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Show 214 Utah Historical Quarterly These rather far-ranging observations yield a number of suggestions about the movement of people and culture in the Bear River region. Perhaps most important is the fact that regional variety exists. Comparative examination of these valleys and other localities promises rich insight into the wonderfully varied experience that has been American life. In a more specific sense, it may be observed that the valleys of the Bear River have been at once conduits of change and chambers of conservatism. In the one sense, they are separate environments whose mountain walls turn back interaction. As a result, each has characteristics that are recognizably its own. In the other context, they are rather wellwatered and fertile avenues through which people, values, and customs moved from one cultural area to another. Mormon influence moved from Utah into Idaho. Conversely, the influence of the broader frontier penetrated Utah through them. One result w7as a long tradition of social and political conflict that helped mark the region. Another w7as a sharpening of internal and contending elements within each of the two societies involved in the confrontation. In the general sense, this phenomenon shows clearly in the strong, conflicting Mormon tendencies to be "as American as apple pie" yet to withdraw from the w7orld. Through the valleys of the Bear River also moved customs relating to land use, water distribution, and the layout and function of both towns and farms. Through these valleys moved political and educational attitudes and practices. Through them w7ere reached important regional markets, and through them the dry-farming practices of the wheat belt extended into Utah. All told, the Bear River's interlacing valleys resulted in important cultural developments that have done much to make the relationships between Utah and Idaho what they are and to give the West a distinctive subregion. term Population Loss: Preston, Idaho, 1940-1973" (Master's thesis 1977). U t a h State University, |
