A significant artifact of Deer Valleys’ and Park City’s past is standing upright again. TownLift and the Park Record report that a ceremony was held on Friday to celebrate the return of the Daly West Headframe. The Daly West mine was created in the late 1800s and was on the site where the Montage Deer Valley now stands, and a wood headframe originally served it. The steel headframe was built in 1914 following a large fire at the mine. There was a massive fire in 1974 that burned many of the adjacent buildings, but it didn’t reach the Daly West Headframe. In May of 2015, the headframe collapsed due to a cave-in, and a campaign started afterward to raise it again. The Daly West Headframe is 107 years old, eighty-five feet tall, and weighs 80,000 pounds. The headframe is nestled in between the Montage Deer Valley hotel and the Empire Express chairlift. The restoration project was a collaboration “between the Empire Pass Master Owners Association, Deer Valley, Park City Municipal, and the Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History (FOSMMH).” The cost to preserve and reinstall the structure was around $440,000. While it was once popular to climb the structure, going up the headframe is now enclosed in order to preserve the headframe. If you go to Deer Valley in the near future, this will be a cool piece of Utah history to check out.

Image/Video Credits: Park Record, TownLift, Park City Museum

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