Discovery Made at Ghost Town Site, Alta, Utah

Discovery Made at Ghost Town Site, Alta, Utah

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Archaeologists and volunteers teamed up to uncover more than 5,000 artifacts at Alta Ski Area near Salt Lake City.

Thousands Of Artifacts From A 19th-Century Mining Town Were Unearthed In Utah During Construction At A Luxury Ski Resort

By Cara Johnson | Edited By John Kuroski. Published February 26, 2026. Updated February 27, 2026.

Archaeologists uncovered hats, shoe soles, china, bones, bullets, and even a full bottle of alcohol from the old mining town of Alta, which was destroyed by an avalanche in 1885.

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In the summer of 2025, the installation of snowmaking pipes at Utah’s Alta Ski Area uncovered thousands of relics from a mining town that stood at the site more than a century ago. Alta was founded around 1865 to house prospectors working in the silver mines of Little Cottonwood Canyon, but it was mostly destroyed 20 years later by an avalanche and subsequent fire.

The area where the excavations took place was once a busy thoroughfare known as Water Street. Archaeologists and volunteers unearthed bottles, shoe soles, bullets, a leather mining hat, and much more, revealing the intimate details of daily life in Alta in the late 19th century.

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An Unexpected Archaeological Treasure Trove At Alta Ski Area ~

When the U.S. Forest Service asked archaeologist Jeremy Moore to oversee planned construction work at Alta Ski Area last summer, Moore didn’t expect to find much, particularly ~after the first day of the dig was uneventful. But toward the end of day two, historical artifacts began emerging from the dirt.

As Moore told The Salt Lake Tribune, “Essentially, I’m one person here and my job is to kind of watch and make sure [the workers digging the trench] are not going to mess anything up, but there are already hundreds and hundreds of things, and I’m trying to screen dirt while I’m watching and trying to pull out artifacts.”

Many of the items were in pristine condition, from bottles and coins to clothing and bullets. They were the remnants of the 19th-century mining town of Alta, which was built at the site of the current ski resort around 1865.

When it became clear that there were still thousands of artifacts to uncover, the Utah State Historic Preservation Office called in volunteers to help. Over the following days, they found bones, shoe soles, cookware and fine china, ink wells, pistols, a 16-pound dumbbell, perfume bottles, and more.

One bottle still had a label for Dr. Crossman’s Specific Mixture, which was marketed as a cure for “Gonorrhoea, Gleets, Strictures, and analogous complaints of the Organs of Generation.” Another, still corked, was full of alcohol. It’s currently being analyzed, and so far, experts believe it’s an apple-based sherry or cider.

A 150-year-old corked bottle was still full of alcohol, which is believed to be sherry or cider.

A coin from 1873 that was uncovered during excavations at Alta.

Perhaps the most fascinating artifact was an intact leather hat with two small holes where miners would have inserted a “Sticking Tommy,” a piece of iron that held a candle to create a makeshift headlamp.

While none of these discoveries are particularly valuable or groundbreaking, they do show what day-to-day life was like for the miners and their families who lived in Alta more than a century ago.

The History Behind The 19th-Century Mining Town of Alta, Utah ~

In the 1860s, silver was discovered in Utah’s Little Cottonwood Canyon, and several small communities were built to house the miners flocking to the area. One of these was Alta, which was constructed on a flat stretch along Little Cottonwood Creek just outside of Salt Lake City.

The town of Alta in the 1870s, when it was home to more than 1,000 silver miners and their families.

Saloons, brothels, stores, butcher shops, laundromats, hotels, restaurants, Chinese apothecaries, and houses soon popped up around Water Street, forming a town of more than 1,000 people that thrived until the mid-1870s. Then, the falling value of silver led to a drop in population, but around 300 residents remained.

But in 1885, disaster struck. A massive avalanche destroyed much of Alta and killed at least 13 people. An article in The Salt Lake Herald from February 15, 1885, declared “The Dread Avalanche Sweeps Over the Town… Demolishing all the Houses in the Place but Seven — A Terrible Disaster.”

In the aftermath of the avalanche, a fire destroyed many of the remaining structures, and Alta was all but abandoned. However, it was these very tragedies that preserved so many artifacts for more than a century. The snow, ash, and dirt covered the objects and discouraged looters, while the cold temperatures for much of the year slowed the items’ decay.

So far, between 5,000 and 6,000 artifacts have been uncovered, but archaeologists think there may be a million more still buried beneath Alta Ski Area. They hope to conduct another dig this coming summer to learn even more about the long-lost mining town and the people who lived there.

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Alta, Utah in 1865. A tent town.

Alta in 1873.

Alta in 1873.

Commercial Building in Alta, Utah. 1870s.

Emma mine at Alta, Utah ca. 1873.

5,000 pounds of bullion ca. 1880.

Emma mine at Alta, Utah 1883.

Sam Tai washing house at Alta, Utah ca. 1880s.

Damaged buildings from the avalanche.

Alta Utah 1904.

Alta Ski Resort. 1941.

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