Elmer Hurst, Blanding, Utah, Uranium History Series

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THIS IS INTERVIEW NUMBER TWO WITH MR. ELMER HURST FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH AND CALIFORNIA STATE COLLEGE AT FULLERTON, URANIUM INDUSTRY ORAL HISTORY PROJECT. THE INTERVIEW WAS HELD IN MR. HURST'S LIVING ROOM AT NINE O'CLOCK IN THE EVNING IN HIS HOME IN BLANDING, UTAH. THE INTERVIEWERS WERE DOROTHY ERICK AND KATHY BIEL. DE: These things will happen. Well, what I'd like to have you start with is your background: your parents, and how they happen to be here, or why you were here. So start back with your own parents. EH: Well, my parents came out from Mexico originally when Pancho Villa ran the Mormons out. My father's side settled in Ogden for about four years, and then they came to Blanding. I don't know exactly the year, b.ut he was just a young man. And they farmed mostly. My grandfather was a blacksmith and a machinist up in Ogden; and he was kind of a gunsmith. He's kind of a man of all trades. But mostly farming here. My father, after he got married, bought a farm, and I grew up on that, farming. DE: Where was the farm? EH: Well, the farm's up around what they call Bull Dog. It's about ten miles north of here. DE: Uh, you mentioned when we weren't taping that you were born in Cortez. Would you tell us how come you happen to be born in Cortez and in what year? EH: Well, the reason I was born in Cortez is there was no facilities in