Editing Alta, Utah (section)

==History==
[[File:UTHA1879 pg67 ALTA CITY AND EMMA MINE.jpg|thumb|left|The Emma Silver Mine and the City (c.1875)]]
[[File:Cecret Lake Panorama Albion Basin Alta Utah July 2009.jpg|thumb|left|Cecret Lake near Alta]]
{{More citations needed section|date=July 2010}}
Alta has been important to the [[Development of Skiing in Utah|development of skiing in Utah]]. Alta was founded about 1865 to house miners from the Emma mine, the Flagstaff mine, and other [[silver mining|silver mines]] in [[Little Cottonwood Canyon]]. Sensationally rich silver ore in the Emma mine enabled its owners to sell the mine at an inflated price to British investors in 1871.<ref>{{cite web|title=Emma Mine|publisher=mineswindles.com|url=http://www.miningswindles.com/html/emma_mine.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://issuu.com/utah10/docs/volume_23_1955/s/95082|title=The Infamous Emma Mine: A British Interest in the Little Cottonwood District, Utah Territory|publisher=Utah Historical Quarterly, Vol. 23|date=1955|accessdate=20 January 2021}}</ref> The subsequent exhaustion of the Emma ore body led to the recall of the American ambassador to Great Britain, who was a director of the company, and to Congressional hearings in Washington DC on the transaction.<ref>Dan Plazak, ''A Hole in the Ground with a Liar at the Top'', Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2006, {{ISBN|978-0-87480-840-7}}, pp. 39-77.</ref>

An alleged incident that occurred in the town in 1873 was adapted by [[Rod Serling]] for the episode entitled "[[Mr. Garrity and the Graves]]" of his television series ''[[The Twilight Zone]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2000-03-31 |title='Resurrecting' Utah's biggest April Fools' hoaxes |url=https://www.deseret.com/2000/3/31/19499048/resurrecting-utah-s-biggest-april-fools-hoaxes/ |access-date=2024-11-25 |website=Deseret News |language=en}}</ref> The legend was also used as the basis for an episode of ''[[Death Valley Days]]'', entitled “Miracle at Boot Hill” (S10 E10). 

An 1878 fire and an 1885 avalanche destroyed most of the original mining town, though some mining activity persisted into the 20th century. By the 1930s, only one resident, George Watson, remained in the town. Facing back taxes on mining claims that he owned, Watson donated much of his land in Alta to the [[United States Forest Service|U.S. Forest Service]], stipulating that the land be used to construct a ski area. In 1935, Norwegian skiing legend [[Alf Engen]] was hired to help develop the area, and Alta opened its first [[ski lift]] in 1938. By the end of the twentieth century, up to 7,000 people per day could be found on the Alta slopes, and traffic in the Little Cottonwood Canyon was nearing gridlock proportions.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.deseret.com/utah/2021/1/17/22227607/salt-lake-ski-areas-gov-spencer-cox-gondola-wasatch-canyon-little-cottonwood-canyon-alta-snowbird|title=Governor considers gondola to solve canyon gridlock|publisher=Deseret News|date=17 January 2021|accessdate=20 January 2021}}</ref>

Today, Alta is a small town centered around the Alta Ski Area.

During the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] and subsequent government-mandated economic restrictions,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abc4.com/coronavirus/how-will-covid-19-change-utahs-ski-season/|title=How Will Covid-19 Change Utah's Ski Season?|date=18 November 2020|publisher=ABC4 News, Salt Lake City UT|accessdate=20 January 2021}}</ref> Alta briefly gained national attention when it was the only ski resort included in a detailed study of disease-transmission probabilities. The university-based study concluded that buses to the site could be made safe, traveling on ski lifts was safe, and queueing at ski lifts was safe. However, no amount of compensating factors could make indoor-dining at restaurants acceptably safe, and locker rooms could only be considered safe if occupants used "quiet voices".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sltrib.com/sports/2020/12/16/alta-mayor-calls-quiet/|title=Alta Mayor calls for quiet after study at resort shows how loud talking can spread coronavirus|date=16 December 2020|publisher=Salt Lake Tribune|accessdate=20 January 2021}}</ref>