The Bedrooms

E.P. Ferry Bedroom

King Bed | Full Private Bathroom

In 1873 E.P. Ferry traveled from Grand Haven, Michigan to Park City, with a group of investors including D.C. McLaughlin and his brother, Col. William Ferry, to stake their claims.

Ferry first purchased the Flagstaff mine in Bonanza Flats from James M. Kennedy for $50,000. Kennedy has bought it from a group of Col. Patrick E. Connor’s men for $5,000. Within a short time, the Flagstaff mine produced over $100,000 of silver ore. Ferry soon founded the Anchor Mine; then came the Daly-West, Woodside, Norfolk, Mayflower, Silver King, Thaynes, Alliance, Crescent and other mines.

E.P. Ferry was soon to become one of Park City’s 23 self-made millionaires. He built the Twenty Stamp Marsac Mill, just east of where the Marsac City Hall building now stands and continued his investments into mining and Park City. His partner, D.C. McLaughlin was instrumental in getting approval for the city town sign and beginning the construction of boardwalks and streets.

E.P. Ferry is the first recorded owner of the property you now stand on, and it reported to have built the original lodge in 1893 as housing for his woodstoc and norfolk miners. The lodge’s lots next door were owned by D.C. McLaughlin.

Rector Steen Bedroom

Queen Bed | Full Private Bathroom

Rector Steen was a partner in, if not the discoverer of, Park City’s greatest mine. It was the discovery of the Ontario Claim in 1872 that started Park City on its way to becoming the West’s greatest silver camp. For years miners argued loud and long in the camp saloons over it was that actually made that most important and richest of all strikes.

Many years late R.C. Chambers, then super-intendent of the Ontario, claimed that Herman Buden alone had made the discovery, and Buden, then living in California, confirmed the claim. In rebuttal, Steen wrote of his finding the ore:

“I camped in a brush shanty for 6 months at the branch just below the Ontario, waiting for the snow to melt off. I then went to what was called Badger Mine; and on, or about, the 15th of June, 1872, we discovered the Ontario Mine. There stood right near this mine a pine tree, and nearby was a fine spring. When we discovered this mine we found a little knob sticking out of the ground about 2 inches. We had this rock assayed and it went from 100 to 400 ounces of silver to the ton.”

He made a far better miner than a businessman, however… he sold his mine to George Hearst for a mere $27,000! The Ontario produced over $50,000,000 and paid out $15,000,000 in dividends in the years following his sale. Steens’ partners, John Kane and Gus Dawell, never quite let him forget his decision on August 21, 1872.

Colonel Patrick E. Connor Bedroom

King Bed | Full Private Bathroom

You might say that the Park City story started with a feud between mormon leader, Brigham Young, and Col. Patrick E. Connor of the United States Army. Young led his latter day saints away from religious persecution in the east to the remote Salt Lake Valley. To avoid his haven be invaded by gentile prospectors he forbade his people to prospect for any ores except for coal.

The U.S. government feared that Young might use the impending Civil War as an excuse to declare the Territory of Deseret an independent commonwealth. So Colonel Patrick E. Connor was sent to keep an eye on the situation. It didn’t take the Colonel long to figure the best way to combat Young was to encourage prospecting. An ore strike would surely trigger the push of non-mormon prospectors to solve his problems.

His dream was to fulfill President Lincoln’s prophesy… that “Utah will become the treasure house of the nation.”

He did very well indeed. In 1864 the first silver discovered in the Wasatch Range was found by Patrick E. Connor himself. He was referred to as “The Father of Utah Mining”

Jedediah Grant Bedrooms

King Bed | Full Private Bathroom | Attached Sunroom with Queen Pullout

The lush Wasatch Mountain meadows attracted Jedediah Grant to graze cattle in Parley’s Park and leave the harsh and neglected Salk Lake Valley. Eventually this land was granted to Samuel C. Snyder, Heber C. Kimball and Jedediah Grant. 

Jedediah was known as one of the Parley Park Saints – a church apostle making a profit off the gold rush seekers in route to California.

The saints were known for establishing a small community named Snyderville, 2 miles below the presert state of park city. Here prospectors could purchase supplies and tools for reasonable prices.

Flip Wing Bedrooms

King Bed | 2 Twin Beds | Full Bathroom

Flip Wing was a chinese gardener in Park City in the 1890’s. Since miners were only paid once a month, he had a problem with collecting his money, especially since there were plenty of saloons for a prospector to visit on payday…

So, he devised a very inventive way to keep track of his accounts due. He scratched the customers “balance due” on their houses in oriental characters!

"Black Jack" Murphy Bedroom

Queen Bed | Full Private Bath

Murphy has the dubious distinction of being one of three men lynched in Utah’s history, and the only one in Park City.

Accused of shooting a local miner, Murphy was moved to Coalville for safe-keeping. So sure a lynch mob would try to take his prisoner, the sheriff removed “Black Jack” from the cell. He made him sleep in the middle of a hay field with his leg tied to a stake. After a few days the sheriff felt it was safe to return “Black Jack” to jail.

A vigilante group highjacked a train to Coachville and broke out Murphy. They took him back to Park City; held a brief trial next to the tracks and hung him from a telegraph pole.

Fort Bridger Bedroom

King Bed | Full Private Bathroom

Either working for themselves, or attached to one of the big fur companies, these “mountain men” spent most of the year in the wilderness, emerging in summer with their bundles of valuable pelts. Arriving at one of the trading posts, or an open air “rendevous,” to barter for food, liquor, trinkets for their Native wives, and to enjoy a week of wild carousel, before returning to the solitude of mountain lakes and streams for another year of danger, adventure, and exploration.

One of these “trading posts,” became Fort Bridger, named after one of the more famous mountain men. Located near the Utah/Wyoming border, Fort Bridger played an important role in the exploration and settling of the Utah region.

Mother Urban Bedroom

King Bed | Full Private Bathroom

Mother Urban conducted activities on “the row.” The madam, undaunted by 200 pounds and a wooden leg, paid her fines at monthly raids, contributed to charity, and didn’t mingle socially. Parkites realized that her profession kept the bachelor miners from skipping town on payday sprees and made Park City streets safe for any “respectable lady” day or night.

One mayor decided to close the district, however. Mother Urban was incensed; not only would she lose trade, but the mines would suffer from their employees staying down in Salt Lake City three or four days every month. She decided to appeal to one of the company superintendents… a bachelor. Within a few days, he used his influence with the city council and twenty-five “seamstresses” were ensconced in the little row of houses.

Thomas Kearns Bedroom

King Bed | Full Private Bathroom

Thomas Kearns, one of the Irish’s favorite sons, first entered town with a pack on his back and left as a multimillionaire and a United States senator. 

Success never made a snob of Kearns. His party invitations were sent to miners in flannel shirts as well as the high society folk in silk. He had holdings in several Park City mines including the Silver King Mine where his holdings had a market value over $4,000,000. He and his partner, David Keith, were in meshed in dealings ranging from mines, mills, and the purchase of the “Salt Lake Tribune.” The mining money also helped construct lavish homes and buildings in Salt Lake City. 

Thomas Kearns built a mansion on East South Temple, which is now the governor’s official residence. In 1900 he took his crusade for the “little man” into politics when elected to United States Senate.

George Hearst Bedroom

Queen Bed | 2 Bunk Beds | Full Private Bathroom

George Hearst arrived in Park City in July, 1872 from a mining venture in Nevada.

He quickly became one of the wealthiest men in Park City mining when he purchased the Ontario mine for $27,000 from Rector Steen and his partners. It went on to produce $50,000,000 and is operating to this day. 

The money that the Ontario Mine produced made up the basis for the Hearst fortune which eventually included the famed Homestake Mine in South Dakota, the Cerro de Pasco Mine in Peru, the famous Hearst Castle in San Simeon, and the great Hearst newspaper chain.

Hearst later became a U.S. Senator for the state of California.

Third Floor Exercise & Bedroom

Queen Bed | 2 Twin Beds | Full Private Bathroom

Third Floor Exercise Equipment