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 M o r m o n 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 M o r m o n 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
