The most dangerous place to live in Utah during the late 19th century was undoubtedly Alta.
“Unhappy Alta,” “The Awful Avalanche,” “Terrible tragedy,” “Latest Alta horror,” “Alta is swept away,” “More snowslides — Six persons killed at Alta,” “Terrible snow-slide in Cottonwood” and “Another horror.” These were all newspaper headlines from avalanche disasters in the historic mining town of Alta.
Indeed, one newspaper story called Alta “home of the avalanche.”
From 1872 to 1927, at least 87 people were killed in 14 different avalanches at Alta, according to research on digitalnewspapers.org.
Yes, avalanches occurred in other Wasatch Mountain locations during that era. For example, the most deadly single avalanche, on Feb. 27, 1926, in Bingham Canyon, killed 40 people. And other slides at Bingham had killed at least three others in earlier years. However, Alta had the most slides, and several times the entire town was swept away.
Many animals also perished in these slides, usually mules or horses.
Here’s one Alta example from the Deseret News of March 12, 1884: “Avalanche at Alta. Twelve people killed at New Emma Mine. The awful news reached this city yesterday of a fatal snow-slide near Alta, Little Cottonwood Canyon, in which twelve persons, nine men, two women and a boy perished.”
Here’s another from the Deseret News of Feb. 18, 1885, of a snow slide that killed 16 people: “The Alta avalanche. Further particulars of the sad catastrophe. … The avalanche covered more ground that any before known in that vicinity, and its effects were far more disastrous. … Of the many buildings in the main part of town, only seven were left standing.”
Why did people keep living and working the mines in Alta despite one disaster after another?
A Salt Lake Herald newspaper story from Feb. 15, 1885, (and right after the slide that killed 16) may have the best answers. It referred to the avalanche as “the same old story” and eventually states:
“The poor men and women who have been ruthlessly stricken down were not in Alta because they preferred the isolation, the discomforts and dangers of the snow-bound camp to the pleasure and safety of city homes; they were there for the same reason which induces the Swiss peasant to brave the terrors of winters in the Alps … they were there for the bread that they must have. … We can honor them, for they were heroes and heroines, for they had the courage to fight nature’s battle against nature’s threatenings.”
Avalanches have historically been one of the biggest natural killers in Utah. However, the Utah Avalanche Center didn’t begin recording accidents until the post-mining decades, beginning with 1940. (The first avalanche death by a skier at Alta was in January 1941.)
• Given that heavy dose of early Alta’s grisly history, here are examples of so-called humor from the same era, as published in the Ogden Herald on Aug. 24, 1882, and on Nov. 9, 1882:
“Man proposes and the girl weighs his pocketbook and decides,” “Turf reform: mowing your lawn,” “A lady said that it takes many men a lifetime to carry a 10-dollar bill home without breaking it,” “Yellow fever: Man’s thirst for gold,” “Ingersoll says that no such man as Noah existed. He probably bases his belief on the assumption that no man would invite a pair of mosquitoes into the ark” and “The only human being that can step on a heavenward pointed tack and not say something that would cause the recording angel to weep is a mute.”
• Finally, here’s a weird occurrence that happened in Ogden on April 8, 1918 — a full week after April Fool’s Day that year: “Eat horse meat at luncheon given at noon yesterday to local and visiting guests” was an April 9, 1918, headline in the Ogden Daily Standard.
The Ogden Horse Sale and Commission Company hosted a luncheon for those attending a big horse sale at the Union Stock Yards. The problem was that it wasn’t announced the bologna and dried meat consumed was horse until after the luncheon. Surprisingly, the story stated that “they all agreed it was a good joke.”