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Plugging the Thaynes Shaft with a New Method

Park City Museum and Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History will host a lecture called *Plugging the Thaynes Shaft with a New Method* given by Brian Buck and Davey Jones on Wednesday, October 21, 2026 from 5-6 p.m. held at the Education and Collections Center located at 2079 Side

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Education and Collections Center

2079 Sidewinder Drive

Park City Museum and Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History will host a lecture called *Plugging the Thaynes Shaft with a New Method* given by Brian Buck and Davey Jones on Wednesday, October 21, 2026 from 5-6 p.m. held at the Education and Collections Center located at 2079 Sidewinder Drive. More information can be found at www.parkcityhistory.org. What do skier subways, underground caverns, huge foam blocks, underground waterfalls, and the highest building in the country all have in common? Why, the Thaynes mineshaft of course. Brian Buck, Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History, and David Jones, Utah Division of Oil, Gas & Mining (OGM) will describe how all the above relate to the Thaynes mineshaft. It played a one-of-a-kind role in worldwide skiing history with a subterranean skier train carrying skiers 2.5 miles into a repurposed mine tunnel where they rode a mineshaft elevator cage straight up 1,700 feet to the surface, which exceeds the elevator lift of the highest building in the country by almost 500 feet! They will also describe how conventional engineering approaches to closing this collapsing shaft would not work because of groundwater flowing into the cavern caused by the shaft collapse and how the construction team came up with a new method using custom-made foam blocks. This project brought national attention to the Thaynes shaft and the unique approach to safely close it. Brian has degrees in Geology and Geological Engineering. His career has been with the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, Getty Mining Company, JBR Environmental Consultants, and Stantec Consulting. All of his 49 years of professional experience has largely involved working with the mining industry in the U.S. West. Since his retirement, Brian has focused on studying the history of the Park City mining district. He joined the local Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History committee in 2016 and has been the Project Manager for their major construction projects for the las...

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