Bears, especially black bears, were much more abundant and commonly seen in the Wasatch Mountains in Park City’s early days compared to today. There are plenty of mentions of bear sightings and killings in the Park Record through the 1910s.
In 1894, one article reported that several ladies had run into a bear on the outskirts of town, just walking down the road. Plenty of ranchers around town saw bears often and killed them on site to protect their livestock. Usually, they would sell the bear to a local butcher. Del Reddon, who owned a ranch a couple of miles outside of town once witnessed a black bear eating one of his horses, but was unarmed at the time, so the bear got away.
Mentions of bears became more sporadic in the 1920s and 1930s, as they were killed or scared off by increased development in the area. But they were still not totally uncommon, especially closer to the mines and away from town. One Park Record story from 1931 mentioned that three local boys (Jack, Glendon, and Foster) had hiked over to Brighton and were on their way back after dark, near the Silver King Mine. Jack saw a black bear near the mine and alerted his friends. Apparently, Foster Jones “heard the word ‘bear’ and was home just three hours ahead of his companions…” The story continued, “Jack and Glendon are still debating as to which rand the fastest – the bear or the boy.”
Credit: Park City Historical Society & Museum, Park Record Collection
Many Parkites were not frightened of bears, however, and even kept them as pets. In 1909, saloon owner George Wanning survived a bear attack; Luckily for him, it was shot dead by his friends Henry Spriggs and Jinks Nelson just in time. The group captured the bear’s three cubs and kept one as a pet for a short time at Wanning’s saloon. The little bear was popular with patrons, often eating candy and play-biting. The bear was eventually sold to a collector in Milwaukee.
Parkite Herman Hethke found himself a bear companion in 1911, keeping it as a pet for several months before the bear died. Herman suspected someone poisoned the bear, perhaps out of fear that the animal was too wild.
With their prevalence, it was only natural for places to be named after bears (the Bear River comes to mind). In Park City, one mining claim was named the Black Bear Claim. The claim straddled Summit County and Salt Lake County and the Uintah and Little Cottonwood Mining Districts.
The claim never turned into much, but in 1928 was said by one prospector to be “the boss of the camp” while he was blowing off steam in a saloon. Another man overheard this brag and wanted the claim for himself. He propositioned the prospector with a horse race: his old horse v. a young colt the prospector could ride. If the man beat the prospector, he would get a fifty percent stake in the claim.
The old horse, of course, had been raised by the local horse whisperer, so when the race concluded, the old horse had beaten the fast but untamed colt before the prospector knew what happened. The prospector claimed he had been “jobbed,” so the saloon owner, as an impartial referee, lowered the other man’s winnings to one third of the claim, with right of first refusal to purchase the rest.
The Park City Museum is hosting a lecture titled ” Reading Black Bear Behavior,” given by author and wildlife photographer Michael Rutter on Wednesday, December 4, from 5 – 6 p.m. at the Museum’s Education and Collections Center located at 2079 Sidewinder Drive. And Happy Thanksgiving! The Museum will be closed on Thanksgiving Day and will reopen on Black Friday.