A History of Garfield County

Garfield county at mid-century

CHAPTER 12 GARFIELD COUNTY AT MID-CENTURY L ost-World War II America enjoyed the longest sustained eco­nomic expansion in its history. Between 1940 and 1960 the nation's gross national production more than doubled, as did the number of households that moved into the middle-class bracket immediately following the war. Most residents of Garfield County also saw improvement in their financial well-being as well as greater conve­nience and comfort in their standard of living. However, in order to achieve this improvement, some men and women had to supplement their incomes with second jobs, particularly if they farmed for a liv­ing. With continued out-migration of their young people and their continued pursuit of livelihoods dependent on available natural resources, the economic future for most county citizens remained precarious. Tourism would eventually take over as the leading money-mak­ing industry in Garfield as more and more people came to discover the scenic splendor of the county. But the monetary benefits from this industry fell unevenly on local people, and the jobs tourism fos­tered were usually seasonal and low-paying. Additionally, outsiders, 317 318 HISTORY OF GARFIELD COUNTY whether representing government or private organizations, made greater inroads in defining public policy for rural southern Utah communities. Their agendas proved to have a detrimental impact on the county's livestock, lumber, and extractive mineral industries. Not only during the 1950s and 1960s but up to the present day, the debate is ongoing between traditional interests and outside influences. Immediately following the war, optimism reigned among most Garfield residents. The Great Depression had finally dissipated as the fighting began, and, when the conflict ended, parents thought they no longer had to worry about their sons and daughters serving in far-flung locales under dangerous circumstances. The rationing of con­sumer products had been lifted and more and more labor-saving devices for home and farm appeared in stores and catalogs. Many could now afford to buy them because during the war they had saved their money. After all, there had been little available to purchase while the battles raged. Shortly after VJ Day celebrating victory over Japan in August 1945 the citizens of Utah had another reason for celebrating: the cen­tennial of the settling of their state. Many Garfield residents descended from those who had made that journey across the plains one hundred years before, and their posterity took pride in what had been accomplished since that time. The approach of the Fourth and the Twenty-fourth of July each summer had always produced excitement among county residents. From their earliest beginnings each community could not let those dates pass without providing some celebratory activities. They nor­mally included parades, programs, dances, rodeos, and even horse racing. As mentioned previously, many who resided in Panguitch and surrounding communities went to Panguitch Lake to celebrate, while those residing "under the dump" gravitated to Pine Lake in the Escalante Mountains for community campouts and chicken frys. Girls in the county also looked forward to the July celebrations because they anticipated getting a new "Fourth" dress, some pur­chased on a recent visit to Richfield or Cedar City, others ordered from the catalog or sewn at home. Rather than receiving the tradi­tional new spring outfit at Easter when temperatures remained low in much of the county, the young people appeared along the July GARFIELD COUNTY AT MID-CENTURY 319 Fourth parade route or at the afternoon and evening dances decked out in their new warm-weather finery. With the approach of July 1947, preparations for the centennial celebration occupied the thoughts of many county residents during the immediate post-war period. The LDS church encouraged each ward in the state to plan some special events to commemorate the 1847 arrival of pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley. The congregations and communities in Garfield County willingly complied. For instance, the townspeople of Hatch used the occasion to host a homecoming for all former residents under the direction of Bishop Earnest Riggs and his committee chairs, Ernal and Jennie Lyons. The men prepared a mutton fry with dutch-oven potatoes, while the women furnished the salads, rolls, and dessert-all free to the pub­lic. The LDS Primary organization sponsored a parade which, along with the dinner, became a tradition from that time forward.1 The Nation Takes Notice of Garfield County Part of the Panguitch Pioneer Days festivities took place at the Bryce Canyon Airport.2 The celebrants could not have been aware that within three months the nation's attention would be focused on that facility as tragedy struck. In October 1947 residents living in the eastern portion of the county observed a large DC-6 airplane on fire overhead. The pilot had turned back upon discovering the problem and was trying to land at the airport; but his craft crashed and burned before he could reach the runway, killing all fifty-two passen­gers and crew on board. As federal officials from Washington, D.C., joined those from United Air Lines and Douglas Aircraft and relatives of the victims who converged on the airport and crash site, county citizens willingly and graciously extended their help and hospitality. Throughout the clean-up, retrieval of bodies, and investigation, local people and busi­nesses performed a meritorious service for all concerned, and those they helped expressed their appreciation. For some weeks following the incident, the county, and Panguitch in particular, received a lot of attention from the press. The following year, another event brought publicity to the county. A modern-day expedition party formed for the purpose of 320 HISTORY OF GARFIELD COUNTY exploring the country en route to the Hole-in-the-Rock. The group consisted of National Geographic photographer Jack Breed; Arthur Crawford of the U.S. State Department of Publicity and Industrial Development; A.G. Kilbourne, a conservationist for the Extension Service under the U.S. Department of Agriculture; Don Moffat, rep­resenting the Taylor Grazing Service; and local county representatives Thomas Smith, Samuel Pollock, John Johnson, Wilford Clark, and Ralph Hunt. The September 1949 issue of National Geographic con­tained the article about this expedition, complete with breathtaking photographs.3 For the first time the nation became aware of other scenic sights in Garfield County besides Bryce Canyon, which had been a national park since 1928. Such exposure would have an ever-increasing impact on the county's economic orientation and natural-resource management. A tragedy receiving national coverage happened some years later along the route to Hole-in-the-Rock. National radio stations broad­cast the story of an accident involving forty-five Utah boy scouts, their leaders, and a reporter. The group drove from the Salt Lake City and Provo areas on 10 June 1963 to meet a group of boaters floating down the Colorado River. While on the Hole-in-the-Rock road their truck did not make one of the treacherous curves in Carcass Wash, about fifty miles down the Escalante Desert. The vehicle rolled 125 feet downhill and dropped over a thirty-five-foot embankment, spilling its passengers. Several were crushed beneath the heavy truck, resulting in twelve deaths. Local citizens from the Boulder and Escalante area worked frantically to get the injured to the Panguitch hosptial 120 miles away, where one more victim succumbed two days later.4 Developments at Bryce Canyon Although a committee called the "Associated Civic Clubs of Southern Utah" had petitioned Bryce and Zion national parks super­intendent P.P. Patraw in 1934 for an independent Bryce Canyon administration, that did not happen until July 1956-twenty-two years later. The catalyst for that change was the National Park Service's "Mission 66." Mission 66 was the brainchild of National Park Service Director GARFIELD COUNTY AT MID-CENTURY 321 Bryce Canyon Lodge with a Union Pacific bus unloading visitors in the 1950s. (Utah State Historical Society) Conrad L. Wirth, who in the mid-1950s implemented "an ambitious campaign to bring Park Service facilities throughout the country 'up to par' by the Service's golden anniversary in 1966." He asked each national park to produce a plan that would accomplish this. In 1955 Glen Bean had accepted the position of superintendent of Bryce Canyon under the condition that its administration would soon be separate from that of Zion. His reasons included increased visitation to Bryce; the need for massive physical development to be imple­mented by Mission 66; lack of attention to the park during winter months, especially with respect to roads and buildings; and renewed local pressure, supported by a petition, for a separate Bryce Canyon administration.5 Staff had been inadequate to handle the increased visitation to the park, which had risen steadily from 21,997 in 1929 (the first year records were kept) to 257,570 in 1956-with the exception of a con­siderable slump due to the rationing of gas during the World War II years.6 Bean added a chief park ranger, a chief park naturalist, a park 322 HISTORY OF GARFIELD COUNTY So,-* <d>*u. Bryce Canyon Lodge employees in 1959. Most were high school and college students from Garfield and other Utah Counties. (Courtesy Carolee Reinhold Stout) ranger, and converted a clerk position to administrative assistant at Bryce Canyon. Although tourism swelled, the Utah Parks Company, which oper­ated the lodge and inn, saw a decrease in its tour-bus business as automobile tourism became more popular. Its parent company, Union Pacific Railroad, ended summer-season trains between Lund and Cedar City in the spring of 1960, and the Utah Parks Company instead ran buses from Salt Lake City to Bryce, Zion, Cedar Breaks, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. That July Fred Warner stepped down from his position as Utah Parks Company general manager. Tom E. Murray replaced him and kept the company afloat amid a myriad of problems for twelve more years.7 As tourism increased, so did the need for culinary water at the park. When a record 300,311 people visited the park in 1965, it strained every available water source to satisfy their needs. The Utah Parks Company facilities consumed more than 75,000 gallons a day, and the National Park Service used an additional 30,000 gallons daily. In cooperation with the National Park Service, defective water lines GARFIELD COUNTY AT MID-CENTURY 323 were replaced and water-storage capacity increased. But other prob­lems loomed. The Utah Parks Company had maintained its facilities quite well over the years, but they had become inadequate to accommodate the increased visitation. In the fall of 1965 the National Park Service issued its Bryce Canyon master plan, which declared the Utah Parks Company units were "substandard" and called for their gradual removal. Public campgrounds were to replace the inn, lodge, and tourist cabins. The plan also charged that the Utah Parks Company transportation represented a "preferential franchise . . . obsolete in present day operations." However, a later National Park publication, Historic Resource Study: Bryce Canyon National Park, would term the 1965 master plan "a callous, narrow-minded document," concluding that "the Union Pacific's record at Bryce Canyon stands up well under scrutiny and that the company had "contributed enormously toward making Bryce Canyon a great national park."8 For decades, the Utah Parks Company had provided welcome summer jobs for county young people as well as other college stu­dents from across the state and even throughout the nation. They worked as busboys and waitresses, cabin maids and bell hops, cooks and kitchen help, horse-trail wranglers and wood choppers, curio-shop and soda-fountain sales clerks, as well as serving at the front desk and driving tour buses as "gear jammers." The tourists were referred to by them as "dudes." Each day the hired help lined the front porch of the lodge for "Sing-away" as the loaded buses readied to leave. They entertained the dudes each evening by staging variety shows as well as organized choreographed performances. In the "Employee's Review" performance, the hired help explained their jobs in humorous song-and-dance routines set to well-known tunes. Another favorite with locals and visitors alike was "State Show," which featured songs of various states. It began and ended with the participants singing "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy" and culminated with "Uncle Sam" and the cast singing "This is My Country." Those who spent those summers at Bryce Canyon were rewarded not just with tips and small paychecks but with wonderful memories of friends and fun in one of the nation's most beautiful settings. 324 HISTORY OF GARFIELD COUNTY Waitresses Dione Peterson Williams and Linda King Newell at the Bryce Canyon Lodge in 1960. (Courtesy Dione Peterson Williams) Throughout the decade of the 1960s the Union Pacific Railroad looked without success for a buyer for its Utah Parks concessions. Finally, in 1972 the company donated all its facilities and equipment at Bryce, Zion, Cedar Breaks, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, a laundry at Kanab, the Utah Parks Company complex in Cedar City, and the transportation fleet to the National Park Service. In September 1972 Trans World Airlines (TWA) was awarded the contract to operate the in-park concessions beginning in the 1973 season. On 18 December 1972 Tom Murray retired as manager of the Utah Parks Company, ending what many believe was the golden era of Bryce Canyon National Park and the Union Pacific Railroad's administration of the concessions there.9 Meanwhile, under the Mission 66 program, the National Park Service's employee housing was vastly improved with the building of seven three-bedroom houses in 1957-58, one two-bedroom house and a four-unit apartment building in 1957-58, and five two-bed­room houses in 1963-64. A new visitors center and entrance station GARFIELD COUNTY AT MID-CENTURY 325 were completed in 1960, costing $224,402 and $2,760, respectively. The erection of one new utility building and the extension of another, new maintenance shops, and additional equipment storage buildings were also part of the Mission 66 plan. The North and Sunset campgrounds got six new comfort stations; the latter also got a new campfire circle. The plan also provided $894,000 for construc­tion and upgrading of roads and trails. Guard rails at some of the park's most scenic views were also installed. Nicholas Scrattish, in his 1985 Historic Resource Study: Bryce Canyon National Park, concluded: "Because of the [Mission 66] program local Utahns felt Bryce Canyon's facilities had finally been brought up to standards with Zion's. There is little doubt Mission 66 also created long lasting good­will toward the Park Service in Salt Lake City.10 Natural Resources- The Basis for Local Economic Development Since the beginning of settlement in Garfield County, the cutting and milling of timber have been important economic pursuits. To begin with, people had to have homes and out-buildings. Most of the early structures consisted of wood, either as logs or planks. But lum­ber also became important economically because the county has some of the state's largest forest reserves. The realization that the forests required proper management became more widespread just after the turn of the century under Theodore Roosevelt's presidency. The creation of forest reserves had implications relating to rangeland for livestock and watershed protection as well as the harvesting of trees for lumber. Various acts passed by Congress since that time have dealt with such issues as pest control, allocating money to states for fire protec­tion within the national forests, establishing multiple-use guidelines, and the setting aside of some reserves as wilderness areas where no development or harvesting is allowed. Especially during the early decades of forest management, personnel made periodic surveys of the reserves to assess the health of the trees and the rangelands within the forest boundaries. During and following World War II, the timber industry increased in importance in the county. The government bought lum- 326 HISTORY OF GARFIELD COUNTY ber to build bridges, barracks, ships, and packing crates. Lumbering became second only to livestock production as a source of wealth in Garfield County during the first post-war decades. Improved roads and means of transportation contributed to the industry's success. Such pests as porcupines, bark beetles, blister rust, and spruce bud-worms, in addition to periodic drought years, compromised forest vitality and were inherent in the lumbering business. Escalante, Hatch, Panguitch, and, to a lesser degree, Boulder had the most suc­cessful sawmills and lumber companies. Development of the first large mill in the Escalante area began in 1943 along Pine Creek near Posy Lake.11 T.H. Alvey and his son Forest started the business; later, another son, Wanlass, bought out his father's share. The Alvey brothers expanded their enterprise until they produced up to 16,000 board feet of lumber a day. They relocated their mill closer to town in 1959. Two years later they sold their busi­ness to H.M. Draper and Son of Salt Lake City. In 1962 the mill burned down, however, resulting in the loss of summer jobs for local residents when the owners decided against rebuilding.12 In 1946 Paul Steed went into the milling business in Upper Valley. For ten years he gradually improved his operation and then decided to move to a site just northeast of Escalante. Steed had sev­eral reasons for this move. First, he needed to comply with Forest Service policy, which discouraged operation of sawmills within the forests because of fire hazard. Second, warmer temperatures in the valley meant the possibility of almost year-round operation. Finally, the more central location promoted the harvesting of different tim­ber stands from a wider area. The community and county cooperated with Steed by building an oiled back road from the mill to the highway, thus making it more convenient for the logging and lumber trucks and less intrusive to the residents. At peak operation during the early to mid-1960s, Steed's Skyline Lumber Company employed between twenty-five and thirty-five men, with an annual payroll nearing $100,000. The Forest Service policy during the 1960s of increasing sales of mature timber for the stated improvement of forest conditions helped make possible Skyline's expanded operation. In June 1970 the mill closed down for a time, but it reopened after being completely renovated, including GARFIELD COUNTY AT MID-CENTURY 327 Logging operation of the Mammoth Lumber Company near Hatch in the mid 1930s. (Utah State Historical Society) the installation of new equipment. In September 1973 Skyline's owner, Paul Steed, died suddenly of electrocution in the pumphouse of the mill. After his death, the company reorganized and Steed's widow, Mary, became president of the firm. The early locations of both Hillsdale and Hatch owed much to the establishment of sawmills. In 1936 Jess Wilson moved to Hatch, where he organized the Mammoth Lumber Company with six addi­tional partners. They contracted with Nelson Brothers to do their log hauling. Disaster struck the promising enterprise in 1939, however, when the operation burned to the ground. Later that year, a new partnership included some of the original group plus additional men who planned to rebuild. This company was finally pared down to two partners, Jess Wilson and Eldan Porter, who assumed the indebted­ness and operation of the mill. During the mid-1950s, the company reached its zenith of productivity and earnings, with annual payrolls exceeding $60,000. Health problems later plagued the partners and in 1962 they sold out to Croft Pearson Industries.13 Panguitch was never without sawmills from the time of its sec­ond settlement. But sawmill activity in the community vastly increased following World War II. The Croft family started their first 328 HISTORY OF GARFIELD COUNTY mill in northern Kane County on Cedar Mountain.14 During the mid-1940s they joined with the Pearsons to establish a mill on the east fork of the Sevier River near the Tropic Reservoir. A few years later, they moved their operation by Utah Highway 12 about three miles west of its junction with Utah Highway 63 along the border of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Then, in 1955, they closed both their Cedar Mountain and Highway 12 mills and relocated to Panguitch on prop­erty offered to them by the city on the west boundary of the com­munity. The new Croft Pearson Industries (CPI) sawmill effectively led to the closure of other small mills in and around Panguitch, but jobs could be had at the new mill. The company not only processed the timber but did most of its own logging, although it subcontracted with independent loggers as well. The business grew and the com­pany purchased additional land, until it occupied 106 acres on the west side of Panguitch. In 1966 the Kaibab Lumber Company bought out the Pearsons and one of the Croft brothers. The firm had mills all over the West and went into partnership with the remaining Croft brothers in Panguitch. By 1969 Kaibab had bought them out as well. Devon Owens of Panguitch managed the mill for much of the time it was owned by Kaibab. He recalls that as many as 250 men worked for the firm in Panguitch at one time. Most of the workers belonged to a union and received some of the best wages being paid in the county. Kaibab also had pension and insurance plans for its employees. The mill ran two shifts and stayed open all year, although the logging dropped off in the winter. Kaibab also ran a mill in northern Arizona at Fredonia. The timber for the Fredonia mill came from the Kaibab National Forest, while that brought into Panguitch came from the Dixie National Forest. On a much smaller scale, Boulder entrepreneurs engaged in the lumber business. Two main mills operated in the area beginning in the 1920s. Alma and Gertrude Wilson operated one of the mills on Boulder Mountain during the summer months, but Joel Wilson bought them out in 1935. By 1944 Wilson sold out to Truman Lyman and Max Behunin, who relocated the mill to upper Boulder. This business proved less than successful, so the partners sold everything GARFIELD COUNTY AT MID-CENTURY 329 to E.H. Coombs. In 1954 Lyman once more took over the operation and moved it to his lumberyard on his ranch. Samuel Coleman established the other mill in the foothills about three miles north of the upper Boulder ranches. On the east fork of Boulder Creek he constructed an enormous wooden waterwheel. Independent loggers obtained permits from the Forest Service to har­vest small quantities of timber, which they brought to Coleman's mill for sawing. The mill also produced a good grade of shingles. In 1933 Coleman sold his operation to his son, Albert, and Kemner T. Memmott. The mill changed ownership several times after that until 1962.15 No figures are available as to the output of these two mills or how many people they employed; however, they provided a much-needed service for local residents. Sawmill employment and logging continued to be some of the highest-paying work in the county, even though it too was subject to changing markets, weather, and insect infestation. Some hoped to expand lumbering in the area. One economic study done in the late 1960s indicated that the county should promote the expansion of the lumbering and sawmill industry.16 Others opposed such expansion, however; and optimism about expansion would prove to be unfounded. Through the years other natural resources have shown some promise of bringing a degree of financial security to the county. In most cases, however, the confidence they at first generated vanished. With the ending of World War II came the beginning of the atomic age and with it the demand for the radioactive element uranium.17 Uranium ore had been discovered as early as 1904 in the Henry Mountains in eastern Garfield County. However, the deposits did not attract hordes of prospectors until the Cold War time period after World War II when the United States and the Soviet Union vied for nuclear supremacy. Geologists who visited the Circle Cliffs area to the north and east of Boulder and Escalante found large quantities of pitchblende, in which the richest uranium ore can be found. A number of men from these two communities were among the first to prospect for the ele­ment. Lawrence C. Christensen of Escalante filed the first claims on 21 December 1950, and Marion Jeppsen of Boulder joined him in the 330 HISTORY OF GARFIELD COUNTY This Hite ferry in 1951 during the uranium boom. (Utah State Historical Society) venture. Lorin Griffin along with sons and sons-in-law and William L. "Billy" Davis also worked many uranium claims in the Circle Cliffs area. Using geiger counters, Clarion and Clifford Barney and Mohr Christensen sought out the ore in the county's petrified forest area. The numerous mines carried colorful names often associated with western mineral strikes-Midas, Copperheads, Partners, Sneaky, Black Widow, Rainy Day, Silver Spur, and Skud Horse Butt, among others-most owned by Boulder men who formed the Circle Cliffs Uranium Company. They included Leland and Otto Haws, Neil and Bill Jepsen, and Kay Coombs. Fred Hines also built a large operation called Hinesville at the head of Silver Falls. Its facilities included elec­tric lights and an airstrip, and it offered employment to a number of men. The claims index at the county recorder's office indicates that prospectors filed more than 3,000 claims, Escalante residents alone accounting for about 900 of them. As the boom was getting started GARFIELD COUNTY AT MID-CENTURY 331 the Bureau of Land Management and local stockmen cooperated in getting a road built from Boulder through Long Canyon to The Flats, an area in close proximity to where the major local strikes were located. As mining operations progressed, larger companies moved in and many local prospectors leased their claims to these entities. As a result, some made a little money for their trouble; a few made sev­eral thousands of dollars. Unfortunately for others, they turned down generous offers to sell out, and, before they knew it, the uranium boom ceased. In the mid-1950s the Atomic Energy Commission announced first a cut-back and later a complete cessation of uranium purchases. The bottom fell out of the market, and many local miners had reason to regret their folly. By 1957 most of the area mines ceased operations, although a few held on for several more years. Even today some optimists feel uranium might once more become an important commodity locally. Only four other states, all from the West, produce more of the element than does Utah. Ticaboo An ample and ready source of uranium attracted an eastern power company to southeastern Garfield County in the 1970s to build a uranium mill. Consumers Power Inc. anticipated major growth in electrical power needs within the state of Michigan. To meet the demand the company embarked on building the Midland Nuclear Plant, a twin-reactor generating station covering an area in central Michigan the size of a thousand football fields. After acquir­ing some uranium mines in Garfield's Shootaring Canyon, a sub­sidiary of the utility, Plateau Resources Ltd., built a state-of-the-art mill to process the uranium ore for the parent company's use in its expansion.18 In conjunction with this interest in uranium, in the late 1960s the Roy May family of Green River dreamed of creating a community along Utah Highway 276 to facilitate the needs of recreationists head­ing to the Bullfrog Marina of Lake Powell. With this in mind, May obtained a fifty-one-year lease on state-owned land about twelve miles north of the marina. Knowing that accommodations would be needed for its workers both during construction and after the mill's completion, Plateau Resources offered May a minor partnership in 332 HISTORY OF GARFIELD COUNTY its mill and mining venture and financed the designing and building of his projected community. They called the 640-acre town "Ticaboo," a word from the Ute language meaning "friendly place." Following May's plans, the town included many features to create what was hoped to be an ideal com­munity: underground power and telephone lines; gracefully curved streets with concrete sidewalks and gutters; a 500,000-gallon water-storage tank buried from view on the top of a nearby mesa; a sewage lagoon and diesel generators to provide electricity, both installed behind a hill beyond the sight of the town's residents; a 160-pad mobile-home park, completely plumbed and wired; ninety-six single-family homesites, with all utilities visually separated from the mobile-home development; a platted secluded area for multiple-fam­ily housing; a family education center to accommodate grades kindergarten through twelve; and, on the drawing board and sur­veyed, a nine-hole golf course. Adjacent to the residential area was built a commercial strip mall and a two-story motel, an integral part of the Ticaboo Lodge, which included a laundromat, bar, restaurant, and convenience store. State officials anticipated that Ticaboo would become the county's second-largest community. By 1982 Ticaboo was ready for occupation; however, economi­cally disastrous events prevented May's dream from being realized. After pouring $2.1 billion into construction of its Midland Nuclear Plant, Consumers Power Inc. realized that the huge increased demand for nuclear power they projected was not going to material­ize- thus they no longer needed the uranium supplied by the Plateau mines. On the brink of bankruptcy, the company was able to convert the plant to a facility fueled by natural gas. It opened in 1990 and has thus far proven financially viable. The company still had an obligation to maintain the mill at Ticaboo, as specified by federal regulations. However, the $56 million mill operated for only two months before it was closed. People did not come to fill up the town, which had added another $ 15 million to the company's debt. After the decision was made to close, Consumers Power accepted responsibility for all the debt incurred, keeping only four employees at Ticaboo to do the required mainte­nance work. They, along with their families and the teachers who GARFIELD COUNTY AT MID-CENTURY 333 worked at the one-room schoolhouse, made up Ticaboo's popula­tion, quite a change from the more than 800 occupants who lived there during the building phase of the late 1970s and early 1980s.19 In December 1992 the company put the mines, mill, and town-site on the auction block. In September 1993 it found a buyer, of sorts. Consumer Power paid U.S. Energy Corporation of Riverton, Wyoming, $14 million to assume responsibility for the whole enter­prise. It would have cost the Michigan firm even more to tear down the mill. The company decided to cut its losses and move on. U.S. Energy took over the operation because it anticipated a resurgence in the demand for uranium within the next few years. The company foresaw the world running out of stockpiled processed uranium in the future. There were 423 nuclear reactors in twenty-six countries, more than one-quarter of these within the United States. With only four uranium processing mills in the country, when at one time there had been forty-one, U.S. Energy figured the price of the material would go up and planned to be prepared to meet the increased demand. In 1993, residents of Ticaboo had other reasons for optimism. The motel had recently opened and added a swimming pool and satellite dish to its facilities. Also, U.S. Energy hired Plateau's employ­ees, and the new company anticipated the opening of a recreational-vehicle park to further attract tourists. At present, Ticaboo shows signs of living up to its original poten­tial. U.S. Energy is poised to begin full operation of the uranium mill. It has received clearance from all federal and state environmental agencies except the Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Director of the DEQ Diane Neilson toured the facility in February 1998, and clearance from that agency is expected. Although the future need for uranium is unpredictable, the Ticaboo mine is one of only four mines in the United States that has been cleared by government agencies for future production.20 In the meantime, tourist and growth activity has increased. The motel generally is filled throughout the summer months, the town now includes a boat-storage facility, a new store has opened, twenty-five to thirty mobile homes are occupied, seven new homes have been built, and a real estate development company has plans to build 334 HISTORY OF GARFIELD COUNTY twenty more. The community also has filed for additional water for future growth. Other Mineral Development The geological make-up of eastern Garfield County also has indi­cated the possibility that oil could lurk deep in the stratified layers of canyon and mesa. As early as 1920 the Ohio Oil Company employed Escalante and Boulder men to build a road and haul equipment to the northeast Circle Cliffs area. The results of drilling begun in January 1921 did not prove successful, however, so the company abandoned the project. In 1949 the oil company returned and drilled some distance to the south on Wagon Box Mesa. Although it struck oil in Mississippian strata, the thick consistency made the oil unmar­ketable at the time. The company capped the well and moved on but continually renewed its lease in the area. In November 1963 drillers for the Tenneco Oil Corporation struck high-grade oil at their No. 2 well in the upper valley near Escalante. They found the oil at the 6,650-foot level. This represented what was called "the first commercial find of oil in the permian for­mation in Utah."21 Soon the well delivered 125 barrels a day, and then it steadily increased its output in the following weeks and months, reaching a maximum of 333 barrels per day. On 31 December 1963 the first tankload of oil left the well and headed north to the Woods Cross, Utah, refinery. The company also found oil at another well located about 1.5 miles to the south. Even though the first well they dug also delivered a good grade of oil, certain porous formations made it too difficult to access, so it was abandoned. By 1967 Tenneco had a total of seven producing area wells and had increased its output to 1,500 barrels a day. By November 1968 it reached 50,000 barrels a day. Production kept eighteen drivers busy hauling the crude oil twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Although storage tanks were originally located near the wells, by the early 1970s the oil came by pipe from the fields to new tanks located in a ravine near but out of sight of the highway. The company did this to be in compliance with mandates of the Environmental Protection Agency and so drivers could avoid the steep, winding, hazardous roads from the wells. Other companies dug for oil in areas surrounding GARFIELD COUNTY AT MID-CENTURY 335 Escalante, but none of the ventures proved to be as successful as Tenneco's. Even with the temporary closing of the Skyline lumber mill in 1970 local residents did not suffer from unemployment because of plentiful jobs generated by oil drilling and related activities. Some Garfield residents also had access to another natural resource that supported oil-drilling operations. Bentonite, found in large beds in the upper Paria Valley, is a clay that has several indus­trial uses. It swells to several times its original size when wet and can be used as a fire retardant, in molding sands, in oil-well drilling muds, and to remove the color from oils. In 1960 Al Foster and Byron Davies started a bentonite mill near Tropic. During their ten years of operation, they supplied over 100,000 tons of the material to the oil companies operating locally. Another bentonite mine was located near Henrieville. The clay came down a chute at the point of the hill to a bin and then was hauled away by truck. Some have speculated that this product could have great potential and be accessed on a larger scale.22 Escalante is situated in an area with abundant high-quality coal reserves close at hand. However, for various reasons, extensive mining of the mineral hasn't occurred in eastern Garfield County. Just after the turn of the century most of the area mining activity took place in Coal Canyon. Locals including Don Shurtz, Lawrence Christensen, Johnny Davis, William Richards, the Schow brothers, Zetland Mitchell, William Moosman, George Alvey and his sons, the Twitchells, and the Munsons all tried their hand at coal mining over the years. George Frandsen came over from Panguitch and worked two mines, one being the Cherry Creek Mine and the other the Munson/Twitchell Mine. During the 1920s the federal government withdrew all public domain coal lands from potential private owner­ship, requiring that they only be leased. Most miners carried out their operations on a relatively small scale, and most either sold out to oth­ers or simply quit. Perhaps the greatest obstacle most of these miners faced was hauling the coal out of the area. Economically, it just wasn't worth the time and effort. In the mid-1960s geologists and representatives of power companies carried out intensive explorations and testing of nearby coal deposits. Newspaper headlines declared that a huge 336 HISTORY OF GARFIELD COUNTY power plant would be built within five years on the Kaiparowits Plateau, fueled by coal mined in the area east of Escalante. The Salt Lake Tribune quoted Utah State Engineer Wayne C. Criddle as say­ing, "It would be one of the biggest mine ventures in the history of the world's coal industry."23 The Kaiparowits plant never materialized, however, because of several factors. These included governmental bureaucratic red tape, environmental concerns leading to expensive litigation, and the cost of bringing the coal to market. However, a master plan study for the county published at the beginning of 1970 judged prospects hopeful for the future of coal and other mineral and oil development. As mineral finds occur, it asserted, "outside interests would be prepared to support any profitable venture."24 However, as time would attest, the development of these resources proved far more complicated than those who prepared the study could have imagined. Agricultural Developments Agriculture had been the basis of Garfield County's economy since the time of white settlement, and figures for 1950-five years after the war ended-indicated that agrarian employment still domi­nated. Out of an employed work force of 1,137, 476 held agricultural jobs, a number greater by far than that of any of the other major employment groupings. This figure does not include family members who worked on farms and ranches without reported compensation.25 An employment report for October 1947 from the Utah Department of Employment Security demonstrated the dominance of agriculture. Its figures included the self-employed, family workers, and hired labor. The agency noted that out of 1,725 jobs, 1,250 were agricultural. Even though the county is the fifth largest in the state in terms of land area-with 5,158 square miles, or more than 3.3 million acres- only a small percentage of its land could actually be planted in crops. Three factors contributed to this situation: a short growing season due to the high elevation of much of the county; a frequent lack of dependable and accessible water; and generally rough topography. Much of the land, especially to the east, is composed of deep canyons, arid mesas, and various spectacular formations that are certainly pleasing to the eye but are impossible to farm. Therefore, farmers had GARFIELD COUNTY AT MID-CENTURY 337 to be creative and selective in what they planted. In some of the warmer areas to the east they raised corn and had fruit orchards that provided a livelihood for some. Nearly all residents had some type of kitchen garden adjacent to their homes even if they didn't farm for a living. Grains, hay, and alfalfa did well and complemented the live­stock industry that thrived early on with the ample pasturage. Potatoes also became an important crop. During the early decades, the number of potatoes grown in the county was such that school in some areas would be let out several days in the spring so children could help cut and plant potatoes and again in the fall to harvest them. But growing potatoes could be dis­appointing. One writer observed that the population of Antimony by 1970 had dropped once again because farming became more difficult as the potato crop diminished "due to late frosts in the spring and early frosts in the fall making the growing season almost too short."26 Prior to mid-century the number of farms dwindled throughout Garfield. Again, as noted by Antimony's historian, "People were mov­ing to the cities because farming was becoming more costly for the small operator, and the price of equipment was rising, making prof­its hard to come by."27 During the 1950s and 1960s the number of farms stayed constant but, as one study notes, "the composition has changed. There is a general decrease in small farms under eighty acres with an increase in farms with more acreage."28 As people moved out of the county, not only was there a declining labor force, but far fewer people worked in agriculture. By the end of the 1960s, out of 1,120 county wage earners only 190 worked at agrarian jobs.29 The number of livestock owned by farmers began to decline and has continued to do so, as will be discussed later. For many residents, farming was what they loved or perhaps their only option if they wanted to remain living in the close-knit communities in which they were raised. Dewey and Teora Newby Willis, for example, both came from small southern Utah towns; they tried living along Utah's Wasatch Front during the early 1950s but wished to live out their days in Henrieville. When the opportunity came for them to return home to run Dewey's father's farm, they took it. They tried to buy additional fields to add to their acreage but had great difficulty clearing deeds and titles and securing loans. To 338 HISTORY OF GARFIELD COUNTY help out financially, Teora wrote, "Dewey worked all kinds of jobs to go with it. He drove school bus, state road and road construction; anything he could get to supplement our farm income." She also describes how her husband "would pack his horses and go out on the range for 10 to 20 days at a time. These were drought years and the cattle did not do well. We never did make enough to pay for the time we were putting in." Teora also worked summers at nearby Bryce Canyon to bring in extra money.30 The Second World War enhanced the economic viability of agri­culture throughout the nation; indeed, it accomplished for the farmer what none of the New Deal measures could. Large commercial farms and ranches benefited the most; but all food growers, including those in Garfield County, found a ready market for their produce. The demand for meat was especially great. Although the stock industry in the county was nothing like it had been during the first decades of settlement, some of the conservation measures instituted by govern­ment agencies and local stockmen were achieving desirable results.31 Herds had been reduced to manageable sizes that the public range-land could better support, which helped provide a more reliable food supply for the nation. Ranchers began to have confidence in range-management tech­niques even though not all reseeding programs, combined with man­dated herd reduction, proved successful. Along with range regeneration, many new water developments enhanced cattle-raising potential. The number of cattle in the county, after dipping substan­tially during the late 1930s and early 1940s, increased by 1950 and remained almost constant for another twenty years. Interestingly, however, the number of sheep being raised declined significantly. In 1935, tax figures indicate there were 100,571 sheep in the county; by 1969 the number had plummeted to 6,082 head. The fact that it became more and more difficult to hire men to herd sheep could have been a factor. Also, ranchers had to pay so much a head to graze their stock on national forest or BLM ranges. The costs for these per­mits grew from seven cents per animal unit month (AUM) to $1.25 per AUM. Ranchers felt they would receive a greater return on their investment by raising cattle, which offered dairying as an alternative and the sale of hides in addition to meat. GARFIELD COUNTY AT MID-CENTURY 339 Branding cattle on the summer range near Boulder. (Courtesy Fay Jepson) Interestingly, while the number of farms decreased from 491 in 1935 to 296 in 1969, much more acreage was involved. In 1935 all county agricultural land comprised 92,616 acres, while in 1969 crop­land combined with pasture and range amounted to 264,531 acres. Pasture and range figures led planners in 1970 to conclude that there was an allocation of almost ten acres per head of cattle or sheep in the county and that this per capita figure could be raised. However, global market factors along with increases in costs and government regulations over the last three decades have discouraged more inten­sive stock raising in the county. Planners also suggested that, taking all factors into consideration, especially the county's short growing season, Garfield crop growers might investigate the possibilities of hydroponic farming. Hydroponics is the science of growing crops without soil; that is, plants are grown in tanks filled with coarse sand, gravel, and water to which nutrients are added. However, scientists generally agree that growing plants in soil is still a much more dependable way to pro­duce crops. Even if hydroponics were used, local producers would face stiff competition from abroad, where growing conditions are far superior and production less expensive. 340 HISTORY OF GARFIELD COUNTY The Burgeoning Tourist Industry A number of federal government measures helped lead to Garfield County's increased emphasis on the tourist trade. In 1957 President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Interstate Highway Act of 1956 to create a national interstate freeway system. This thirteen-year program would be the most extensive public works project in U.S. history. Although the move had Cold War defense implications, many industries throughout the nation benefited from the new freeways, including tourism. No interstate highway traversed any portion of Garfield County, but the system improved visitors' overall access to the county's existing roadways, which the state and county gradually upgraded. It was a long time after the federal government designated Bryce Canyon a national park before Garfield County had any of its other scenic wonders granted that status; but the next two were created within a much shorter time span. In 1964 a ruggedly beautiful area located mostly in western San Juan County received national park designation. The boundaries of the new Canyonlands National Park also spilled into eastern Wayne County along the Green River and to the northeastern tip of Garfield County in close proximity to the Colorado River. The park is divided into three distinct districts. The southern portion of the Maze district, comprising slickrock canyons and redrock formations, is located in Garfield County and is a very primitive area. The next national park designation within the county involved greater controversy and complications. Residents of eastern Garfield County-and most of Utah, for that matter-received a shock on 20 January 1969 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a decree adding 215,000 acres (much of it in Garfield County) to the existing 39,173 acres making up Capitol Reef National Monument. This national monument in Wayne County had been created in 1937.32 President Johnson had been assured by Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall that this move would not be controversial. Instead, a violent outcry followed the announcement, and even the state's Democratic senator, Frank Moss, was caught unprepared by the mag­nitude of the increase. Stockmen from Boulder and Wayne County GARFIELD COUNTY AT MID-CENTURY 341 were most affected economically by the president's move and voiced their opposition. Over the ensuing two years, as Moss together with Republican Senator Wallace F. Bennett and Republican Congressman Lawrence J. Burton held hearings on the enlargement of the monu­ment, it became obvious that many in other groups were equally out­raged, including leaders of the BLM, U.S. Forest Service, and U.S. Soil Conservation Services. The Sierra Club, the Wasatch Mountain Club, and the Isaac Walton League, however, were among those who sup­ported the expansion and hoped it would lead to the inclusion of all the Escalante River Basin in one great park or wilderness area. Senator Moss and Senator Alan Bible of Nevada, chairman of the Senate Interior Committee, worked together to readjust the new boundaries. They eliminated from monument designation the Grand Gulch area used by Wayne County stockmen and the Circle Cliffs parcel used by Garfield County ranchers to graze their stock. They substituted for this land some 29,000 acres mostly to the north that included some of the area's most spectacular scenery. It reportedly had been omitted from the original designation in Johnson's haste to make an announcement before he left office. Senator Moss next introduced legislation that changed both Capitol Reef and Arches in Grand County from national monument to national park status. Three years after Johnson's original decree, in January 1972, President Richard Nixon signed the bill creating Capitol Reef National Park. The park contained 241,671 acres, very little less than the original proposal. By the early 1970s, Garfield County was well established as a tourist mecca. Garfield provided a gateway for much of southern Utah's and northern Arizona's most visited scenic sights. In addition, the county had one national park completely within its borders, shared another with Wayne County, still another with both Wayne and San Juan counties, and had part of the popular Glen Canyon National Recreation area along its eastern boundary. In 1972 the fed­eral government created that recreational area, following the com­pletion of the Glen Canyon Dam in 1964. Lake Powell, created as the dam backed up the Colorado River, is the second largest manmade lake in the nation. Even though neither the dam nor any of the lake's main marinas are located in Garfield County, some of the lake's most 342 HISTORY OF GARFIELD COUNTY spectacular scenery is accessed by boating into some of Garfield's canyons, such as through Bullfrog Bay. The county also provides some of the vehicular passageways into the recreation area. Working hand-in-hand with these developments, some local cit­izens began to provide accommodations for the influx of tourists. A dozen motels appeared in Panguitch between the end of World War II and 1970. Four eating establishments complemented these facili­ties- the Bryce Canyon Cafe, the Flying M, Orton's Cafe, and the Ru- Mil Cafe-although this last eatery, owned by Rula Houston and Mildred Riggs catered more to the local high school crowd than to out-of-town visitors. Hatch residents operated two and sometimes three motels dur­ing this time period, and small cafes opened for varying lengths of time, usually changing ownership on a regular basis. Wanlass and Dena Alvey opened the first overnight accommodations in Escalante in 1937 to provide housing for some of the CCC men. Over the years they continued to add to their facilities, until they had created a motel complete with swimming pool and opened a cafe and service station. In the meantime, three other motels offered accommodations (the first one built by Leo Munson and later owned by Claron and Ruby Griffin), three cafes served home-style meals, and the Alveys also opened a drive-in eatery.33 Curio shops, selling such things as polished rocks, Indian crafts, and other handmade articles, attracted tourists. Panguitch had one such establishment on the south end of the town's retail district. Ron and Virginia Young in Hatch owned a shop in conjunction with their gas station. In Escalante, John and Lola Zenz opened a rock shop, where they made beautiful gifts from petrified wood found nearby. Even though John Zenz gradually lost his eyesight, he could still operate the necessary equipment. The couple not only served people who visited their shop but also had customers throughout the state and beyond. In another effort to accommodate tourists, Mayor H.J. Allen of Escalante announced on 1 July 1966 the town's intention to create a new airport. Three entities provided funding for the project-the Federal Aviation Agency, the Utah State Aeronautics Commission, and the town of Escalante. At first it was intended to widen and GARFIELD COUNTY AT MID-CENTURY 343 lengthen an old existing runway, but community officials later decided to build a new one. Kelly Construction Company cleared and leveled the land, while the Mendenhall Company built the runway. Men in the town built the road from the airport to Utah Highway 12 and installed the necessary fencing. Don Kelly, who leased the airport facilities from the city after they were completed, built a reception center, office building, repair shop, and installed gas pumps. Dignitaries dedicated the $128,500 facility on 13 June 1970. A barbe­cue dinner and dance followed the ceremonies. Garfield's natural wonders were not all that attracted outside vis­itors, and the coming of fall did not necessarily shut down tourist-oriented businesses. During the last two weeks in October deer hunters inundated local communities. Most came from Utah's Wasatch Front and from California. The annual deer hunt had become a celebration of sorts for locals as well as out-of-towners. Many towns hosted a deer hunters' ball on the night before opening day of the hunt. Motel rooms filled up and local restaurants and gro­cery stores did a brisk business. Interestingly, this area did not have a great abundance of deer when the early settlers first arrived. Old-timers could not recall that the early settlers hunted deer very often, although wild game certainly augmented their regular diet. According to one early observer, "the sighting of two or three deer was considered significant in the old days."34 Many argue that deer herds began to increase after the imple­mentation of range reseeding programs and the reduction in domes­tic livestock. For whatever reason, the hunt became a real boost to southern Utah's economy. Although it did not generate the concentrated excitement that the deer hunt did, fishing also continued to lure visitors. Panguitch Lake and other smaller lakes and clear mountain streams throughout the county promised great sport and an abundant yield to anglers. One fisherman, Chan Lee, caught an eighteen-pound trout in Panguitch Lake in the early 1940s; it was believed to be the biggest fish that the lake ever yielded. Recreational fishing stimulated the establishment of trailer parks and campgrounds. Because Otter Creek just over the county line in Piute County offered excellent fishing, 344 HISTORY OF GARFIELD COUNTY Bryant Riddle decided to purchase a store in Antimony from Wayne Delange during the 1960s and add a cafe and trailer park to it.35 Even if those who came to fish did not always have a lot of luck, the experience could be most satisfying. Clearly, Garfield County offered all visitors exceptionally beautiful and varied scenery in an atmosphere of utter tranquility, with western hospitality at its best. In turn, tourists could provide certain economic benefits to county residents that traditional industries no longer could. Jobs in the ser­vice sector and retail and government employment-all related to tourism-increased during the middle and later decades of the twen­tieth century as those related to agriculture declined. As mentioned, the Utah Parks Company as well as a prospering Ruby's Inn provided summer employment for many of the county's young people. Garfield Citizens Experience the World and Beyond Television as a communications tool played little importance until the late 1940s in the country. By the end of the 1950s, however, the majority of homes in America had television sets. Much of Garfield County did not enjoy television until the late 1950s and early 1960s. Panguitch received television transmission first as the signal came from a station installed on top of Bear Valley Mountain. Information is lacking as to when Hatch received TV reception, but presumably it did not come long after Panguitch. The people of Escalante at first attempted to receive signals from a station on Griffin Top during the late 1950s. They reasoned that since this was the highest peak around it would provide a strong sig­nal. Unfortunately, the efforts of Wilford Griffin, Lynn Gates, and Billy Davis proved futile in this first attempt. They then selected another site that allowed them to pick up signals from the Panguitch station. But further testing indicated that a stronger signal came from Wayne County at a station on Fish Lake Mountain. The men finally moved the station west, where they could get even better reception, on Rocky Lake Point, so named by Davis. Finding funds for the tower, generator, and other needed equip­ment became a priority for townspeople. Gates, the president of the newly organized Escalante Lions Club, became chairman of the TV committee, and the club did much to raise money for the project. GARFIELD COUNTY AT MID-CENTURY 345 They solicited several donations, a n d various activities, including a dance, brought in additional funding. Donations in labor were also i m p o r t a n t . Paul Steed, owner of Skyline Lumber, c o n t r i b u t e d men and equipment to build a road to Rocky Lake Point a n d level t h e area for the tower c o n s t r u c t i o n and generator. The cost of e q u i p m e nt came to about $35,000, a n d Escalante also paid Wayne County forty dollars a m o n t h for its maintenance work on the station. After com­pletion, Escalante h a d access to t h e three national network television stations. In 1965 an additional tower with a ten-foot-diameter dish was i n s t a l l ed to receive p u b l i c - t e l e v i s i o n channels in t h e community. A r n o l d Alvey, an employee of Garkane Power, a n d Bill Kruska assisted in installing this addition. In May 1968 t h e Escalante town government took over TV service. City government continued to col­lect a two dollar per m o n t h fee from those receiving r e c e p t i o n in their homes, a n d additional funding came from other sources; for instance, Boulder paid to use Escalante's signal.36 Other Garfield towns also received television reception during t h e early 1960s. Mayor Archie Gleave of A n t i m o n y a n d t h e town b o a r d labored h a r d to get service i n t o their community. After first locating a tower on high l a n d n o r t h e a s t of town, t h e y f o u n d they could get better reception when they moved the tower to some hills just west of Otter Creek Reservoir.37 The towns of upper Paria Valley, or Bryce Valley as it came to be called, all received television recep­t i o n from a common source in 1962. Al Foster a n d Bill Davis, again w i t h t h e h e l p of t h e local Lions Club, got t h e project underway. Cannonville historian George Thompson explained the process: They took a small gas generator and a television set up to the top of the highest mountain around, found where the signal was strongest, put up the antennas and installed the equipment. It was­n't long until most families had T.V. and it seemed pretty good except, sometimes it was hard to tell the men from the horses, or Miss Kitty from Festus on "Gunsmoke," because of a snowy screen.38 June Shakespear noted that t h e m o u n t a i n Thompson referred to was Canaan Mountain. Al Foster told Shakespear that he a n d Davis 346 HISTORY OF GARFIELD COUNTY watched a ball game on a TV run by a protable generator on their first trip up the mountain to locate the strongest signal. Then Arthur Goulding, Vee (Gabby) Smith, and Foster hauled all the equipment up to the area on Smith's mule and three pack horses. Shakespear concluded, "Then on February 20, 1962, twelve TV sets were turned on in Al Foster's store and a large crowd watched John Glenn travel around the earth."39 Television opened up the world for many residents of Garfield County. Television programs were especially welcomed by older, homebound citizens, adding variety to their lives when they had little hope of traveling beyond the confines of their small communities. It became a learning tool for the elderly as well as for schoolchildren, as educational television was brought into the classrooms. The coming of television also doomed the local movie theater in Panguitch, however. Managed by Russell and Memphis Talbot for almost twenty years, the theater provided jobs for their teenage chil­dren and other young people in town. After the mid-1950s the Aliens and then the Wilcoxs ran the showhouse for brief periods. It finally shut down in the early 1960s. The theater no longer could attract crowds sufficient to pay for the latest movie release rentals. The show-house in Escalante suffered a similar fate. Gail and Reva Bailey ran the theater until it closed its doors, which was largely because of tele­vision. With no movie theater anywhere in the county today, there are numbers of Garfield residents who have never seen a movie in a theater. Rather than travel to Cedar City or Richfield, they simply wait for films to come out on video. The Korean and Vietnam Wars Exposure to world events did not always produce positive expe­riences. Conflicts in Asia-the Korean and Vietnam wars-would once again involve young people from Garfield County. Because the nature of these clashes differed from the two previous world wars, their impact was not as great on as many of Garfield's young people or their families; however, considering the county's reduction in pop­ulation, the percentage of those serving in the conflicts was still sub­stantial. Uncle Sam called up some of those who had already served in World War II to fight in Korea along with fresh recruits in the late GARFIELD COUNTY AT MID-CENTURY 347 1940s and early 1950s. Some lost their lives, while others had to put their private aspirations on hold. Escalante sent more than ninety young men to Korea; one of them did not return-DeLoy Blood died in action on 13 July 1953. According to a monument in Panguitch that recognizes all those who have served in the armed forces from that community, 101 young people saw duty during the Vietnam era. Of this relatively large number, four lost their lives: Jim Jennings, Steven Moore, Paul Talbot, and David R. Veater. During the Vietnam conflict of the 1960s and early 1970s thirty-five men served from the Escalante community, and one lost his life. Staff Sargeant Gary George Chestnut died of gunshot wounds on 2 December 1967 after having been wounded on four previous occa­sions during his four years in Vietnam.40 Tropic resident Chris Munson was also killed in Vietnam. Henrieville had more than thirty men serve their country in the Korean and Vietnam wars. Thirty-eight men and one woman, Le Ann Hayes, from Hatch served in the military during this time period. Boulder sent a dozen young men to fight in Vietnam. Schools and Churches Life continued to evolve in positive ways as well, however. The look of each community changed as new building projects improved the infrastructure of the towns. Consolidation of schools closed some buildings but also brought improved and upgraded facilities to most schoolchildren. Indeed, a report released in 1970 found that "the pre­sent level of general education [in the county] is more than adequate to meet present needs," and further stated that the citizens "are stal­wart and to be commended" in their financial commitment to their school system.41 Cannonville students had been traveling to Tropic for high school since 1920. Beginning in 1954 their younger counterparts would also travel to the new Bryce Valley elementary school at Tropic. Cannonville residents hated to see their well-constructed school-house not being utilized, however. So, being resourceful, they moved the school across the street in 1963 and added it to their LDS chapel, with one new roof over all. After some additional remodeling and renovation, this provided a much needed cultural hall and additional 348 HISTORY OF GARFIELD COUNTY classrooms for the church. Proud Cannonville residents rededicated the structure as part of their centennial celebration on 24 July 1976. The construction of new buildings or the remodeling of existing LDS ecclesiastical structures also took place in Tropic, Antimony, Hatch, and Boulder. These included a new seminary building and the upgrading of recreational facilities. Residents of Boulder had to start from the ground up, as their Mormon church suffered a devastating fire in March 1960. Work began in 1961, and in October 1964 local residents hosted the Garfield LDS Stake conference in their new building. Apostle John Longden dedicated the new chapel at that meeting. Other new construction included a post office in Tropic, a tennis court, in Hatch and improved roads in and around Boulder. Both Hatch and Henrieville also completed much-needed improve­ments in their culinary water systems. With public cooperation and help from the federal government, Escalante completed the Wide Hollow Reservoir and various other conservation projects. These and other projects contributed to improvements in the quality of life for Garfield residents. But the coming decades brought additional problems to some long-time county residents. According to census figures, after 1970 the population for most of the county had stopped its downward spi­ral. However, as the number of residents slowly started to increase in most towns, the make-up of the citizenry started to change: many of the newcomers had no historical connections with Garfield, and some were not members of the Mormon church, presenting an unusual, and to some, an unpleasant situation. Locals began to won­der how this would alter the feelings of community, so much a part of small-town life and cherished by long-time residents whose ances­tors helped settle these villages. Also, agencies and programs of the federal government had con­tributed much to the development of Garfield County, whether it was in the area of range revitalization, water projects, road building and maintenance, or numerous other much-needed enterprises. Local residents, however, objected to accompanying restrictions, particu­larly regarding the use and management of public lands, which they desired to use in traditional ways. How much control should Washington have in weighing environmental concerns against local GARFIELD COUNTY AT MID-CENTURY 349 economic development strategies? was one of the questions asked. Are the two, in fact, mutually exclusive? Mountain Area Planners of Salt Lake City, having been commissioned by county officials in the late 1960s to make an economic, population, and housing study, con­cluded that Garfield had many advantages. But it also possessed some disadvantages, none of which were insurmountable. The study con­cluded: Above all, the most important factor influencing the eco­nomic future of Garfield County is attitude. There are far too many individuals satisfied with things as they are, or who do not want to change things as they are, or who are defeatists with a con­viction that it is futile to try. These attitudes must be changed for the better in order to hope for a better future.42 Could county residents prove these prognosticators wrong by ris­ing above low expectations and defeatism? The next three decades would indeed prove to be challenging and interesting. ENDNOTES 1. Effel Harmon Burrow Riggs, History of Hatch, Utah, and Associated Towns Asay and Hillsdale, 328-29. 2. Ida Chidester and Eleanor Bruhn, Golden Nuggets of Pioneer Days: A History of Garfield County, 348-49. 3. Jack Breed, "First Motor Sortie into Escalante Land," National Geographic (September 1949): 369-404; Chidester and Bruhn, Golden Nuggets, 350-51. 4. Lenora Hall LeFevre, The Boulder Country and Its People: A History of the People of Boulder and the Surrounding Country, 261. 5. Nicholas Scrattish, Historic Resource Study: Bryce Canyon National Park, 122-23. 6. Ibid., 116, 121. 7. Ibid., 134. 8. Ibid., 135-36. 9. Ibid., 138. 10. Ibid., 168-72. 11. See Nethella Griffin Woolsey, The Escalante Story: 1875-1964, 119-20; and Marilyn lackson, "Escalante's Heritage, A Viable Cattle Industry," (1997), 14, 16, 17, 29, copy of paper in possession of authors. 350 HISTORY OF GARFIELD COUNTY 12.Ibid. 13. Riggs, History of Hatch, 256-57. 14. Clark Frandsen, interview with Vivian L. Talbot, Panguitch, Utah, 25 September 1997, notes in possession of authors; Devon Owens, interview with Vivian L. Talbot, 26 September 1997, notes in possession of authors. 15. LeFevre, Boulder Country, 276. 16. Mountain Area Planners, "Economic, Population and Housing Study, Garfield County Master Plan Studies," 1970, 14, copy in possession of authors. 17. See Woolsey, Escalante Story, 184-85; LeFevre, Boulder Country, 253-54; and "Uranium," in World Book Encyclopedia, 1978 ed. 18. See Christopher Smith, "Boomtown Is Bust Before It Ever Boomed," Salt Lake Tribune, 28 December 1992, Bl. 19. Ibid.; Christopher Smith, "Wyoming Company Bringing Utah Ghost Town Back to Life," Salt Lake Tribune, 4 September 1993, Al. 20. "Garfield County, Utah General Plan," 1995, D-4, copy in posses­sion of authors. 21. Woolsey, Escalante Story, 180. 22. June Shakespear, "Tropic," 9; Smith, "One and One Makes Eleven," 66. 23. As quoted in Woolsey, Escalante Story, 178. 24. Mountain Area Planners, "Economic, Population and Housing Study," 14. 25. Ibid., 26. 26. M. Lane Warner, Grass Valley 1873-1976: A History of Antimony and Her People, 68. 27. Ibid., 61. 28. Mountain Area Planners, "Economic, Population and Housing Study," 29. 29. Ibid., 26. 30. Teora Newby Willis, autobiography, 12, copy obtained by authors from Nancy Twitchell. 31. Information and figures on stock raising in Garfield County from the 1930s through the 1960s came from Mountain Area Planners, "Economic, Population and Housing Study," 29-33; Jackson, "Escalante's Heritage," 14-15; and Woolsey, Escalante Story, 138-40. 32. See LeFevre, Boulder Country, 291-92; Utah Atlas and Gazetteer (Freeport, ME: DeLorme Mapping, 1993), 12. GARFIELD COUNTY AT MID-CENTURY 351 33. Wanlass Alvey, interview with Marilyn Jackson, 29 April 1996, Escalante, Utah; Woolsey, Escalante Story, 160-62. 34. From an interview with Riley C. Savage in Jackson, "Escalante's Heritage," 5. 35. Warner, Grass Valley, 67. 36. Woolsey, Escalante Story supplement, (1974), 15-17. 37. Warner, Grass Valley, 64. 38. George W. Thompson, "Cannonville History," 37. 39. Shakespear, "Tropic," 7. 40. Woolsey, Escalante Story supplement, 69. 41. Mountain Area Planners, "Economic, Population and Housing Study," 43. 42. Ibid., 11, 14.