The California Comstock Mill
Photo Courtesy of Park City Historical Society and Larry Warren
Two concentrations of mining ruins draw the eye of Park City Mountain Resort skiers on their daily ski and snowboard adventures. The Silver King mine ruins at the Bonanza chairlift base are a skier’s first indication that the mountain was a busy place long before it became the site of a major ski resort.
Those who venture higher into Thaynes Canyon see a scattering of other ruins, including the California-Comstock Mill, at the base of the Keystone run, to skiers’ left as they descend Thaynes Canyon. Over the ski years, this has become the place for the souvenir picture that defines the unique Park City Mountain Resort experience—a place of great skiing set amid an interesting past. Skiers aim for a rounded hill which conceals old mine rock waste just uphill a few dozen yards from the mill and catch some air or some powder as a photographer grabs the shot at the instant the skier has the old mill, as the frame-filling background. A variation of that shot has graced many a brochure and article about the resort over its 40-plus years.
Today, the California-Comstock appears to be on its last substantially timbered legs. It rose more than a century ago to crush the ore-bearing rock coming from both the California and the Comstock mines. The two mining companies feuded over who owned what ore underground, and after a bitter round of lawsuits, the companies merged into the California-Comstock. The building was once substantially larger, but what remains is the crushing mill, where big rocks entered at the top, and through a series of grinding processes, emerged as smaller pieces separated into ore and worthless tailings. It required only four men to operate the place.
Wasatch winters are taking their toll on the historic building, however. The roof has fallen in. The beams are splitting. Two key cross members that hold the sides of the mill together have snapped.
“We’re concerned about it—we’d like to stabilize the ruin in place for future generations of skiers to enjoy,” says Park City Historical Society and Museum director Sandra Morrison. The Museum and Talisker Corporation, the company which purchased resort land owner United Park City Mines, hired consulting engineers to inspect the ruins. They suggest applying wood preservative to the old timbers, replacing broken supports, bolts and washers and building a stronger foundation.
“The early estimates we’ve received are that it would cost roughly $100,000 to do the work,” Morrison reports. “We’d love to stabilize it, but don’t know yet where the money would come from.”
For my family, the old mill has long been a favorite picnic spot on a sunny spring ski day. It holds fond memories. It is one of only two surviving crushing mills in the Park City mining district. If it collapses from neglect, one more link to this town’s past will be gone for good.
And where will future photographers go for that one perfect shot that captures the Park City ski experience of blasting through the powder in the shadow of the past?
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