| Description |
Historians of the American West have often used the dichotomy of federal involvement and local exceptionalism to frame the patterns of Western history as well as the direction of Western historiography. To the most famous of early Western historians, the West offered the truest version of what it meant to be American and resulted from individual efforts that yielded positive national results. Yet, some more recent New Western historians suggest that the conquest of the West evidences the worst of what it means to be American and that federal efforts yielded negative local results. This thesis argues that the history of the Geneva plant in Orem, Utah illustrates a comprehensive view of the West as a confluence of federal, regional, and local involvement that produced dynamic situations only understood when considering these three powers. The history of the Geneva plant began as a response to federal initiatives, foundations placed by regional powers, and adaptations or rejections by local powers. It continued as locals refined their views of the plant and their relationship to larger national corporations while attempting to assimilate the plant and its Eastern owners. The Geneva plant ended as the local economy surpassed its influence, locals grated under the polluted skies it produced, and its Eastern owner relinquished control to local interests that could not afford to continue operations much beyond the new millennia. |
