Park Harper

Park Harper, ninth child of Charles Alfred Harper and Lavina Wollerton Dilworth was born September 16, 1861 at Park City, Utah. His father was one of the town's founders and his first two children born there, a son and daughter, were named Park and Parkaretta, respectively.

Park's boyhood and early schooling was spent in Holladay. When about seventeen years old went to work in Provo, Utah and later he followed members of his family to Arizona where he tried his hand at farming for a few years in and around Mesa. Later on he secured a contract to haul lumber from Flagstaff to Mesa.

Park had a great interest in and talent for livestock management. About 1884 he brought his brother Chester to Arizona. Together, they owned and operated a large sheep ranch, which was briefly successful, but went bankrupt during the depression of the Cleveland administration.

Afterwards, Park went to Wyoming and Nevada and picked up experience as a miner. In 1905 he again joined his brother Chester in Lost River (now Moore), Idaho and filed claim on 160 acres of dry land. That venture proved a great success, but Park longed to mine once again, so he rented out the land and went to the mines at Mackay, Idaho. He later stated that some of the best years of his life were spent at "The Old Custer Mine" there.

About 1920 he retired altogether and with income from his farm at Lost River, he traveled the country for almost 15 years. Traveling mostly by rail or on foot, he crisscrossed the continent, briefly owned a tavern in Florida, and then spent several years in both Canada and Mexico before returning to Idaho in 1934. He died suddenly at the home of his brother on September 15, 1935, the day before his 74th birthday. He is buried at the family plot in Holladay, Utah beside his parents.

Park was known to be lucky at cards and unlucky in love. He didn't enjoy the company of women and never married or courted. Though he has no direct posterity, his nieces and nephews carried on the memory of his keen wit and charm. He was loved by all who knew him.

Written c. 1947 by Norma Harper Morris, a niece.