Winter Sports History Exhibit

In the early 1900's, skiing was both a form of recreation and transportation in Park City. Emigrant miners from Scandinavia brought skiing from theAold country. The steep streets of Park City packed with abundant snow provided the ideal terrain for the popular winter pastimes. Early skiers made their skis from lumber or wood planks. The wood was steamed and a rope attached to a hole drilled in the tip used to bend the ski and secure the curve while it dried. A piece of leather was then attached to the middle of each ski to hold the shoe or boot in place.

It was natural for Scandinavian immigrants Christopher Rasmussen and his wife Elsie Marie to want to teach their children to ski. Using trees cut on their property, Chris constructed a jumping scaffold and opened the ranch to skiers, installing one of the first rope tows in the West. By 1927, the new ski area was hosting Salt Lake high school ski clubs.

After WWII, skiing continued to grow in popularity. In 1946, Park City got it's first ski resort ... Snow Park. As silver prices declined mining companies started to look for other ways to use their resources. In 1963 United Park City Mines Company created the Treasure Mountains Resort (now Park City Mountain Resort). They installed a gondola, J-bars and chairlifts, but the most unique way to travel to the top of the mountain was by the "Skier Subway." Using the old Spiro mine drain tunnel, the mine company created the world's first underground ski lift, using the existing electric mine train coupled with cars fabricated to carry skiers and their skis. The skiers traveled three miles into the mountain to the Thaynes Shaft where a hoist (mine elevator) lifted them 1,800 feet to the surface in Thaynes Canyon. There they put on their skis and traveled the short distance to the Thaynes Chair Lift. The unique underground transportation system was soon dubbed the "Skier Subway." "Just like riding the subway in New York," remarked one skier.