Water, Water Everywhere—The Ontario Mine and Its Tunnels Zoom Lecture given by Mike Nelson

Water, Water Everywhere—The Ontario Mine and Its Tunnels

Park City Museum and the Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History will host a Zoom lecture called Water, Water Everywhere—The Ontario Mine and Its Tunnels given by Mike Nelson, Professor of Mining Engineering from the University of Utah, on Wednesday, September 23 from 5-6 p.m.  Please contact Diane at education@parkcityhistory.org to register for the lecture.

Mike will talk about how mining at the Ontario depended on controlling the water in the mine, using pumps and drainage tunnels. After a brief discussion of how tunneling methods developed, he will describe in detail the driving of the Ontario No. 2 Drainage Tunnel—sometimes called the Keetley Tunnel—to its initial terminus in 1894. He will also cover the re-opening of the tunnel after the catastrophic cave-in in 1905. Mike reviewed every issue of the Park Record from 1888 through 1908, and will share stories of some of the the people who worked on the tunnel that he found in those pages.  Mike was commissioned to evaluate the Daly Judge tunnel for Park City Corp. during the 2002 Olympics and the Keetley tunnel for Sandy City Corp. in 2001.

Michael G. (Mike) Nelson is a professor of mining engineering at the University of Utah. He was Chair of the Department of Mining Engineering from 2008 to 2019. He was previously professor of mining engineering at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He holds a B.S. degree in metallurgical engineering and an M.S. in applied physics, both from the University of Utah, and a Ph.D. in mining engineering from West Virginia University. Mike has worked for Kennecott Copper, Westinghouse Electric, Consolidation Coal, and EIMCO Process Equipment. Mike has holds nine patents in mining in mineral processing, He is co-author of the book, History of Flotation, and has contributed to many other technical books. He has given invited short courses in the U.S., Australia, Ecuador, and India, and has been an expert witness in the U.S. and Australia.

Mike’s dad, Tom Nelson, grew up in grew up in Wasatch and Summit County, and graduated from Park City High School in 1946. Tom’s dad, Carl, worked top car at the Silver King, and Tom worked weekends, holidays, and vacations at the Silver King while he was studying at B.Y.U. to become a high school band teacher.

Questions?  Contact Diane Knispel education@parkcityhistory.org.