Description & Facts: On June 19, 1898 most of Park City burned to the ground. Residents helplessly stood by as the flames jumped from building to building. Miraculously no lives were lost and there was no looting. Without missing an issue, The Park Record set up temporary headquarters in a canvas tent. Reconstruction began immediately at the rate of almost a building a day. By 1899 the City Hall had been rebuilt and Park City was still a leader in the silver boom. In 1948, this historical marker was dedicated to honor George Snyder and his large family who arrived in the Park City area on May 25, 1872. On July Fourth of that same year a celebration was held to officially name Park City. The bell hung atop city hall from 1902-1948. It was used as a warning for fires and any other catastrophe that might strike. The marker now lives at the entrance to the Holiday Village Mall on Kearns Blvd. After the first settlement in the Salt Lake City Valley, the first known discovery of this area was by Colonel Patrick E. Connor who instigated his men to search the area in bringing non-Mormons to the Utah region.[4] The finding of silver, gold and lead sparked the first silver mines in Park City in the 1860s. In 1872, this town was founded and dedicated by George Snyder and his family on their journey to current Salt Lake City and was known as Synderbasin, which later earned the name of Parley's Park City, and then shortened to Park City in the early 1900s. Park City’s large mining boom brought large crowds of prospectors setting up camps around the mountain terrain, marking the first mining settlements. The Daly Mining Company and Anchor Mining Company were two of the first major producers.[5][4] While silver was thriving in Utah, other mines across the world were depleted, drawing many of these miners to Park City. The town flourished with crowds of miners and wealth. However, the city nearly became a ghost town by the end of the 1950s because of a drop in the price of silver, and the determent of World War I and the Great Depression. The transformation of this town into a ski resort is primarily attributed to the silver need during (and after) World War I economy. The war and Great Depression were creating strikes and crippling the economy.[6][4] Once the site of the largest silver-mining camp in the country, the town was virtually destroyed by fire in 1898. It was home to the famous Ontario and Silver King Coalition mines. Tragedy struck again in 1902 when 34 miners were killed in an explosion in the Day West Mine. The mining community never fully recovered and the miners resorted to desperate measures. These desperate measures were based on the need to revive the economy, and in doing so the miners gave up their mining heritage, turning to the rising interest in the West and skiing. The silver industry was suffering severely, and the town was hanging by a thread when ’Parkite’ miners presented to Utahns Inc,. a proposal for a ski resort called Treasure Mountain which ended up saving the town. This ski resort opened in 1963 on 10,000 acres of land the miners owned with mineral rights. This is said to be when tourists first largely began to visit Park City. This marks the beginning of the ski industry largely promoted by the Utah State Legislation as a destination resort.[7] From this intense publicity by the Utah Tourist and Publicity Council, Park City has flourished in the light as being ski mecca. Since the rise of the skiing and tourist economy, Park City houses more tourists than residents. Park City has grown through the ideals of a winter wonderland. It has become a place of fame through the 2002 Winter Olympic games and provides more attractions than ever before. In the 1950s, Utah began to feed on Park City as a mountain getaway, and not until D. James Canon promoted winter sports in Utah, with the promotional scheme of “Ski Utah” and “The Greatest Snow on Earth”.[8] did many drive to see for themselves why Utah is a winter wonderland. Utah drew in over 648,000 tourists in 1970 and now a yearly average of 4 million tourists.[9] In a small town with a population of 8,000, the average number of tourists in Park City is 600,000 year. This significant increase in visitors is largely credited to promotional material that is carefully planned and distributed by the Utah Publicity and Tourist Council. Growth has accelerated in the last few decades, and Park City is now one of the most affluent and lively resort towns in the United States. The tourist industry now contributes over 1/3 of the total economic value to the state of Utah.[10] In particular, Park City, draws in 3,006,071 average annual visitors; in the winter 1,603,775, and in the summer 1,402,296. Park City prospers from the average nightly vistor spending ranging from $100 to $350.[11] Currently, Park City primarily relies on its tourist industry from skiing to restaurants to hiking and biking. The makeover of Park City has stimulated an entirely different culture of expenditure, adventure, and wealth, and their promotional material indulges it. As the tourist economy continues to thrive through its unique terrain and mountainous luxury, the struggle for survival was lost, and created a world-renown name of touristic dominance. As long ago as the 1920s, miners in Park City were using underground trains and shafts to gain access to the mountain for skiing. Aerial trams once used for hauling ore were converted into chairlifts. To this day, there are still more than 1000 miles (1609 km) of old silver-mine workings and tunnels beneath the slopes at Park City Mountain Resort and neighboring Deer Valley. Park City might be a fairly nondescript-appearing town were it not for its colorful and evocative Main Street, where 64 Victorian buildings are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Old mine buildings, mineshafts, and hoists, including the weathered remains of the Walker Webster Silver Mine and the water towers once used to hydrate one of the biggest mines, the Silver King, provide a hint of the history of this mining town transformed in economic upheaval into a skiing resort.