E.P. Ferry – Park City’s Savviest Capitalist by Michael O’Malley and Sandy Brumley

Park City Museum will host a lecture called Edward Ferry Park City’s Capitalist, given by Sandy Brumley and Michael O’Malley on Wednesday, May 22, from 5-6 p.m., held at the Park City Museum Education and Collections Center located at 2079 Sidewinder Drive.  More information can be found at www.parkcityhistory.org.

Edward P. Ferry was among the earliest arrivals to Park City in 1873.  Unlike many of the city’s heroes, he arrived with substantial family wealth, which he expertly parlayed into an even larger fortune.  Ferry and his partners obtained the title to the city’s townsite and attempted to sell lots to the miners and merchants who had already occupied the land. This precipitated The Red Hot Riot, one of the first major fracases in this wild west town. He was the central character in a group that has been called “The Michigan Bunch. We’ll follow his exploits within The Marsac Companies through his development of the Crescent, Woodside, Mayflower, and Silver King Mines. He was ultimately declared mentally incompetent and was sued by his family members for the manner in which he used the family wealth. Litigation ultimately made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court and set a precedent for case law concerning using estate funds.

A mountain host and hiking guide at Deer Valley and museum volunteer, Michael O’Malley has been a student of Park City history since his first ski trip here in 1980. He is a frequent contributor to the Way We Were column in the Park Record. He is a member of Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History.  A mountain host and hiking guide at Park City Mountain Resort, Sandy Brumley is a descendant of iron miners in Minnesota and an avid student of Park City History.

This will be the sixth lecture in a series of presentations he has made for the Museum. Sandy is a member of Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History and a hike leader in the summer for the Museum.