The Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History, a committee of the Park City Museum, raised more than $1.6 million dollars to return the Silver King Coalition Mine building close to its appearance when it closed in 1953. For seventy years, the building sat empty and neglected, witnessing the creation of Treasure Mountain Ski Resort (now Park City Mountain Resort) and countless snowfalls. As time and nature took its course, The Friends started fundraising. We wanted to preserve the building aesthetically and structurally to its 1953 form while ensuring it would stand for future generations to enjoy.
An early challenge—and perhaps the most important—was to cap the top of the mine shaft. The sudden Daly West Mine collapse in 2015 near the Montage Hotel at Deer Valley Resort taught us the importance of a stable cap. Thanks to assistance from the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, they were able to close and cap the shaft in 2023. This ensured the headframe’s stability for the long term.
Our next challenge was reinforcing the roof to stand up to the heavy snow loads in Park City. When this was an active mine, the heat in the building melted the snow off the uninsulated roof. Without that heat, snow accumulated and took its toll for seventy winters. Our principal contractor and fourth-generation miner, Clark Martinez, and his firm, The Xcavation Company, started reconstruction of the roof in 2024 by removing the old, corrugated metal and replacing the damaged roof structure. Corrugated steel decking was attached over the roof structure to reinforce the roof. Finally, Clark’s team meticulously reattached the beautifully weathered original roof, ensuring it now looks like it did 100 years ago.
Another part of our focus was cleaning the building, inside and out. We cleaned the broken glass out of its 1,384 window panes and replaced almost 3,900 square feet of rotten floors with crushed rock. To prevent future vandalism and trespassing, steel security grids were installed behind all ground floor windows and cameras were installed with a live feed to the resort.
The Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History are proud to have restored and preserved the Silver King Coalition Mine building, the historic centerpiece of the top producing mine in Park City and the centerpiece of the newly designated Silver King Coalition Mine National Historic District. With this challenging work almost complete, we will seek authorization to offer guided tours of the building where many artifacts from the mining era still remain, including one of the original double boilers, the hoist, a compressor, the tools room where miners would pick up their hardhat and drill bits before going down the shaft, a machine shop and the blacksmith shop.
Please consider donating below to help save other mining structures in the Park City’s mining district.
Learn more about the Silver King Coalition Mine
Before (2023) and After (2025)
Explore Park City's Iconic Mining Structures
Park City's dramatic mining history begins in the 1860s after the Civil War, with the transformation to skiing about 100 years later. Today, the same mountains that produced billions of dollars in silver and other valuable ore also hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics and annually welcomes the world for year-round recreational enjoyment.
The Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History are passionate about preserving the rusting relics of Park City's early mining history for all to learn and enjoy. Click on a photo below to learn more about each of our projects and the history of each of these mine sites.