Long before Park City became a world class mountain resort and venue for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, it was famous as a silver mining town, and boasts a lively and colorful past. Founded by prospectors in the late 1860's, Park City continued to mine silver until the early 1970's. The mining company, Park City Consolidated Mines, started the ski business in 1963, when they built the first lifts on what was then called Treasure Mountain. The Park City area now has three world class resorts: Park City Mountain Resort, Deer Valley Resort, and the Canyons Resort.

 

 

Park City, Utah was put on the world map as it helped host the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, deemed the most successful Winter Olympics ever. Hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world filled the town during those 17 days to watch the world's best athletes compete for Olympic gold; yet more than 130 years ago, a rush of people flocked to Park City seeking a different precious metal-silver. Park City was incorporated as a city in 1884.The mountains' abundant silver veins attracted adventurers from around the world in the late 1860s. During its mining height, those mountains surrounding Park City yielded $400 million in silver and created 23 millionaires, including the father of newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst.

 

 

However, with falling mineral prices in the 1930s, the boom years ended and residents began "mining" the treasure on the mountains, discovering what would later be termed The Greatest Snow on EarthTM.

 

Today, Park City is a unique blend of the old and new. Sixty-four of Park City's buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, many of which are located along the town's Main Street, and more than 1,200 miles of tunnels wind through the surrounding mountains, remnants of the mining era.