The next stop on the tour was the Ontario Mine.  It was one of Park City’s most famous and longest producing mines.  Prospectors discovered the deposit and in 1878 sold it to George Hearst.  Hearst’s right-hand man. R. C. Chambers, brought the mine into production.  Jumping ahead to the 1970s, in the depths of the worldwide energy crisis and the failed attempt to corner the silver market by the Hunt Brothers, silver prices plummeted and mining stopped in 1978.  The mine was leased by Noranda in 1979 but it ceased operations and terminated its lease in 1982.  Today, the mine buildings reflect the Noranda period.  After the mine was finally closed, it was transformed into a tourist attraction, The Park City Silver Mine Adventure, with an underground mine tour via the Number 3 shaft.  Some of the exhibits are still in the Ontario buildings. This attraction operated from 1995 to 1999.

After leaving the Ontario Mine, the MHAers travelled to the site of the recently restored headframe of the Daly West Mine, the last stop on the tour.

ONTARIO MINE

MHAers are back on the bus.

Heading for the Ontario Mine.

MHAers arrive at the Ontario Mine complex.  The facade, added during the 1990s, was made to resemble the square set timbering method used in the underground workings.

Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History welcome the MHAers to the Ontario Mine.

Marianne Cone describes the history of the Ontario Mine and its post-mining use as a mining museum, the Park City Silver Mine Adventure.

Model of the Ontario Mine surface plant.

Square Set Model with photos of mine visitors framed by the square sets in a stope.

The Ontario Number 3 Shaft.

The Ontario hoist and operator’s compartment.

View of the Ontario hoist and brake shoes.

Air Compressor at the Ontario Number 3 shaft.

The Ontario Mine Headframe and Hoist House.

DALY WEST SHAFT HEADFRAME

Our bus arrives at the last tour stop for the day, the Daly West Mine site.  The Daly West connects underground with the Ontario Mine for drainage of water.  It was the location of a deadly 1902 explosion of an underground explosives magazine.  The poisonous gases from the explosion killed a total of 34 miners in  the two mines, including 3 mine rescuers.

The Daly West Mine headframe.  The headframe was originally positioned above the shaft in the fenced area.  In 2015, subsidence of the shaft caused the headframe to topple. It suffered serious damage. The headframe was repaired and relocated a short distance away from the shaft by the Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History and its partners.

The headframe is visible in the grove of trees to the left of the main Montage Deer Valley Resort facilities.  The Empire Express ski lift is at the far left.

Could that be the Editor of The Mining History Journal coming downhill after taking photos of the headframe?  Stay tuned for this year’s edition to see what he was up to.

You can learn more about the Ontario Mine and the Daly West Shaft at the websites below:

https://parkcityhistory.org/mining/ontario-mine/

https://parkcityhistory.org/cornish-connections-in-park-city/

https://parkcityhistory.org/the-frozen-cornish-pump/

https://parkcityhistory.org/lets-level-with-you/

https://parkcityhistory.org/whatever-happened-to-the-silver-mine-adventure/

https://parkcityhistory.org/mining/daly-west-mine/

https://parkcityhistory.org/difficult-decisions-at-the-height-of-disaster/

https://parkcityhistory.org/miner-survives-fall-down-shaft/