 days in jail. If they chose to go to jail, they were taken to the county jail in Coalville at a fast pace, tied to their horses. The drunks always chose to pay the fine." Considered service industries, the saloons were described by the Salt Lake Tribune as "well kept and well patronized."8 Miners could also choose from several brothels, or "sporting houses," located in Deer Valley. These were carefully regulated by local authorities. Madams paid a special tax to the city; their girls were licensed by the city and examined periodically by a physician. Every month, the sheriff hauled them in and fined them, after which they returned to continue business as usual. The girls weren't allowed in the saloons, a rule that was strictly enforced. Their names appear repeatedly in police records, including male names like "Frankie" and "Joey," or more exotic names like "Babes," "Ophelia," or "Estelle." There is no indication in the census of the time of large households of female boarders, who might have been prostitutes, nor were there many single women boarders in households at all. Clearly, part of the 98 HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY population was under-recorded or unrecorded, so this significant presence in Park City was officially invisible. Park City businesses were listed as early as 1874 in t h e Utah Directory and Gazetteer; in 1871, San Francisco's Pacific Coast Business Directory listed sixteen Park City businessmen and their businesses, giving t h em regional attention.9 By 1874, these businesses included hotels, r e s t a u r a n t s , a n d livery stables; a b u t c h e r shop; a n d a W.J. Montgomery store, "well stocked and regulated," selling groceries, notions, boots, shoes, hardware, fuses, and so forth.10 That same year, the town had two Chinese laundries, a barber shop, and the Marsac Silver Mining Company stamp mill. In 1879, t h e town was described in the Salt Lake Tribune as rapidly approaching the size and appearance of a healthy, compact and permanent place; business appears particularly thriving, and every indication assumes the life and bustle so often reported. Town lots are selling readily, and commanding a very flattering fig­ure. Lots that two years ago sold for $10-$20 are now bringing from $100 up. The whole appearance of the place indicates thrift, and as a very industrious go-ahead class of people are in the camp, we may look soon for what is very reasonably claimed the finest camp on the Coast.11 That year, Park City h a d 350 buildings and, according to the Tribune, 3,500 inhabitants.1 2 However, the United States Census recorded the presence of only 2,093 persons in 1880, a discrepancy due probably to the under-representation of certain populations. Of the census total, 61 percent were male and 39 percent female. Some 27 percent of the total population was under the age of eighteen and, of the 338 heads of households, twenty-four were women.13 In 1875, employees of the Ontario Mine opened a one-room log-cabin school funded partly by subscriptions and partly by the mine company.14 The Ontario School elected a board of trustees that held periodic fundraising events to help pay teachers' salaries. The Park Record of 17 February 1883 advertised one such event: The trustees of the Ontario District School have concluded to give a ball on the evening of St. Patrick's Day, March 17, in Miners' Union Hall. The proceeds of the ball are to be devoted to the wel- THE SETTLEMENT OF PARK CITY 99 fare of the school and as the Trustees always make them very pleas­ant affairs, we are sure that the money spent for tickets will be well invested. The Ontario School is a great benefit to children whose parents live near the mine, and in their noble efforts to give the children good common school education, the trustees deserve all the encouragement that can be given them. By the mid-1880s, other schools had been established. The New West Educational Commission of the Congregational church had established a place of learning in the basement of the local church. Protestant as well as Catholic children attended St. Mary's School, operated by the Sisters of the Holy Cross in conjunction with the Parish of St. Mary of the Assumption. Children whose parents couldn't afford the tuition could attend the "Free School," supported by revenue from the territorial school fund. The various schools met the needs of children from every social class. In 1890, Park City had 791 school-aged children. Of that num­ber, 508 were in public schools and 181 in private academies; the other 102 were not attending school regularly. Of the total, 64 were Mormons and 727 were non-Mormons. The swelling population caused certain problems. Farm animals roamed the streets freely; dead animals often lay for weeks decaying in the road; businesses and residents left their garbage in piles along the road. This approach to public sanitation was by n o means unique to Park City, being common in nineteenth-century towns. An appre­ciation of the connection between sanitation and public health was beginning to grow, however. "There are numerous places on the dif­ferent streets from which the most disgusting stenches imaginable arise," the Park Record maintained on 5 lune 1880. "Numerous com­plaints are made and we t h i n k the owners of such places ought to take the necessary steps for placing t h em in a more healthy and agreeable condition. They are endangering their own health as well as t h e health of their neighbors. Complaint too, of dead hogs and dogs being left near Park Avenue and Seventh streets are brought to us. If people will continue to breed disease, they must not complain if diphtheria or others carries [sic] off their little ones." By the summer of 1880, local officials had organized a town san­itary committee and work had begun on a city water system.15 In 100 HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 1881 telephone service came to Park City and the Park City Bank opened.16 That same year, Park City chartered a fire company, a par­ticularly i m p o r t a n t move in a town filled with frame structures. Staffed with volunteers and always limited by short water supplies and inadequate equipment, Park City's fire department contended with repeated fires. In 1884, t h e year Park City was legally incorporated, the Park Record listed the accomplishments of the first group of civic officers: 1) Main Street is useable even with a loaded wagon. 2) A sidewalk has been installed on both sides of Main Street. 3) Two new flumes carrying off the surplus water for the street have been installed. 4) Fire hydrants have been placed in convenient points. 5) New fire hose was purchased and provisions for its proper care have been made. 6) Street lamps were erected. 7) Drinking, rowdiness, opium smoking and shooting have decreased greatly. 8) A fire marshal was appointed to inspect homes and buildings for fire hazards. 9) Sanitary conditions are improved; consequently, the cases of diphtheria have been cut down to one fourth.17 By 1890 Park City had cement sidewalks. And, by 1892, according to the Utah Gazetteer, the thriving town of about 7,000 people had 119 businesses, including three blacksmiths, four shoemakers, five restau­rants, and twenty saloons.18 Park City residents saw their first electric lights in the spring of 1886 when the United States Electric Lighting Company unveiled an experimental generator to light the Ontario and Marsac mills. By the fall of 1886, t h e O n t a r i o Silver Mining Company had installed a hydroelectric system that city residents hoped could be enlarged to provide lighting for streets and businesses. However, when the man­agement of the Ontario Mine showed little enthusiasm for the idea, a group of citizens organized the Park City Light, Heat 8c Power Company and began construction of a small power plant. "The wires, including the many branches, have been conducted to all parts of the city and in a few days all the lamps will be hung up in the various THE SETTLEMENT OF PARK CITY 101 buildings and rooms," t h e Park Record reported in March 1889. "About the end of the coming week, and probably before that, the system, which has a capacity of 1000 lights of 16 candle-power each, will be in shipshape for service." The switch was thrown for the new system on 22 March 1889.19 Politically, the most powerful local official was the marshal. The first mayor, F.W. Hayt, was paid less t h a n one dollar per year, whereas the city paid the first marshal (who also was street commissioner) a monthly wage of $125. Because of its diverse population, Park City was the scene of substantial crime.20 Even so, Park City had no jail until 1885. The jail that was built then still exists-the "dungeon" in the basement of the old city hall. Marshals grappled with a variety of crimes, some heinous and others ridiculous. The Park Record reported on 14 lanuary 1893 that clothesline thieves "are abroad in the land and are quite bold. Last evening a little after six o'clock Mrs. H a r r y Weist caught a fellow stripping her line. . . . She screamed for help and the fellow drew a gun . . . and threatened to shoot her if she did not shut up. She kept screaming, however, and the thief took to his heels and carried the undershirt [he had in his hand] with him." Crimes were frequently more serious, however. After the ambush murder of William "Plumb-bob" Walker in January 1883, t h e Park Record expressed its frustration with local law enforcement, or the lack of it: A few years ago we deemed vigilance committees a curse to the community in which they existed. But a couple of years of life in Park City will give any one ample reason for changing their views. In two years seven men have been sent to their graves by the hands of their fellow men. And the only punishment meted out to any of them is a short term in the penitentiary, where most of them have fared better than they otherwise would have fared. We are always anxious to see the law of the land prevail, but when that fails in every instance, then let the people act!21 On 22 August 1883, one of Park City's most infamous murders occurred when miner Matt Brennan was shot in the back by "Black lack" Murphy. At least that was t h e p u b l i c perception. Although 102 HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY Murphy was still awaiting trial in the Coalville jail, a number of citi­zens, including a Park Record reporter, had already pronounced him guilty. "Altogether, his actions were very suspicious, and those of a man who was guilty of a terrible crime, and made a very bungling effort to conceal his guilt," the paper editorialized.22 On a Saturday night at 11:30, a group of t h i r ty Park City men forced Bob Thomas, the engineer of the Utah Eastern Railroad, to make a night r u n to Coalville. The two guards at the county jail were no match for a forest of rifles. The next morning, Murphy's body was found swaying from a telegraph pole on Main Street in Park City. In its next issue, only a few months after calling for the creation of "vig­ilance committees," the Park Record bemoaned this act of vigilante justice: It is a sad thing to note that the citizens of a community should take the law into their own h a n d s . . . . But when murder after mur­der is committed, and the guilty parties go scott free is it a wonder that people become impatient and do that which they would, undoubtedly, prefer to see done by the courts? . . . There are some who are disposed to complain at the action of the people in this case, but only a few, and they only on account of doubts they may entertain as to Murphy's guilt. The major part of the populace believes that murder have been of too common occurrence in this camp, and that when the people begin to mete out justice the busi­ness will quit.23 Thirty years later, another murder case threatened to t u r n into a repeat of t h e Black Jack Murphy lynching. In March 1923 a man named Peter Canno was accused of stabbing a prostitute, June St. Clair, through the heart. About 150 people showed up at the hearing, carrying a rope and offering to impose their own b r a n d of justice. One of the ringleaders, Richard Wheat, blamed local officials for fail­ing to enforce the lav/ and said it was time for citizens to take care things themselves. However, the town apparently had matured in the years since the Murphy lynching. The Park Record urged its readers to let the law take its course, and the mob went home. Canno was executed in 1926.24 THE SETTLEMENT OF PARK CITY 103 The Social Fabric The mining economy grew so strong in Park City and other places in the state that in 1883 local historian Edward Tullidge made an extravagant prediction that "Ere another quarter century shall have passed, Utah will have ceased to be spoken of as the 'Zion of the Mormons' and will have been historically famous as the greatest min­ing state in America."25 Both American and foreign-born miners immigrated to Park City, attracted by wages of $2.75 to $3.00 for a nine-hour shift. Workers came from Ireland, England, Germany, Wales, Denmark, Finland, and Canada. Some came from depleted mines in Virginia City, Nevada. Many single men came from Rossie, New York, to work in local mines and build homes on what became known as Rossie Hill. One town booster bragged in 1875, "As proof of our good times, we can boast not having an idle man in the camp."26 Unlike those transient miners who moved into a mining town to make what money they could and move on, many of these miners chose to stay in Park City and build homes, save money, send for families, and join a growing community. Between 1870 and 1890, two-thirds of all newcomers were between the ages of fifteen and forty, and most were male. Before 1890, more than 70 percent of foreign immigrants came from north­ern and western Europe; between 1900 and 1930, immigration pat­terns had changed and the majority of laboring immigrants to the Utah mines came from southern and eastern Europe.27 Most of Park City's English immigrants came from Cornwall's Cornish tin mines or from Scottish coal mines. The Cornish miners, who found conditions in Park City mines similar to those in their native mines, were highly skilled. They brought with them sophisti­cated mining techniques, such as a process for sinking a shaft or tun­nel through hard or dangerous ground. The area's Scots, like most other ethnic groups, lived and worked together. Since most of the Scots spoke in Gaelic dialect and preferred to remain among their own, they segregated themselves in a camp south of the city near Lake Flat near the McHenry Mine where they worked. Park City's Irish workers were primarily unskilled mine workers, 104 HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY although the Gazetteer suggests that others also worked in saloons. Names such as Cupit's Saloon, Pape and Bowman's Saloon, and Morrison and Riley's Saloon illustrate the early Irish involvement in local commerce. Scandinavian immigrants worked at a variety of mine jobs, in sawmills, and in other businesses. Significant cultural and religious differences also helped segre­gate various ethnic groups into neighborhoods. Cultural groups often were distinguished by their types or classes of jobs, marriage patterns, and membership in political parties. But cultural ethnic differences didn't create such severe problems as did racial differences. Especially in the case of the Chinese, racial bigotry was blatant and vicious. Chinese laborers came to Summit County as early as 1869, dur­ing t h e c o n s t r u c t i o n of t h e t r a n s c o n t i n e n t a l railroad. When the Union Pacific c o n s t r u c t e d a spur line from Echo t o Park City to transport coal to Park City in 1880, Chinese laborers laid rails, hewed timber, and serviced the teams of workers. At the completion of the railroad, some unemployed laborers settled in Park City to earn their living working as servants in local boarding houses, as launderers, and in other menial jobs. The Chinese built homes on the banks of Silver Creek, in the relatively undesirable gully between Rossie Hill and Park City's west side. Repeatedly, the Park Record lamented the presence of Chinese workers in town. Included in an 1886 column entitled "What We Would Like to See" was this item: "All the Chinese made to leave Park City and their places supplied by competent and worthy white men."28 In 1888 the paper reported: "John Chinaman is once more becoming numerous on Main Street. A new wash house opposite the Record office and a store further up the street have recently opened for business."29 The Park Record columns are probably an accurate indicator of local a t t i t u d e s and behaviors. The e d i t i o n of 11 September 1886 included this item: That Chinaman may be an artisan at laundry work and cookery, but the heathens' painting job at his washee house opposite the City Hall is a positive botch and a failure. . . . Two Chinese laun­dries have been established on Main Street in addition to the num­ber already in existence. The City Council should pass an THE SETTLEMENT OF PARK CITY 105 ordinance to compel the heathens to keep their dens of filth in Chinatown. At best a Chinese wash house on Main Street is an eye­sore to the public.30 A business a n n o u n c e m e n t included this assurance: "Mr. F. Fischel of Park City Hotel wishes his patrons to know that he has suc­ceeded in securing a complete force of white employees and that all who patronize h im can be certain that they will be served in first class manner and that n o heathen Chinese will have a h a n d in cooking victuals.31 Prejudice also pervades newspaper stories of crimes involving Chinese people: On Monday evening last, about eleven o'clock, Officer Shields armed with a warrant and accompanied by night watchman Clements proceeded to Chinatown to arrest a Chinese woman on the charge of stealing a watch. Arriving at the place, they found the woman they were after, but one Chinaman refused to let her go, taking hold of her and holding back. Shields tried to wrest the woman away from the man that was holding her, but being unable to do this he drew his gun and used it as a club on the head of the Chinaman. While he was doing this Clements yelled to him to look out, that another Chinaman was going to shoot him. He immedi­ately turned around, just in time to strike the Chinaman's gun away, which went off, giving the Chinaman a wound from which he died the next day. After the shooting Shields says he knocked the Chinaman down and stepped on his wrist, taking the revolver away, but he did not arrest the Chinaman. Only one witness besides the officers was present and it is impossible to obtain any intelligent account of the affair from the Chinaman present, but what he does tell is entirely different from the statement the offi­cers made.32 Upon the death by shooting of another Chinese man, t h e fol­lowing notice maligned the victim: "The dead body of the one whose soul found exit through the aperture made in his body by the leaden bullet was lying in state in a six by eight foot r o om with tapers burn­ing near his head and feet. . . . When the dead Chinaman was placed in a coffin several pieces of coin were scattered alongside his body, but as Chinamen do not possess a spirit of liberality, it is safe to pre- 106 HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY sume that the exhumation of the body after interment would not be a profitable job for grave robbers."33 Bigotry wasn't unique to Park City, of course; it had followed the Chinese throughout the western United States. Sadly, if not ironically, some of the most discriminatory groups included those-the Irish, the Scottish, and the Cornish-who had themselves experienced intolerance. Isolated as they were from the rest of the community, the Chinese formed their own society and social order. The U.S. census of the time suggests that Chinese people emigrated in groups from particular provinces and lived in households with other immigrants from the same provinces. In many ways, the Chinese population was typical of Park City's early male working population. The workers were far from their native land, without their families, and they fully intended to someday return home. The census report lists fifty Chinese in Park City in 1880, eighty-six Chinese in 1890, and fifty-five in 1900. It iss likely that the census under-counted the Chinese, however. Oral tradition suggests that more than 300 Chinese work­ers lived in Park City during these decades. Some Chinese immigrants stayed long enough and behaved in a manner that earned the acceptance of the community. An obituary in the Park Record for D.L.H. (Dong Ling Hing) Grover on 12 March 1926 indicates that Grover was actually well respected. Grover lived in Park City for thirty-two years, returning to China three times for visits. During his lifetime he amassed large real estate holdings and had apparently converted to Christianity. After his death from pneu­monia, the friends and acquaintances of Grover filled the Community Church to capacity for his funeral. The crowd included about twenty Chinese. "His character was irreproachable; men knew Grover was a respectable, clean-living citizen," said Rev. Fred N. Clark in the funeral sermon. "His aim was the Master's request, that he live peaceably with all men. His spirit was exemplary. The community of Park City mourns the loss of a man like D.L.H. Grover."34 Class differences in Park City were at once dramatic and com­plex. While status in rural Mormon communities was often a subtle thing, marked by church position, political office, and financial hold­ings, in Park City one person's class status might vary drastically from THE SETTLEMENT OF PARK CITY 107 another's. There, a host of factors contributed to class standing: eco­nomic status, occupation, ethnicity, religious affiliation, location of residency, and membership in fraternal orders. Churches were particularly interesting contributors to the class structure in Park City. Besides providing a sense of exclusive com­m u n i t y a n d a set of c o m m o n values, Park City's churches were important challengers to the Mormon hegemony. In this one town at least, the thriving variety of churches was able to challenge the moral authority of the state's dominant church and provide an alternative. In 1881, t h e same year citizens of the town joined together to build the fire department and first bank, Park City built its first church, the Catholic St. Mary's of the Assumption. Park City's religious commu­nity became strikingly diverse, and included Protestants, Catholics, lews, a n d Buddhists. There were m o r e P r o t e s t a n t s in town than Catholics, b u t they were divided among several groups, including Methodist, Congregationalist, Lutheran, and Episcopalian denomi­nations. Some of the first n o n - M o r m o n church buildings in Utah were built in Park City to serve the miners. The various denomina­tions competed for members; however, when confronted with a chal­lenge from the M o r m o n church, Catholics a n d Protestants of all types joined together in opposing and criticizing this religion. When a Park City Mormon branch opened in Park City, the Park Record of 31 July 1886 expressed the common sentiments. The title of the piece gives a sense of the paper's point of view: A Branch of the Octopus is Planted in Our Midst For a long time past it has been generally known that several score of the adherents to the Church of lesus Christ of Latter-day Saints resided in the Park but many of them took good care to conceal the fact. Recently the Saints who were evidently ashamed of their faith, have been properly "sized up" by the community in general, and since the Lord has given them more strength an open declara­tion has been made by the servants of God. The Saints say that God, through his mouthpiece, is declaring Himself; He must be heard; His enemies put to flight; and His Kingdom built up in Park City, the only Gentile town in Utah. . . . The Priesthood is the rul­ing power . . . among the brethren and sisters. . . . The Holy Spirit 108 HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY flows freely, and, of course, the elders get an occasional testimony of the truth of the mystic work.35 Given such attitudes, the Mormon church struggled in Park City. It wasn't until 1904 that its members were able to establish a regular ward in the town. Much of the anti-Mormon sentiment, as well as class differences, played out in Park City's several fraternal organizations. These orga­nizations provided a way for men to come together for social activi­ties a n d m u t u a l aid, to engage in p h i l a n t h r o p i c activities, a n d to contribute a sense of stability to the community. In the 1870s, a large g r o u p of P r o t e s t a n t Freemasons and their families moved from Michigan to Park City. These Michigan transplants, who included E.P. Ferry, D.C. McLaughlin, J.W. Mason and F.A. Nims, became supervisors, mine managers, and merchants.36 Another group of men had come from Nevada to work in the Ontario Mine. Although they were miners and common laborers, many of these former Nevadans were also Masons.37 These two disparate groups formed a common lodge, meeting in the Ontario District schoolhouse building. Park City's first Masonic association was formed on 25 June 1878. Originally, their petition to the organization's Grand Lodge had been denied because of previous failed attempts to organize lodges among t r a n s i e n t mining p o p u l a t i o n s in other mining towns. However, Masonic historian Sam H. Goodwin writes in Freemasonry in Utah that the Grand Lodge finally relented and made an exception for Park City: The brethren met for instruction and to keep informed on the work as well as for mutual benefit and to extend relief and assis­tance when required. . . . They did much good in helping transient brothers-at least feeding and lodging them, and in many instances getting them employment in the camp. In one instance they buried a sojourning brother with Masonic honors and paid the funeral expenses. In these and other ways this association attracted the attention and carried the commendation of the Grand Lodge and so formed the way for the formation of the Uintah Lodge.38 Other fraternal organizations in the town included the Benevolent THE SETTLEMENT OF PARK CITY 109 Protective Order of the Elks and the Odd Fellows. Park City's nine­teen fraternal lodges had more than 1,100 members. The Uintah Lodge No. 7 included seventy-six members. Odd Fellows Park City No. 7 was chartered 31 January 1881. Ninety members organized Olive Branch No. 8 in January 1883. Knights of Pythias, Park Lodge, No. 4 was formed in July 1882 with 114 members. Patriotic Sons of America, Washington Camp No. 3, organized in May 1890 had a healthy treasury and eighty members. Company B, first regiment of the Patri-Guard 1892, had forty members. Ancient Order United Workmen-Ontario Lodge No. 1 was created September 1881 with 196 members. Enterprise Lodge No. 27 was established lune 1892 with members "being continually added." Ancient Order of Hibernians, Park City Lodge, was founded in 1885 with 80 members. The order was a benevolent one, organized and conducted for "the sole purpose of doing good and alleviating genuine suffering and dis­tress." Women in Park City The establishment of lodges and churches in Park City was a sure sign that the town was becoming a true community. At first, Park City's population was mostly made up of male laborers who lacked a sense of commitment to the future, and the town populace was highly transient. But when men brought with them their wives and children, it was likely they were coming to stay. Once they did this, they began to look differently at local politics and at the community's cultural and social life. This place became their place, and they cared about local matters in a different way. Between 1870 and 1900, Park City's population increased by 40 percent. The number of households doubled. In 1880 the census recorded that the average household size was six persons (indicating a number of boarding situations); in 1900 it was reduced to four per­sons per household. During the same decades, the percentage of chil­dren had increased from 27 to 37 percent of the town's population and the percentage of women grew from 39 to 45 percent, which sug­gests both more families and a more stable community. The majority of these women were listed as "at home" or "homemakers," and the children were either at home or at school.39 110 HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY The women who arrived in Park City during the nineteenth cen­tury did culturally defined women's work. There were only a hand­ful of female jobs listed in the census: women tended house, worked in millinery shops, or worked as dressmakers. Women did not man­age the mines or supervise crews of mine workers; they were not even allowed in the mines as observers. In fact, Utah's 1896 statute pro­hibiting women from engaging in mine work was the state's first pro­tective legislation. Nor did women hold public office or run the railroads. There was a distinct sense of what women's work was: it was domestic, even when it occurred in public. A woman's status in Park City was determined by her husband's status. When only a few women lived in Park City, Chinese immigrants often performed the traditional female jobs. But as women moved into town, they quickly assumed these jobs at the bottom of the eco­nomic ladder. As was true of most mining towns, Park City had a population of youthful female workers who worked in saloons, boarding houses, and in houses of prostitution, all, in a manner of speaking, domestic endeavors. One particularly poignant story was found in the pages of the Park Record. "Eva Wilson," an alleged prostitute, died at 2:00 P.M. on a Sunday in May 1897. The cause of death was described as " violent palpita­tion of the heart, resulting from fatty degeneration." Eva, whose real name was Kate McQuaid, had come to Park City from Salt Lake City a few months previously. At one time her father had been an employee of the Daly Company and was well known to old-timers. However, no one knew the whereabouts of the family at the time of Kate's death. Kate was raised in the Catholic faith. According to the Park Record, she graduated from the Sacred Heart Academy in Ogden, and "Park City ladies who attended school with her . . . assert that she was a model young lady and possessed qualities of mind and heart that endeared her to her companions. 'But at last came the tempter, and trusting, she fell.' . . . Her age was given at 21, but she was probably somewhat older than that. Her erring sisters took up a collection to defray the funeral expenses."40 Within the week, the Sacred Heart Academy wrote a letter con­demning the Record's accounting of her life. Dated 25 May 1897 it read: THE SETTLEMENT OF PARK CITY 111 Editor Record: Will you kindly give place to the following: Kate McQuaid spent less than two years at Sacred Heart Academy, being about fourteen (14) years of age, and in a primary class; consequently did not graduate. While at the academy she showed neither the quali­ties of mind nor heart capable of being improved; in fact, she seemed destitute of the ordinary good sense of girls of her age. As her disposition did not encourage her instructors to hope that their influence on the formation of her character, either by example or advice, would be lasting, she was not a member of the Catholic or of any church, and showed no disposition to embrace any faith. We trust you will give this card as conspicuous a place in your valued paper as the article in last Saturday's issue, which does such an injustice to our school in announcing this poor unfortunate woman was a graduate of our institution. Very respectfully, Sisters of the Holy Cross As more families became established, t h e general sphere of women's labor shifted from the b o a r d i n g houses to single-family homes. Here they performed essentially the same labors, b u t in the private sphere. As was t r u e of certain ethnic groups and economic classes, women's lives in Park City were p a r t i c u l a r l y precarious. Married women, due to their role in the family economic unit, h a d a fairly clear sense of h ow they would survive from year to year. But single women, particularly single mothers, struggled to survive and often required outside help to do so. In 1881 the city rallied to the aid of one destitute single mother: Great efforts are being made to complete arrangements for the dance of Wednesday evening next for the benefit of Mrs. losephine Yaw. This lady has three children to support, and notwithstanding the aid she has heretofore received from the ladies, and friends of Park City, she finds it impossible with the washing she does almost daily, to support herself and the children during the winter months. . . . We trust every individual who can spare $1.50 will purchase a ticket whether they attend or not, and thus aid a worthy object of charity.41 112 HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY The next year, the town raised funds to build a home for a Mrs. Nagle, whose husband had recently died of consumption. According to a newspaper report: "Mrs. Nagle has four small children depend­ing on her for support and Mr. Creek, whose generous impulses were awakened by the knowledge of the fact, circulated a petition among our citizens and succeeded in raising $269. The lumber is now on the ground and carpenters are at work on the house. May his good work continue. The house will be 12 x 22, with a wing on the east, and is being built on one of the lots owned by her father, Mr. G.L. Moulding."42 The next year a dance was held at Miners' Union Hall for the benefit of a Mrs. Hallet, the mother of six children, whose husband was in a mental institution.43 Fortunes, Made and Lost If Park City was a place where class distinctions were particularly sharp, it was also a place where some could move from class to class. One's fortunes could rise and fall several times during a single life­time. One woman-Susanna Bransford Emery Holmes Delitch Engalitcheff-who came to live in Park City, became Park City's "Silver Queen," the high end of the social scale. But Susanna didn't begin at the top. She started out near the bottom, working as a milliner. At age twenty-five, she married Albion B. Emery, Park City's postmaster, who went on to become speaker of the Utah House of Representatives and Grand Master of Utah's Masons. Perhaps even more important, Emery was a mining partner of Thomas Kearns and David Keith. When Emery died in 1894, Susanna inherited stock in the Silver King Mine. She worked those stocks, and eventually through creative investments amassed a fortune. She also amassed a number of husbands, including a prince, and lived in a variety of locations around the world.44 A number of men also made their fortunes from the mineral riches of Park City's mountains. Shortly before his assassination, President Abraham Lincoln had commented to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Schuyler Colfax, that "Utah [would] become the treasure house of the nation." The homes built by wealthy mining magnates on Salt Lake City's South Temple Street seemed to corroborate Lincoln's prediction. In fact, most of the big money THE SETTLEMENT OF PARK CITY 113 made in Park City's mines ended up elsewhere, benefiting Salt Lake City more than it did Park City. Thomas Kearns built the Kearns Building; David Keith constructed the Keith Building, the Brooks Arcade, and the Keith O'Brien Company building in Sugar House- all with money made from Park City mines. Park City councilman and ore freighter Ezra Thompson built the Tribune Building, and Colonel and Mrs. William Ferry, who were Presbyterians, donated the land in Salt Lake City on which Westminster College was built and also funded Ferry Hall. The rise and fall of fortunes was an often-repeated story in Park City. So too was the story of missed fortunes. Solon Spiro was a German lewish emigrant from New York City who came to Park City to work at his uncle's mercantile store at the age of twenty-one. When he came to Park City in 1894, he could not speak any English. After saving some money, Spiro invested in local mines but became best known for an ill-fated tunnel built to drain water and facilitate the movement of ore out of the mines. It was only after Spiro sold the tunnel to the Silver King that the new owners discovered a silver lode there that eventually yielded three million dollars worth of high-grade silver. The Silver King became the premier mine in the area, and partners Thomas Kearns, David Keith, lames Ivers, and A.B. Emery accumulated an enormous amount of wealth. Thomas Kearns epitomized the rags-to-riches story. His parents left the poverty of the Irish countryside for Ontario, Canada, where Kearns was born in 1862. The family later moved to Nebraska, where Kearns got his first taste of mining in the Black Hills. He later moved to Utah, eventually settling in Park City in 1883. He was only twenty-eight years old when the Silver King struck it big. The mansion he built on South Temple Street in Salt Lake City is of the Chateauesque Revival style, with thirty-two rooms, six marble bathrooms, a billiard room, three silver vaults, a bowling alley in the basement, and a ball­room in the attic. A broad-minded philanthropist, Kearns donated a considerable amount of money to the Salt Lake community, funding in part the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Madeleine, St. Ann's Orphanage, and the Children's Aid Society.45 In 1872, mining entrepreneur George Hearst paid $27,000 for the Ontario Mine, which was considered by many to have the richest ore 114 HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY beds. The Ontario operation was hugely successful, due in part to the massive Cornish pump installed in 1881 to pump water from the mine. Designed in San Francisco by W.R. Eckart and Son and built in Philadelphia by J.P. Morris and Company, the pump cost $10,000. Installation of the pump, however, cost $125,000. The pump rod was 1,060 feet in length and was constructed from Oregon pine. The rod was sixteen inches square, and had the potential to lift water to a height of 400 feet at a rate of 2,560 gallons per minute, or 3,606,400 gallons per day.46 But the financial success experienced by Kearns and Hearst was far from typical; Park City was a community where success was enjoyed by a few and supported by many. In the federal census, a strikingly large number of men reported their occupations as "com­mon labor;" "miner" is the most frequently listed occupation, and "mill worker," "laborer," "wood chopper," "machinist," and "carpen­ter" were frequently recorded. The large variety of occupations speaks to the social complexity of this mountain town and to how each of the different industries was dependent on the others. The Fire of 1898 Park City's history has been marked by a number of spectacular fires. The close proximity of the buildings to one another, and the large number of wood-frame structures, have always been an invita­tion for fire to spread. Never was this more apparent than in lune 1898. At 4:00 A.M. on Sunday morning, 19 lune 1898, the inhabitants of Park City were roused from their sleep by three shots from Sheriff Thomas Walden's pistol. Fire was ravaging the wooden buildings of Main Street. An hour later, the Marsac Mill sounded an emergency alarm; however, by then, the canyon had created a draft that sent the flames a hundred feet into the air. The volunteer fire department hur­ried to the scene while residents and business owners threw belong­ings and merchandise into the street, hoping to salvage something. But the fire department was no match for the conflagration. Earl J. Glade, former mayor of Salt Lake City and former resident of Park City, remembered his father running from the house to fight the fire. "Father left home early in the morning and was busy fight- THE SETTLEMENT OF PARK CITY 115 The aftermath of the Park City fire, lune 1898. City Hall (center) was rebuilt. The Marsac Mill (left) survived the fire. (Brigham Young University, George Beard collection) ing the fire until n o o n when he came home for a few minutes. His mustache had been burned off and his hair was also scorched," Glade wrote. "Later we learned that father had been to the church alone and saved some of the furniture and a beautiful sacrament set. He also, alone, h a d moved an organ weighing several h u n d r e d pounds out of the church, one block down the street and one block u p a hill, to get it out of the fire's path."47 In desperation, men dynamited homes and businesses in the hopes of stopping the fire and saving adjoining buildings. But the fire could not be stopped. Five hours after it began, sixty percent of the town was in flames; within two more hours firefighters had finally contained the flames, b u t t h r e e - q u a r t e r s of t h e town was ruined. Estimates placed damage at more than a million dollars. About 120 businesses were destroyed in the fire. More t h a n 140 residences were severely burned; twenty-two homes in Chinatown, the China Bridge, five hotels, two dozen stores and markets, more than a dozen saloons, four churches, and two bank buildings also had to be razed. 116 HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY Looking down Main Street in Park City shortly after the fire of 1898. (Brigham Young University, George Beard collection) The front pages of n a t i o n a l newspapers p u t news of t h e fire alongside stories of the Spanish-American War. Although the Park Record's building was destroyed and many of the paper's p r i n t i ng presses and supplies were lost, the owners pitched a tent near the site and p r o d u c e d a newspaper filled with accounts of t h e fire. The Deseret News of 30 fune 1898 reported the fire's damage: Park City, Utah's proud and prosperous mining camp has practi­cally been wiped out of existence, being visited yesterday by the most disastrous conflagration in the history of Utah. It may be that the city will be rebuilt and rise again from the ruins that now cover the canyon where it once stood, but it will be years before it can fully recover, if recovery is at all possible under the circumstances from the terrible visitation. Even more remarkable t h a n the fire itself was t h e herculean rebuilding effort that commenced almost immediately. Supplies, materials, food, money, and other forms of relief flooded into the THE SETTLEMENT OF PARK CITY 117 Upper Main Street in Park City about 1910. (Summit County Historical Society) stricken city. Unfortunately, in their haste to rebuild, many Main Street businesses replaced solid masonry buildings-such as the Park City Bank and the Grand Opera House-with flimsy wooden struc­tures that were even more vulnerable to fire and the crushing weight of snow. In 1902, the editor of the Coalville Times argued that the hazard posed by these "temporary" wooden structures would make Park City a poor location for a county courthouse.48 Park City's fortunes would rise a n d fall d u r i n g the following decades, but throughout its tumultuous history it would never lose its diversity. Nor would it cease to be an exception to the norm-pre­cisely what Brigham Young didnt want-in this Mormon-founded state. ENDNOTES 1. The Uintah Mining District was formed in November 1868 and its boundaries set: "Beginning where the Salt Lake and Wanship wagon Road crosses the Divide between Parleys Park and Parleys Canon thence running 118 HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY Easts to Silver Creek thence South to Dividing line between Wasatch and Summit Counties thence West to Dividing line between Summit and Salt Lake Counties thence North to Point of Beginning." Uintah Mining District Records, Book A, Summit County Clerk's office, Coalville, Utah, 1. 2. Utah Mining fournal, 8 August 1872. 3. Noal C. Newbold and Bea Kummer, Silver and Snow: The Story of Park City (Salt Lake City: Parliament Publishers, 1968), 15. 4. Peterson, Echoes of Yesterday, 312. 5. Ibid. 6. Salt Lake Tribune, 14 October 1872. 7. Boutwell, Geology and Ore Deposits, 20. 8. Peterson, Echoes of Yesterday, 316; Salt Lake Tribune, 17 October 1874. 9. The Pacific Coast Business Directory for 1871-73 (San Francisco: Henry G. Langley, 1871), 415, Utah State Historical Society. 10. Salt Lake Tribune, 17 October 1874, 9 August 1874, 12 November 1874. 11. Salt Lake Tribune, 25 October 1879. 12. Salt Lake Tribune, 1 lanuary 1880. 13. United States Census, 1880, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Bureau of the Census). 14. Park Record, 8 May 1886 15. Park Record, 19 lune 1880, 7 August 1880 16. The Park Record newspaper published "Directions to Subscribers" on 20 August 1881. "1) Always listen at the telephone before calling or con­versing, to see if another is using the line. The disregard of this direction is a source of daily annoyance on our wires. Never interrupt others who are conversing. 2) In calling, repeat distinctly and not rapidly the signal for the message. 3) Answer a call by giving your own signal, then listen for the mes­sage. 4) Remember that distinct articulation, in an ordinary or low tone of voice, is more easily heard than a rapid speech in a high key. If you have but one instrument, after speaking, transfer the telephone from the mouth to the ear very promptly. When replying to a communication from another, do not speak too quickly; be sure that your correspondent has finished speaking, and give him time to transfer, as much trouble is noticed from both parties speaking at the same time. In using a transmitter speak from eight to twelve inches from the instrument and do not raise the voice when asked to repeat a message. 5) In asking for communication with a party on another wire, keep the telephone at the ear until he is called by the opera­tor at the Central Office and you hear the voice in reply. 6) Always have an THE SETTLEMENT OF PARK CITY 119 order repeated back, and recall the party receiving it, if he fails to attend to this. . . . The signal 'all right' or its equivalent should always be given and received before leaving the telephone. 7) Anyone finding the current bro­ken will tighten all screws on the instrument to make sure that no cause of trouble exists with them. 8) No danger need be feared from electricity on the wire during a thunder shower, as the ground wire will carry off any dis­charge without injury to surroundings." 17. Park Record, 19 April 1884. 18. Utah Gazetteer (Salt Lake City: Salt Lake Litho. 8c Publishing Company, 1892). 19. Park Record, 10 April 1886, 22 lanuary 1887, 18 August 1888, 5 lanuary 1889, 16 March 1889; George A. Thompson and Fraser Buck, Treasure Mountain Home, Park City Revisited (Salt Lake City: Dream Garden Press, 1981), 71; lohn McCormick, The Power to Make Good Things Happen: The History of Utah Power & Light Company (Salt Lake City: Utah Power & Light Company, 1990), 13. McCormick says that power from the Ontario's hydroelectric plant was used to light businesses in Park City. However, stories in the the Park Record suggest that this was not done on a large scale, if at all. 20. Kristen Rogers, "Days of Gore," Park City Lodestar 12 (Winter 1989): 78. 21. Park Record, 27 lanuary 1883. 22. Park Record, 24 August 1883. 23. Park Record, 31 August 1883. 24. Rogers, "Days of Gore," 90. 25. Edward Tullidge, Tullidge's Quarterly Magazine (Salt Lake City: Star Printing Company, 1883), 493-505. 26. Salt Lake Tribune, 1 lanuary 1875. 27. United States censuses for 1870, 1880, 1890, 1900, 1930 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Bureau of the Census). 28. Park Record, 15 May 1886. 29. Park Record, 6 October 1888. 30. Park Record, 11 September 1886. 31. Park Record, 14 February 1885. 32. Park Record, 22 September 1883. Marshal Ireland arrested Shields on 27 October 1883 for murdering the Chinese man. 33. Park Record, 10 lune 1882. 34. Park Record, 12 March 1926. 35. Park Record, 31 luly 1886. 120 HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 36. Thompson and Buck, Treasure Mountain Home, 18. They built their homes along Park Avenue and Woodside Avenue and later in Salt Lake City. 37. See Samuel H. Goodwin, Freemasonry in Utah: Uintah Lodge No. 7, F.&A.M. (Salt Lake City: n.p., 1930), pamphlet 387, Utah State Historical Society. The miners who came to Utah from Nevada were known as the "hot-water boys," a name derived from the 170 degree Fahrenheit water in the Yellow lacket Mine in Nevada. At times, these men worked there only fifteen minutes at a time because of the intense temperatures. Virginia City mines peaked out in 1877; then litigation, fires, and low stock yields forced the miners out. 38. Goodwin, Freemasonry in Utah, 6. 39. United States Census, 1990. 40. Park Record, 20 May 1897. 41. Park Record, 26 November 1881. 42. Park Record, 15 April 1882. 43. Park Record, 13 lanuary 1883, 20 lanuary 1883. 44. ludy Dykman, "Utah's Silver Queen and the 'Era of the Great Splurge,'" Utah Historical Quarterly 64 (Winter 1996): 1, 4. Some accounts have estimated the Silver Queen's fortune to be as large as $100 million; however, Dykman concludes that her assets in 1895 following the death of Albion Emery amounted to about $350,000. 45. Kent Sheldon Larsen, "The Life of Thomas Kearns," (Master's the­sis, University of Utah, 1964), 151; Salt Lake Tribune, 19 October 1918. 46. Thompson and Buck, Treasure Mountain Home, 30-31. 47. Mabel Glade, "Earl loseph Glade," family history in the possession of the authors. 48. Coalville Times, 31 October 1902.