Since 2015, Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History, a volunteer committee overseen by the Park City Museum, has dedicated its time preserving the town’s mining history. So, it seems appropriate that the committee’s project manager, Brian Buck, give an overview briefing in the form of a free presentation for the public to attend, titled “Preserving Park City Mine History” at 5 p.m. on Thursday at the museum’s Education and Collections Center, 2079 Sidewinder Drive.  “There is so much interest in what we and other entities in town — Park City, different homeowners associations and the Park City Museum — are doing to help preserve our history,” he said. “So, what I will try to do in the presentation is give a broad-bush look at why it’s important that we have these efforts going on.” Buck will showcase the different crumbling structures around town need to be stabilized and the work that the committee and the other entities have done. And then he’ll talk about two of the structures that the Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History has saved so far. “One is the Silver King Coalition Mine across the flat from the Bonanza lift at Park City Mountain, and the other is the Thaynes Mine, further up the mountain,” he said. “Those are the two that are being led by Ski Mountain Mining History, and I know a little bit about these two projects because I’m the project manager.” Both projects boast budgets more than $1 million a piece, and Buck thought lecture attendees would be interested in seeing the “before-and-after” aspects. “I will show them what the Silver King Coalition MIne building looked like when we first got there, and what we have done inside and outside to preserve it,” he said. “It’s mostly done, and the project is getting wrapped up.” Buck will then turn his attention to the Thaynes Mine. “I’ll talk about the mine’s condition and what we plan to do to mitigate those conditions,” he said. Thaynes is unique even in mining circles, according to Buck. “While it has an interesting mining history and there are a lot of aspects when it comes to Thaynes that is worth preserving just from a mining-industry perspective, it is unusual because in the 1960s during the early days when Park City was transitioning from a mining town to becoming a resort town, it housed the underground ski lift, the skier subway,” he said. What is known as the Spiro Tunnel transported skiers three miles to the Thaynes mine elevator, which then lifted them 1,700 feet to where the base of where the Thaynes lift stands at Park City Mountain, Buck said. “It was part of that most unique ski lift, which was the only one of its kind in the whole world,” he said. “So, it has real importance not just from the mining aspects, which are significant, but the ski-industry part, which makes it so important in my mind.” Buck plans to close the presentation by reading part of a letter written by former Park City city attorney and current Park Record columnist Tom Clyde to the newspaper in 2015. “Nobody says it better than Tom,” Buck said with a laugh. Buck’s presentation comes at a serendipitous time. “I talked with the museum’s education director, Diane Knispel, and offered to do this presentation a long time ago because these presentations are getting to be so popular and are scheduled more than a year out,” he said. “And what’s odd is the Park City Municipal Historic Preservation Board during a meeting last week, awarded the 2025 Park City Historic Preservation Award to the Silver King Coalition Mine.” A Q and A session will follow Buck’s presentation. “I like answering questions from folks who come to these events,” he said. “I try to make the presentation not boring so they are informed by it but also entertained by it. And then I eagerly seek and answer their questions because, hopefully, the presentation strikes a chord with them and they have a question about some aspect of the work. I like to send them out from the meeting truly having learned something.“ ‘Preserving Park City Mine History’ Lecture by Brian Buck When: 5 p.m., Thursday Where: Park City Museum Education and Collections Center, 2079 Sidewinder Drive Cost: Free Web: parkcityhistory.org/events The post Lecture covers the ins and outs of ‘Preserving Park City Mine History’ appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less