This is the second of two articles on Park City’s connection to Fort Douglas. In the first installment, we discussed soldiers, stationed under Colonel Patrick E. Connor, in 1868, who discovered a promising outcropping. Three years later the Flagstaff Mine became the first property in the fledgling mining camp around Park City to ship ore.
Our second connection between Fort Douglas and Park City involves the third son of Brigham Young – John Willard Young (JW). At an early age he grasped the transformative potential of railroads. In 1868 Brigham assigned JW to manage the LDS and Union Pacific relationship. Challenges would be numerous, but JW managed them with aplomb. By 1884, when he organized the Salt Lake and Fort Douglas Railway (SL&FD) JW had played a key role in the formation of four railroads. The SL&FD was constructed using a 36-inch gauge, also known as narrow gauge. Operations commenced in 1888, but they would not last long.
JW’s sixth railroad adventure was the Salt Lake & Eastern Railway. He intended to build a narrow-gauge line up Parley’s to connect the booming mining town of Park City to his SL&FD facilities in Sugar House. The line opened in 1889. Beset by cost overruns, in 1890 JW lost control of the company. The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) acquired the distressed assets. They would serve Park City until 1947.
Credit: Park City Historical Society & Museum, Carl Workman Collection
The third connection between Park City and Fort Douglas involves the crash of a USAAF B-18 Bomber at approximately 12:30 a.m. on Monday, November 17, 1941. The seven-man crew and plane were part of the 88th Reconnaissance Squadron stationed at Fort Douglas. They departed Salt Lake the afternoon of Sunday November 16 on a routine flight to Lowry Airfield (Denver) to pick up their commanding officer, 34-year-old Major Robert E. L. Pirtle. The temperature was unseasonably warm in both cities. An abrupt change awaited them on their return flight.
Approaching the Wasatch Mountain Range, off course and overwhelmed by thunderstorms packing 50 MPH winds, disaster beckoned the crew. Anticipating impending doom, Pirtle issued the command to abandon ship. Except for the flight engineer, 20-year-old Sargent Jack Anderson, the crew bailed out over the Silver King Mine. The plane circled Park City crashing just below the summit of Iron Mountain. A fireball ensued. The prevailing winds carried the parachutes and crew northeast, depositing them in a treeless marsh known today as Park Meadows. Five of the six survived. In shock, lost and suffering from exposure to the storm, the surviving crew walked west toward the conflagration marking the crash. They encountered the D&RGW rail line and turned south toward town. Yes, the same line originally built by JW Young.
Alerted by fire sirens, the residents of Park City turned out searching for survivors. Within two hours the crewmen were recovering at Miners’ Hospital.
The Park City Museum is hosting a talk by archaeologist and Utah Historic Preservation Officer Christopher Merritt titled “Beer Bottles and Cartridges: Archaeology of Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City” on April 2 from 5-6 p.m. at their Education and Collections Center, located at 2079 Sidewinder Drive.