Alta

History

Alta has been important to the development of skiing in Utah. Alta was founded about 1865 to house miners from the Emma mine, the Flagstaff mine, and other 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. 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. 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. 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 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. Today, Alta is a small town centered around the Alta Ski Area. During the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent government-mandated economic restrictions, Alta briefly gained national attention when it was the only ski resort included in a detailed study of…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 4.1 square miles (10.5 km2), of which 0.25% is water. At , Alta is one of the highest cities in Utah and one of the highest in America.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  17,371
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  16,776
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  15,851
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  13,149
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  10,998
• Black-billed Magpie

  Pica hudsonia (Sabine, 1823) · Aves
  10,817
• Lesser Goldfinch

  Spinus psaltria (Say, 1822) · Aves
  10,687
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  10,163

Largest nearby schools

• Canyon View School
  Elementary · Salt Lake City · 500 students · 23.8:1 ratio
• Granite School
  Elementary · SANDY · 355 students · 19.7:1 ratio
• Goldminer's Daughter
  Elementary · ALTA · 5 students

Most recent

• M 2.86 — 2026-08-07
  6 km NNW of Saratoga Springs, Utah
• M 3.52 — 2026-02-14
  4 km NNW of West Valley City, Utah
• M 3.5 — 2026-02-05
  6 km WNW of Lehi, Utah
• M 2.71 — 2026-02-05
  41 km ENE of Oakley, Utah
• M 2.97 — 2026-01-22
  41 km SSE of Evanston, Wyoming
• M 4.65 — 2026-01-22
  40 km S of Evanston, Wyoming