Bartley McDonough, Labor Battles, and the Building of the Park City Miners Hospital Lecture given by Roger McDonough

Park City Museum and the Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History are hosting a lecture called Bartley McDonough, Labor Battles, and the Building of the Park City Miners Hospital given by Roger McDonough on August 30th from 5-6 p.m. The lecture will be held at the Park City Museum Education and Collections Center located at 2079 Sidewinder Drive. More information can be found at www.parkcityhistory.org.

Bartley McDonough was born in Connemara in the West of Ireland in 1854. As a teenager, he emigrated to the United States and worked as a miner in various places before settling in Park City. In Virginia City, Nevada, Bodie, California, and ‘The Park,’ Bartley was deeply active in the struggle for workers’ rights; and as president of the local chapter of the Western Federation of Miners, he helped champion the creation of the Park City Miners Hospital – a union-built-and-operated facility. But the struggle over whether the hospital would be built hints at larger, more heated labor battles playing out across the country in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Roger McDonough has worked as a journalist in Utah for more than two decades. For some years he contributed to the Salt Lake Tribune’s “Living History” column and later worked for KCPW Public Radio, where he hosted various news, environment and history programs. As Bartley’s great-grandson, Roger says he has spent a lot of time in “the historical trenches,” trying to unearth what he can about the story of his Irish ancestors who came to Park City. In addition to his lecture, Roger will share tips on some of the tools he has used to do his research.