A History of Uintah County

Education in Uintah county

10 First Order of Business EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY E, /ducational beginnings in Uintah County date from 1874 when Indian agent lohn Critchlow established the first one-room school on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation for the Ute Indians at Whiterocks. Before 1880 Uinta Basin was a part of Wasatch County with schools under that county's jurisdiction. Alva Alexander Hatch was one of the first school trustees appointed for Ashley Valley by Wasatch County officials.1 As Utah was not yet a state, the territory paid half the school expenses and the district residents paid the other half. The early settlers undertook to provide education for their chil­dren. As soon as a small settlement was established, they began look­ing for ways and means to start a school. These first schools were very humble and were often held in homes. The first white settlers with children began arriving in Ashley Valley in the fall of 1878, and a one-room log cabin was built on Teancum Taylor's property east of Ashley town at about 2220 North 250 West with William C. Britt as the teacher.2 Another one-room log school was organized in Mountain Dell (Dry Fork) that year with Mark Hall as teacher. (A cinder-block school later was built in Dry Fork in 1917.) When Indian troubles 248 EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 249 flared up during the fall of 1879, the schoolhouse on Teancum Taylor's property was disassembled and rebuilt at the east end of the Ashley townsite, affording better protection for the children. Many people in the Ashley area moved their cabins to the town of Ashley. People living on the Bench (Vernal) in the fall of 1879 moved together, forming a fort. School was held in the log cabin home of teacher C.C. Bartlett until a little log school was completed about 1 November 1879 in the fort at about 32 West Main. This cabin was also used by the LDS church for meetings until a small white church was built to the west.3 The log school was built in the midst of a large sagebrush plain.4 A U.S. land office was established in the territory in 1869, and settlers were required to live on the land according to the Homestead Act of 1862. Before this time, settlers in most Utah settlements fol­lowed the Mormon village pattern of settlement, with farmers living in villages and traveling out to their farms to work the land. Being required to live on their homesteads placed hardships on farmers in regard to providing an education for their children, since they were scattered all around the valley, making it virtually impossible for chil­dren to attend school at one location, especially with the transporta­tion facilities available at that time. Consequently, a number of small school districts and small schools, often just one or two rooms, were established in the county to accommodate the scattered population. When Uintah County was created in 1880, education was imme­diately addressed by the selectmen. On 5 June Joseph H. Black was appointed county superintendent of schools, with William Ashton and E. Ayers appointed as a board of teachers examiners.5 The early schools were a real proving ground for teachers. It was said that Martha Rupple took a bullwhip to school and that she knew how to use it. She cracked the whip the first day and even the larger boys stayed in line. Many young knuckles felt the wrath of a teacher's yard­stick. Girls came to school dressed in long-legged underwear and long woolen stockings. Winters were hard with cold temperatures and deep snow. The schools were heated with big pot-bellied stoves and one teacher taught all grades. Each room had a water bucket, and the 250 HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY students all drank from the one dipper in the bucket. The county superintendent of schools visited the schools periodically. On 7 lune 1880, two days after the appointment of the county superintendent, county selectmen established four school districts.6 District 1 included Incline (Jensen) and the Ashley Fork River bot­toms up to Naples. Everything west of District 1 through Vernal and north to about 1000 North and west to the upper end of the valley was in District 2, which also included the school already in existence on the Bench (Vernal.) District 3 embraced the area north of District 2, including the Ashley School below the town of Ashley. District 4 included the area from the mouth of Dry Fork Canyon west through the settlement of Dry Fork, where a school was already in existence by 1878.7 Between 1880 and 1914, when all districts within the county were consolidated into the Uintah County School District, some twenty-two local districts had been established throughout the county.8 Through the years, there was much restructuring of existing districts and many new ones formed. When one school district was discon­tinued, its number was assigned to a new district. Each school district was a separate entity, having no affiliation with the other districts. Each had three trustees who were elected by the people in the partic­ular district. The trustees decided how much money was needed to operate the school and presented the request for the appropriate mill levy to the county selectmen (commissioners, after Utah became a state). If a new school building was needed, members of that district voted to decide if the district should bond for the school. Most dis­trict schools operated seven and one-half consecutive months a year; but a few were in operation only five months. Changes occurred after Utah was made a state in 1896, and the state began making educa­tional reform laws. By 1898 schools had three sources of revenue: dis­trict taxes, county school taxes, and state school taxes. District trustees had the power, according to the school law of 1897, to levy taxes of five mills without submitting the matter to a vote of the people. The district rate could be as high as twenty mills, which required approval of the district residents.9 On 3 January 1881 selectmen made boundary changes to District 1, and District 5 (Maeser) was created. The few people residing in EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 251 / ; •••":'•-,•••'••". 5th District Schoolhouse in Maeser. (UCLRHC collection, A. B. Atwood photo) Maeser (Mill Ward) had been unhappy about sending their children to school in the town of Ashley, as the children had to cross streams and go through heavy brush to reach the school and often could not attend due to high water. People in the new district could not obtain aid from the selectmen to build a school, so various private resi­dences were used for school. In 1882 Sterling Colton donated land for a school near 1850 North 3000 West. School trustees Robert Bodily, Philip Stringham, and William G. Reynolds began obtaining logs and other material to build a schoolhouse. Lumber was obtained from the Alma Johnstun sawmill at the head of Deep Creek. Snow was deep by the time they were ready to build, but the log cabin was completed and school was held with Viola Pierce as the teacher. The building was also used for LDS church meetings.10 In about 1888 a one-room log cabin school called the "Mud Temple" was erected at 2682 West 1500 North. This building soon became too small and a brick structure was built in 1890. It was located ten blocks south at the northwest corner of the Maeser store intersection at 1500 West 500 North. It was named Bingham School 252 HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY and some of the Maeser students were sent to this new school. In 1892 the Mud Temple burned to the ground. Later that month bids were secured for a two-room, brick building to replace the school. The new building was called the Webster School and was located on the same site. While this building was being built, the LDS chapel was rented for school use. The Bingham and the Webster schools were built from the same plans. On 2 May 1899 a petition asked that a new school district be cre­ated from portions of District 5 (Maeser) and District 4 (Dry Fork). It was granted, and Silver Gate School District 16 was established on 10 May 1899. This school was located near "Remember the Maine Park" in Dry Fork Canyon. The school remained in operation until 6 March 1905, when the district was annexed to Maeser under protest from the Maeser residents, as the Maeser schools were already over­crowded. 11 In 1910 a new two-story schoolhouse was built at 1120 North 2500 West replacing both the Bingham and Webster buildings. In 1970 a new Maeser school was built at 2670 West 1000 North. The settlement on the Bench was first called Ashley Center. The local log school was in school District 2. In 1881-82 a second log school was built.12 Due to rapid growth in the vicinity, the school was soon divided and the children were placed in several locations, including part of the McClellen Hotel at about 32 North 100 West. In 1888 a new two-room, brick building was built which became known as the Central School. This building was constructed where the present Central School is now located at 250 South Vernal Avenue. This school was also soon outgrown and children were placed in rented houses and buildings around the area until a third room was built onto the school. The Odekirk School was established southeast of Vernal before 1894; however, no further information has been found. A one-room school was located on the old Winder homestead at 1030 East 500 South, which may have been the Odekirk School; Heber Odekirk was a trustee and his daughter was a teacher. The Washington School, a brick building still standing at 266 North 500 West, was built in 1895. The school was only in operation for two years because trustees thought it was too far from the center of population. The overcrowding problem continued, and in 1900 a EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 253 two-story, brick building was built north of the three-room Central School. In 1935 the first tubular fire escape in the Uinta Basin was installed on the south side of the building.13 The foot of the fire escape was often a gathering place for students trying to see who could climb up. When this building became overcrowded, some of the children had to attend classes in the old three-room brick school and in what were called the "Green Bunks," which had been moved in behind the Central School. By the late 1930s and early 1940s students were being sent to the vacant seminary building which had been built onto the tabernacle, to the Congregational church which Wilcox Academy had vacated, and to the old Uintah Academy (junior high building) next to the Uintah High School. In 1942 the little three-room building was torn down and a new Central School was constructed on that site with Work Projects Administration funds. The population expanded rapidly, and a walk­way was constructed to connect the upper levels of the old and new buildings. This made it necessary to move the fire escape to the north side of the old building. This old building was used until it was demolished in 1971. A multipurpose room was built onto the new school in 1970. In the 1990s the school board repeatedly discussed discontinuing the use of this building, but lack of other classroom space prohibited such a move. After the Meeker Massacre in northwestern Colorado in 1879, the first Ashley school was moved from Ashley Town back to the Taylor property where it had begun. This little log building was used until 1905 when William Preece donated ground at 2220 North 250 West and a new school called the Ashley White School was built. This school operated until 1917. On 23 lanuary 1883 Union School District 6 was created for the settlers of lower Ashley where Union LDS Ward had been created. A log-cabin school called Union was built on the Walter Anderson property across from the first log chapel which was later replaced by the old brick Ashley Ward Chapel at 2020 North 500 East. As the people living on Brush Creek had to travel several miles to attend the Union School, a new district was requested; however, the selectmen left them in District 6 and on 6 August 1906 ordered the local trustees 254 HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY to provide a school for the area residents. A large white building was later built and operated until after the consolidation of school dis­tricts, at which time a new brick school was built in Ashley near 2100 North 500 East, near where the first Union log school had been located. The children from both the Union School and the Ashley White School were taught together in the new school after 1917. Union School District was later enlarged to include the area from the Colorado line to the Wyoming line, including the area where Flaming Gorge and Manila are located, which was then part of Uintah County. Naples School District 7 was formed on 3 March 1884.14 The Naples community was first served by a school conducted in the gra­nary at 1882 South 1500 East of Mrs. Lydia Remington, with her daughter Roxie as teacher. Later a small one-room addition was built onto the one-room house. Remington then moved into it, and school was held in the larger room. A one-room, log school was built in the fall of 1889, providing more satisfactory quarters.15 In 1899 a new brick, two-story school house with a basement was begun on the west side of the highway. In the fall of 1900 school was held in the new building, which had a large bell on the roof. In 1935 another build­ing was built directly north of this building. In 1966 a new Naples school building opened on the east side of the highway. Both of the old buildings have since been razed. Students from the former Davis, Jensen, Bonanza, and Redwash schools attended the new school. This building was designed to incorporate a then new concept in teaching known as open class­rooms- several classes of each grade were clustered in semi-separate areas called pods. An additional pod was added to the school in 1981. Glines School District 8 was created on 2 March 1885.16 School was held in a log building which had been constructed in 1884 as a church. It was located north of the present Glines Ward Chapel at 1510 West U.S. Highway 40. About 1892 another building was erected by the people of District 8. At first it was one large hall with a south entry; curtains divided the room for classes.17 Because the building was painted red, the structure was referred to as the "Little Red School House." The small log building remained in use to supple­ment the red school. In 1902 a new brick school was built. It was a EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 255 two-story, four-room, red-brick structure similar to the Central and Maeser schools. When this school closed in 1934, the children of Glines attended school in Maeser. Riverdale School District 9 was organized on 7 December 1885.18 A school was built by Dr. Harvey Coe Hullinger at his own expense just beyond the Ashley Creek bridge on U.S. 40. Hullinger even hired and paid the teacher the first year. Seven years after the school was created, the school district was divided and two new schools were built-one school was 1.5 miles to the south and the other was a mile to the north. Quoting Dr. Hullinger: "The School District officials took the furniture and other equipment from the old school and whacked it up between them without consulting me or saying thank you."19 This episode caused Hullinger to leave lensen and move to Vernal. The school district continued until 3 October 1904, when Riverdale District was discontinued and annexed into Merrill Ward (Naples.)20 Pleasant View School District 10 (Davis) was created on 4 lune 1888. The first school built was a log cabin on the George A. Davis property near 1050 East 3500 South.21 Davis was the first teacher. The second school was a large four-room brick building built in 1904 at 4000 South 1500 East. It was used until 1935 when the Naples and Davis schools were consolidated into one school at Naples. Deep Creek School District 11 was created on 22 April 1890, when Teancum Taylor presented a petition.22 School was held in a cabin on the property of Ben Jones. Later a large one-room school-house with two windows was built. When this schoolhouse burned down, local children were bussed to the LaPoint school. School at Jensen had first been held in the H.M. Moon residence at about 8335 East 6500 South where Lydia Chatwin (Wall) taught Annas Blizzard's and Elizabeth Rasmussen's children. When School District 1 was created in 1880, a little schoolhouse was built in that area.23 William Ainge taught in the George Ainge house, and W.F. Billings taught for five years between 1886 and 1891, first in the Daniels log house, later at the Andrew Dudley home, and then in the A.N. Timothy home. Jensen School District 12 was created on 5 March 1891, and two schools opened in the district. An adobe school was built at the foot 256 HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY of the hill on the west side of the road about one-half mile north from the Highway 40 turnoff.24 After this school district was formed, Jensen residents referred to the Jensen schools as the upper and lower districts. In 1904 when this upper-district school burned down the children were moved to the lower district and consolidated with Jensen School District 1. The other upper school was held at the Cap Burton place at 3800 South 10100 East.25 This school remained in District 12 until 2 August 1906, when a petition from Samuel Haslem and a majority of the taxpayers of District 12 asked the selectmen to annex that district into Jensen School District 1. Other schools were held in lensen after consolidation of all area schools into Jensen District 1. A school called the Lone Tree School was located below present Dinosaur National Monument. A concern was expressed over that school location since children lived on each side of the Green River and some had to cross in a rowboat. One teacher, Louise Thorne, lived on the east side of the river. Parents called a meeting to discuss building a new school; however, an agree­ment could not be reached on which side of the river it should be built, so school subsequently was taught in several different locations. Several schools were begun and discontinued on Brush Creek west of the Dinosaur road. A school was also held on the Sunshine Bench. By 1902 a brick school had been built on Highway 40 at about 8775 East 6000 South. An addition was made in 1907, with other additions subsequently made through the years. The children from the upper schools were eventually bussed to this Jensen brick school. Under a state consolidation order, the school was closed in 1967 under protest from area residents. Most of the children were then bussed to Vernal and attended Central School; a few were placed in Naples School. The old lensen school building was razed in lanuary 1971. On 2 December 1895 a petition was presented to the county selectmen asking for a school district to be established in the Henry Fork vicinity near the Wyoming line which was the part of Uintah County lying north of the Uinta Mountains and west of the Green River. The selectmen were in agreement to form Henry Fork School District 13, but since no officers were recommended for the new dis- EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 257 trict, the petition was tabled for more than a year before it was approved on 16 September 1896. Southview School District 14 was created on 5 June 1895.26 It included the area south of Vernal beginning at a point near present 1750 South Vernal Avenue and going west and south a few miles. Joseph O.B. Eaton had moved his family into a little dirt-floored cabin east of the 500 West and 2500 South intersection. Most of his thirteen children were still living at home. As soon as possible, a larger home with a wooden floor was built near the original home. Both school and Sunday school were then held in the little cabin for all the neighborhood children, with Frank Abplanalp as the teacher. In 1895 a one-room, sawed-log structure with a shingle roof was built not far from the old Eaton home and Eaton presented a peti­tion to the county selectmen asking for a school. Alonzo A. Mitchell and William Gillman were made trustees of the school and Earnest Eaton was appointed treasurer. The schoolhouse was located about one half-mile north of the intersection of 500 West 2500 South. About twenty-six families and a few single men lived in this area in 1896, which was called Eatonville.27 This school operated until 1912 according to the Uintah County assessment roll. On 25 November 1898, Manila residents asked for a school dis­trict, and Manila School District 15 was created.28 Willis Twitchell, Benjamin Slagaowski, and Frank Ellison were appointed trustees, with bonds fixed at $250 each. On 1 May 1905 another petition was received from the area ask­ing for a school district in the Linwood area to be formed out of Manila School District 15. The petition was granted on 6 November 1905 when Linwood School District 17 was formed. It was suggested that this new District 17 and the Wyoming District 13 join together in the construction of one school to serve both states. The school subsequently was built on the state line-half in Utah and half in Wyoming. The first school in Dragon was established at the Black Dragon Mine in the fall of 1904 as part of the Jensen District. Later this build­ing was moved to Rainbow and used as a school. On 9 April 1906 C. O. Baxter requested on behalf of Dragon and vicinity residents that they be taken out of the lensen District and given their own district. 258 HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY The commissioners approved the request, creating Dragon School District 13. A one-room, frame schoolhouse was built in Dragon. This district later was discontinued and again consolidated with lensen District 1. Dragon again applied for a school on 2 June 1908, and it was granted. W.A. Banks was the prime mover. It became Dragon District 21. When the Dragon and Rainbow mines were closed, local residents moved to Bonanza. In 1937 a school was opened at Bonanza with children from the Independence, White River, Eureka, and Little Emma mines attending. A number of towns sprang up after the Indian reservation was opened to white settlement in 1905. By 1906 selectmen had received several requests to form school districts on the former Uintah and Uncompahgre reservation lands. The county selectmen toured the territory and decided that new schools should be provided for the settlers who had taken out homesteads. During the next few years several new school districts were organized. A new school was assigned to District 12 on 1 July 1907.29 It took in a portion of the ter­ritory east of Roosevelt, including Ballard and Independence, and was called the Dry Gulch District 12. District 13 was again estab­lished, this time embracing the territory north of District 12 and south of District 16. It was called Louisville School District 13 (Bennett) and was created on 1 luly 1907.30 Education for Indian children living on the Uintah Indian Reservation was provided as early as 1874 at Whiterocks. With the opening of the Uintah Reservation in 1905 and the establishment of a number of homesteads in the area, the county commission orga­nized Whiterocks School District 16 on 17 April 1906.31 Moffat District 18 was formed 1 luly 1907, with the saloon own­ers of the area acting as trustees.32 This was the area formerly known as the Strip, now Gusher. A log school was operated until 1912, when a one-room, frame structure with a belfry containing a 1000-pound bell was built. This building was destroyed by fire in January 1919 and was replaced with a new brick school which still stands on Highway 40 in Gusher.33 Another group on the reservation applied for a school district, which was approved on 5 August 1907. It included the territory EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 259 around the Uinta bench on the former Uintah Reservation and was called Alta School District 19 at Fort Duchesne.34 Residents of the area around Leland petitioned the commission­ers for a school on 19 March 1906. The commissioners agreed to travel to the area and investigate. After the trip, approval was made and the area was designated as District 9 on 21 April 1906. It was later referred to as Randlett District 9, and it included the section of county lying near Leland, with about twenty students.35 This occurred after the Indian boarding school at Randlett (Leland) had been dis­continued. Uteland became District 20 on 11 May 1909. It included the area southeast of Whiterocks, including Deep Creek, Tridell, and Taft. This district later became Liberty School District 20 and included North Liberty School (Tridell) and South Liberty School (LaPoint.) The first school held in Taft was at the lohn Starr Indian House and was used by the people of Taft and Tridell. School was later held in the C.B. Bartlett home, then in another Indian building, and subsequently in the log home of teacher Sarah Drulard. In 1913 the North Liberty School was conducted in a log build­ing with a wooden floor in Center Draw; it also served as the meetinghouse in Tridell. In 1915 identical buildings were constructed for North and South Liberty schools. North Liberty was located upon the hillside west of Tridell; South Liberty, which was at one time called Webb School, was located about two miles west of LaPoint and then south on the Great Lakes Sawmill road. Another school was located about 4.5 miles west of LaPoint on state road 121. In 1919 school was held west of LaPoint in a tent. A white schoolhouse was built next to the tent, near the present-day school. A brick school was built in the same location and used until it was replaced by a new school in 1983. In 1924 a brick school was also built in Tridell at the end of the main road through town. In 1952 students were bussed to Whiterocks. The Whiterocks boarding school had been closed at the Indian and white children attended day school in that building. This Whiterocks school was closed in 1974, and the children were bussed to Todd Elementary school on the Indian Bench. When a new school 260 HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY was built in LaPoint in 1983, the children were moved to that loca­tion. The last district to be formed was Hayden School District 22 on 2 May 1911 from portions of Louisville (Bennett) and Whiterocks dis­tricts. 35 School was held in two tents until a log school building was erected. Twelve school districts had been created in the county in 1896; that number increased to sixteen school districts by 1900, and to twenty-two districts by 1914. Each district levied its own taxes, hired its own teachers, and made its own rules, electing three trustees to oversee school affairs. Nelson J. Sowards, county superintendent of schools, undertook to consolidate these twenty-two districts into a single school district in 1914. Although he met with opposition from those who disliked the idea of the prosperous communities having to help support the poorer areas, he gained a sufficient following for the proposal that it was established in the spring of 1914. School districts were asked to submit petitions for consolidation. The board of county commissioners favorably acted upon the petitions, and Uintah School District was organized on 4 March 1914.37 This move was met with some opposition, especially from the Randlett School District, some of whose members and voters felt the commissioners had only asked for petitions for consolidation. This district submit­ted a signed petition against consolidation, but the decision had already been made.38 On 27 August 1915, when the Uintah School District presented its first annual report, new schools at Independence, South Liberty, North Liberty, LaPoint, White River, Bridgeport, and Ouray Valley were included in the report. Bennett, Southview, and Liberty were not listed as having schools in 1915. In 1917, three years after the schools were consolidated, the dis­trict bonded itself for $130,000 to build four $12,000, four-room buildings at Ashley, Alta, LaPoint, and Manila; $6,000, two-room buildings at Bennett, Dry Fork, and Independence; $1,000 for portable schoolhouses at Ouray Valley and Watson; and improve­ments in existing schools as follows: Davis, $2,700; Deep Creek, $200; Dragon, $200; Glines, $3,000; Hayden, $500; lensen, $2,200; Maeser, $6,500; Moffat, $500; Tridell, $300; Randlett, $300; Vernal Central, EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 261 $8,000; White River, $200; and Whiterocks, $100. Both the Maeser and Vernal Central schools were modernized with central heating plants, toilets, and lavatories.39 In 1918-19 the national flu epidemic hit Uintah County with tremendous force, greatly affecting the schools. All public gatherings were forbidden and schools had to close. The children were assigned their lessons and studied at home. Each student went individually to school for about fifteen minutes a week to recite lessons to the teacher, both wearing face masks. In 1934 during the Depression the Uintah School District was unable to finance school a full year and planned to close all schools early; however, some financial aid was received from the government, allowing schools to continue. The consolidation of many schools helped reduce expenses; Naples and Davis met together at Naples; Glines was joined with Maeser; Ashley schoolchildren were trans­ferred to Vernal. Whiterocks joined Tridell, while Bennett, Leota and Randlett were consolidated. At this time stokers were placed in the furnaces of these schools to provide more even and economical heat. Still, county schools closed early, on 5 April 1935, when funds were exhausted. During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s many large, modern elemen­tary- school buildings were completed. W Russel Todd Elementary School was built in 1957 on Highway 40 near Whiterocks turnoff, and children from many of the older elementary schools on the west side of the county were consolidated into this school, including Alterra (grades one through eight), Avalon, Ballard, Bennett, Fort Duchesne, Gusher, Hayden, Leota, Ouray, and Randlett. By 1994 enrollment in the school was 363 students. Ashley Elementary was built at 350 North 1150 West in 1961. It took the overflow from Central School in the Vernal area including students in Ashley Ward and some from Maeser. A new school in Naples was built in 1966 where students from Jensen, Redwash, and Davis were sent. A new school in Maeser was built in 1970, and Dry Fork and Deep Creek students were bussed to this school. Discovery Elementary was established in the Vernal area at 650 West 1200 South in 1980; it also picked up overflow from Vernal and included children from the Glines area. When a new school was built at Davis in 1983, 262 HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY children from Jensen, Redwash, and Bonanza were transferred to Davis from Naples. A new school was also built in LaPoint in 1983 using the same floor plan as that at Davis. After the new LaPoint school was built, Tridell and Whiterocks students were bussed to LaPoint. The school board felt that consolidating the small outlying schools into large modern schools would benefit both the children and the school district. However, local school buildings helped con­stitute a community's identity and residents protested, fearing this move would damage the economies of these areas and make them ghost towns. This fear has materialized in many areas. At a school board meeting on 9 May 1995, a decision was made to restructure Ashley Valley elementary schools. The new configura­tion will place kindergarten through second-grade students at Davis and Maeser, third- and fourth-grade children at Ashley and Naples, and all fifth-grade students at Discovery. Central School ceased to be an elementary school. When the school districts were consolidated into one district, a Board of Education building was built in Vernal in 1917 on the cor­ner of Second South and First West. It was a one-story structure with a basement, built of concrete and native brick.40 A new 9,500-square-foot school board office was completed in 1977 at 635 West 200 South. At first, the district schools only provided education for the first eight grades, which was generally all the education local youngsters received. However, as some students desired a higher education, var­ious academies and Beach College came into existence. The early schools operated by churches, Beach College, and Indian schools were not supported by the county mill levy, nor were they under Uintah County supervision. Uintah Stake Academy At a meeting of the high council of the LDS Uintah Stake held 15 September 1888, action was taken on a letter received from President Wilford Woodruff suggesting the establishment of a church school in the stake with a board of not less than five or more than seven mem­bers. Members chosen were Ruben S. Collett, Phillip Stringham, EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 263 Field Day at Uintah Academy. (UCLRHC, L. C. Thorne collection) Henry A. Woodruff, C.C. Bartlett, George P. Billings, Barnabus L. Adams, and lames Hacking-a board member from each existing ward. In the summer of 1891 a lot was purchased from J. R. Workman for the sum of $225, with Workman donating $75 of that amount. Later the present LDS tabernacle (now temple) was built on the site. In October, Henry Peterson, a graduate of Brigham Young Academy, was hired as principal. On 2 November 1891 the Uintah Stake Academy opened in the Leo Voight building at Third West Main Street while the new building was being constructed. Although this was the same building where the Beach Business College had been located, the two schools had no connection. School opened with fourteen pupils in grades nine through twelve; but before the year was over, fifty-six students had enrolled. The first academy building-a one-room frame structure-was built on the northwest corner of the lot under the supervision of C.C. Bartlett at a cost of $1,000. The second year, the school opened on 3 October 1892 with Nelson G. Sowards as principal and twenty-one pupils. Before the close of the second term, the enrollment had 264 HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY increased to sixty; by the end of the year seventy-five pupils had enrolled. Due to the large enrollment, more room was needed. An addition was made to the building and was completed on 9 September 1893. After the tabernacle was built and dedicated in 1907, it was sometimes used as an auditorium for school functions. J.R. Workman had built his new social hall on the southwest corner of 500 West Main Street, and the school's athletic programs and social functions were held in this building. Due to lack of funds no classes were held during the year of 1894-95. The school was reopened 20 September 1896 with an enrollment of fifty-three students. Andrew B. Anderson of Lehi was principal.41 The academy was the first institution of higher education in the area, with the exception of Beach College, although advanced courses were not offered until 1896-97. The academy apparently was sup­ported entirely by local residents until 1901-1902, at which time the LDS church appropriated $842 towards its maintenance. Beginning in 1906-1907, the school extended the range of its activity, adding more subjects and organizing an athletic program. The school became overcrowded to the point that classes had to be held in the tabernacle. Faculty meetings were held in the upper hall of the taber­nacle. This building was not totally adequate for a school, creating some unexpected problems. To alleviate the overcrowding, two rooms were rented from Pardon Dodds.42 In 1911 the Workman Social Hall was used as the main building, with classes also being held in the white building by the tabernacle.43 A new building was com­pleted in 1912 at a cost of $30,000. It was located one block west. Not until 1914 was the academy established as a four-year high school.44 The Uintah Stake Academy, as a church school, closed its doors in the spring of 1923. The Uintah School District purchased the property for $6,000 and granted the LDS church the privilege of using certain rooms for its priesthood and young ladies' organiza­tions. 45 The building reopened as Uintah High School in the fall of 1923-the first free public high school in the county. Seminaries When public high schools replaced church academies, the LDS church began providing seminaries near the schools where religious EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 265 New Uintah Academy, later Uintah High School in early 1920s. (UCLRHC collection) classes were held. In 1923 George S. Tanner, a young unmarried man, came to Vernal as the first LDS seminary teacher. At first, a room was provided in the house south of the high school building for the classes. Later, when the school became overcrowded, the seminary was moved into a smaller room in the high school building so classes could be held in the larger room in the house. One hundred and two students were enrolled and attended classes the first two years of the seminary. In July 1925 Uintah Stake authorities purchased the H. L. Reid property at 159 South 600 West across the street to the east, and classes were held in that residence for about a year. The stake began an addition on the east of the tabernacle for a seminary in October 1925. This addition could hold about sixty students. The tabernacle seminary building was used until 1937 when a new seminary build­ing complete with stained glass windows was constructed south of the old high school on 200 South and 600 West. The LDS Family History Center is now housed in this building. In 1955 a new seminary building was built across the street east of the new Uintah High School at 161 North 1000 West. In the winter of 1970 a new addition was added which included a third classroom, 266 HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY a storage and workroom, tool room, and larger library. The former library was converted to an office. Seminary is now provided in this building for Vernal Junior High students. In 1986 a third seminary building was built in close proximity to the new high school on the Maeser highway. A seminary was added to Alterra High School in 1936. It pro­vided religious classes until it burned down on 26 November 1945. From the beginning, the seminaries and high schools have been separate and distinct institutions. At the request of parents, students can be granted release time by school officials during regular school hours to attend classes in the nearby seminary buildings. The only physical connection between the LDS church and state institutions is a common bell that signals the changing of classes. The cost of oper­ating the seminaries is borne entirely by the LDS church.46 Released time is also granted to other students to leave campus for instruction from other denominations. Wilcox Academy As part of its program to offer an alternative to the Mormon church's influence on education, the Congregational Educational Society established the Wilcox Academy in Vernal in 1903, with school being conducted in Woodward Hall and the IOOF Hall until completion of Kingsbury Congregational Church in 1904.47 A school building was erected, and both the academy and the church building were dedicated on 11 December 1905. High school work was intro­duced in the fall. The high school classes were held in the church building; the primary, intermediate, and grammar grades were held in the new building. This academy was the first in the county to offer a four-year high school course.48 Relations between it and the LDS Uintah Stake Academy were cordial. Athletic and scholastic compe­tition between the schools contributed a vigorous element to Vernal social life. For eighteen years the Wilcox Academy was a missionary school, costing $99,000 from national Congregational missionary funds to sustain its activities. In about 1908, Nellie Rodabaugh arrived from Omaha, Nebraska, to teach at the academy. She had a niece in Omaha named Pauline Stonecypher, and Pauline applied when a teaching position EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 267 Wilcox School and Kingsbury Church. (UCLRHC collection) became available at the Vernal school. The job description read that a teacher must know the rules of basketball and sing alto. Pauline qual­ified in both and was awarded the job. She arrived in Vernal to begin her teaching career in 1909. In 1912 she married Leo Thorne, a local man.49 Since Pauline Stonecypher was the only teacher in the county who understood basketball, she was called on to organize both boys and girls basketball teams. The small woman also was the official ref­eree for all the games, with the big boys towering over her. The school closed in 1924 after Uintah Academy was made a public high school and gained accreditation. It was the church's pol­icy to provide accredited education only where it was needed. When such education was provided, the schools were closed so that funds could be spent in a community without a school. Uintah High School In 1923 the county school board decided to purchase the Uintah Academy building which had been built in 1911-12. The LDS church, which had financed the Uintah Academy, discontinued its support. Uintah High School was established in the academy building that fall. W.A Paxton was the first principal, with a staff of eight teachers. A fifteen-member band was organized under the direction of William F. Hansen, and the first yearbook was published, with Lamont Holfeltz as editor. Shop classes were held in a little one-room 268 HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY green building in the rear. The school began with 180 students; when Wilcox Academy closed in 1924, the enrollment rose to 240 students. A new high school was planned and bids went out in June 1924. It was announced on 12 September 1924 that a junior high would be incorporated into the high school. John E. Anderson of Salt Lake City was successful in securing the contract for the building with a bid of $76,000. The new building, located south of the academy building, was accepted by the school board on 16 September 1925; its cost was $108,702. Uintah High School was admitted into the Northwestern Association of Secondary Schools in the years 1927 and 1928. The association embraced ten states; only eight Utah schools attained this honor in 1927 and only three in 1928. In 1929-30 the first football team was organized by Dunn Taylor.50 During the next few years, an extensive beautification and landscaping project was undertaken. Over 3,300 loads of dirt were hauled by faculty members and stu­dents to fill in around the buildings. In 1946 the auditorium was completely redecorated and equipped with modern tile and lighting at a cost of $5,000, of which the high school provided two-thirds and the school district one-third. By 1947 the school had grown to an enrollment of 712. In 1931 Leon P. Christensen, county surveyor, voluntarily donated his services to survey the large letter U on what has become known as "U Hill" west of Vernal. Under the direction of Lowell Fox and Harold Lundell, forty boys worked diligently carrying rock to create the seventy-five-foot letter.51 This project instilled new life and enthusiasm in the school and community. Each year at homecoming the U is whitewashed and lit up by the students during the football game. It has become a favored tradition for this landmark of the valley. Uintah High School's original colors were blue and white. In 1933 the board of control of the student body submitted a petition asking to change the colors to red and white to enhance the basic Indian design theme. An Indian head had been adopted as the offi­cial emblem and the nickname of "Fighting Uintahns"-now "Fighting Utes"-had been formally accepted. After the new colors were approved, the school song had to be changed to correspond EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 269 with the new colors; so in 1934 a school-song contest was held. The present school song was submitted by O. Norman Olson, being cho­sen over six other submitted original songs.52 Uintah High School has had many memorable teachers and a few characters. Principal Harold Lundell found that a cow had been put in his office one night. Frank Wright, a former athletic star returned to be coach and Electa Caldwell are just a few of the notables. Caldwell taught different generations during her thirty-two-year reign in the business department. She was the typical straitlaced teacher and she was all business. With the intense rivalry between Roosevelt and Vernal high schools, the students were at first stunned and then spurred-on to victory when she once led the assembly in cheers. Two years before she retired, a new generation was even more surprised when she repeated the act because Electa had become even more straitlaced. But, seeing little enthusiasm among the students, she led the band down the halls, opening every class door and yelling for the students to join the march to the center of the building, where she led them in cheers while the principal stood in the door of his office in disbelief. They won too.53 In 1954 Uintah High School moved to 161 North 1000 West. The new building cost more than $860,000. The ninth grade was left behind with the junior high school. Vernal Junior High remained in the old buildings until 1967 when a new building was built to the west. The old north building was torn down in 1971; by 1975 a new community swimming pool and park were built adjacent to the old south building, which was then razed.54 In 1986, after three years in construction, a new $19 million Uintah High School was completed on Maeser Highway. The former high school then became Vernal Junior High School, and the junior high school west of the swimming pool became the Vernal Middle School. Bonding for the new high school was completely paid off in 1995. The school started out with approximately 250 senior high stu­dents in 1923, with 465 by 1935. By 1991, 1,150 students were enrolled in the high school, that number had dropped in 1994 to approximately 1,140.55 270 HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY Alterra High School On 3 September 1933 Alterra High School was established to serve the western half of the county.56 The name Alterra means "high ground." School opened a few days late in an old abandoned build­ing on Indian Bench which had previously been used as an elemen­tary school. Registration and remodeling began almost simultaneously, and students became accustomed to studying to the accompaniment of hammers, saws, and floating dust. The doors and windows had all been knocked out and livestock had been using the building for a shelter during the cold winter months. Many of the upper-grade students initially were opposed to attending such a lowly institution; however, it was soon to become a proud educational experience as the students became close to each other and school spirit blossomed. As the work progressed, many boys were given the opportunity to work to pay the ten-dollar tuition fee. Before the year was over and the building was completed, more than 180 men and boys had worked on the building. Much of the lumber used in the new school came from the old Independence and Hayden schoolhouses. It was sometime later before the shabby coal house and outside lavatories were replaced by inside lavatories and a furnace room. At the time this school was built, only 32 percent of the students of high-school age had been attending high school, because they had to travel up to thirty miles to Vernal to attend Uintah High School. Many benefits were derived by the "west side" students, who now had a high school within their reach to attend. The first year 190 students enrolled at Alterra. The year before that, only about fifty students had attended school. Alterra experienced rapid growth during its eighteen years of existence. During the 1938-39 school year the school received accred­itation from the Northwest Association of Secondary and Higher Schooling. Alterra became a junior high school in 1951 when the west side Uintah County high school students joined with the east side Roosevelt students of Duchesne County to attend the new Union High School. The Alterra name remained attached to the junior high until 1962, at which time the junior high students were enrolled at EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 271 the new West lunior High, which is located one mile south of the for­mer Alterra site near the U.S. Highway 40 junction. Union High School was erected on the boundary line between Uintah and Duchesne counties in 1951 and was jointly operated for a time by both counties's school districts. The federal government, tak­ing into consideration the large area of tax-exempt Indian land located in Uintah and Duchesne counties, made a special grant of $250,000 toward the building of Union High School. This grant was issued on the condition that Uintah and Duchesne counties jointly raise the balance necessary to build. In May 1969 Duchesne County was given full jurisdiction over the school. In 1986, after thirty-four years of joint operation of the school, the two school boards signed a contract turning over Uintah School District's interest in the high school to the Duchesne School District. Some students from Uintah's west side continue to attend the school, with Uintah County paying a fee to Duchesne County. Ashley Valley High School It has been found in Uintah County that all children will not adapt themselves to formal school programs. Children who were unable to make social or economic adjustments frequently became discouraged and lost interest in school. Ashley Valley High School (AVHS) was created in 1989 as an alternative to a formal school pat­tern to meet the needs of these students. Its success has lowered the number of dropouts in the district from sixty-three in 1988 to twenty in 1993. Six previously independent programs were consolidated under the umbrella of AVHS: Youth in Custody, Adult Education, Young Mothers, English as a Second Language, Summer School, and Alternative Education. Others have since been added to the school, including tutorial classes in math, educational service to inmates of the Uintah County Jail, and night school to accommodate the needs of area adults and students short of credits toward graduation. Help has been provided to further develop the Ute Tribe Education Program and to combat the district truancy problem. The school had been located at 650 North Vernal Avenue; in the fall of 1995 the school had a new permanent home in the old Central School build­ing. It presently serves 165 students and has had as many as 225 272 HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY enrolled. The Ashley Valley High School system is based on the premise that each student must take responsibility for his or her edu­cation. Parents, teachers, and administrators focus on the needs of each individual and assist him or her in developing a positive attitude and skills.57 Vernal Junior High A decision was made by the school board in the spring of 1922 to establish a junior high school in the county to include the seventh through ninth grades. In Vernal the junior high students were sepa­rated from the lower grades and placed in the old two-room Central School building, with their own principal, James W Christiansen. Throughout the rest of the county the junior high students were kept in the same schools as the elementary pupils, and each school princi­pal was in charge of the ninth grades, which were designated as part of the junior highs. These schools which participated in the program were Maeser, Glines, Ashley, Naples, lensen, LaPoint, Fort Duchesne, Randlett, Wilson, and Bennett. When school commenced in the fall of 1922, 175 pupils enrolled in the junior high program, with about thirty-five students enrolled in ninth grade in the different locations. An incentive for establishing junior high schools was to make it possible for the district to participate in the state high-school fund. Uintah County had paid in about $1,800 to this fund and had not been able to receive any of the money back because the ninth grade had been included in the sectarian schools. The money was then paid in proportion to the number of pupils attending the ninth grade in the various junior high schools. Wilcox Academy was conducting a junior high and continued to do so; however, as a private sectarian school it did not qualify for state funds. In 1924 the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades from Central School and the ninth grade from Maeser were brought to the Uintah High School building as a junior high. When the new building was built to the south in 1925, the old building was designated as the junior high and the new building as the senior high. All grades from the seventh through the twelfth used the same auditorium and other facilities.58 In May 1934 the board made the decision to make all the schools EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 273 in Ashley Valley, except Jensen, elementary schools and transported all ninth-grade pupils to Vernal lunior High.59 Vernal Junior High School was first organized as a separate entity from Uintah High School in 1955 when the high school was moved to the newly com­pleted facilities on 1000 West. The junior high then occupied the buildings vacated by the high school. All seventh- and eighth-grade students from Maeser, Naples, and Jensen were transported to this new school. A new facility was begun in 1967. After the students moved into the new building, the old south building remained in use as a gym, auditorium, and classroom facility until the new complex was completed in 1970 at a cost of more than $2 million. The new junior high was located at 721 West 100 South to the west of the old buildings and is currently the Vernal Middle School. In the early 1980s growth in the Uinta Basin had created a need for more school rooms. When the elementary schools became com­pletely overcrowded, sixth-grade students were moved to the junior high, bringing the total of junior high students up to 1,200. Since the building could only handle 800 students, double sessions were held. With over 600 new students in the district, the county's public-school student population rose to 6,440.60 With the completion of the new high school on the Maeser high­way, eighth and ninth grades were moved to the building on 1000 West. There were 175 students enrolled in Vernal Junior High in 1935; that number had increased to 1,060 by 1994. West Junior High and Middle School West Junior High School was built and dedicated in 1964 at a cost of $679,514. It is located five miles east of Roosevelt and is adja­cent to Todd Elementary School. Built for the junior high students living on the west side of the county, it opened with an enrollment of 259 students in the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades. The entire stu­dent body was bussed to school from a distance of two to thirty miles. In 1992-93 West Junior High was converted to a middle school for sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. The sixth grade was moved from Todd Elementary and placed in the new West Middle School. The ninth-grade students were transferred out of West and given a 274 HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY choice of attending Union High School or Uintah High School. In 1994 the enrollment was 219 at West Middle School. In 1993 Duchesne County and Uintah County were involved in a dispute over where the kindergarten through ninth-grade students living in Uintah County on the Duchesne border should attend school. This problem had not been resolved at the time of this writing. Vernal Middle School In 1982 Vernal sixth-grade students were moved from the ele­mentary schools and joined with the seventh-grade students at the junior high. Knowing that the new high school to be built on the Maeser highway would not be completed before 1986, double ses­sions were mandatory, with the eighth- and ninth-grade students attending school in the morning and the sixth- and seventh-graders attending in the afternoon. At first these students were considered a part of the junior high, but later in the year Principal John Childs started designating the sixth and seventh grades as middle school. Year-round sessions were discussed but not instituted, and double sessions continued for four years. When the new high school was completed, the junior-high students were moved to the old high school location at 1000 West, and the mid­dle- school students were left at the former junior-high complex. The students became known as the Mustangs and chose blue and grey as their school colors. Dr. William Murphy was the principal of the middle school through 1994, at which time he was replaced by AJ. Pease. Adult Education Uintah School District organized adult-education classes in 1959 with Rhoda Thorne DeVed as supervisor. In 1963 the state approved the adult high-school completion program, making it possible for many people to receive high-school diplomas. In addition, an adult drivers education program became available. The school district also has a community school program which brings the community into the schools and makes the buildings available for use without cost. Uintah District Learning Center Jeanne Stringham, wife of Dr. Paul Stringham, acquired an inter­est in special education when she was elected local state PTA repre- EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 275 sentative. After moving to Vernal, she became acquainted with Sadie McConkie, who was the only person in Uintah County providing fos­ter care for handicapped children. McConkie felt that there were many handicapped children being kept at home who could benefit from some kind of schooling and encouraged leanne to find a place where these children could receive basic educational and social skills. Stringham drove to Salt Lake City several times to obtain advice from Irene Elgren at the state office of special education. Hyrum Toone was instrumental in convincing her to go forward in developing a program. A board was formed with Ute leader Harvey Natches, Sam Snyder, Lois Bennion, Wayne Smuin, Reverend Raymond McDonald, and leanne Stringham as members. The board had to secure testing and training under properly trained persons, so Stringham called the head of special education at Utah State University and explained their needs. He laughed out loud on the phone before replying, "Lady, if you can start a school with­out federal funding way out there, I'll supply the training." He later had to do just that. In 1966 a new school in Naples had just been completed across the street, leaving the old buildings vacant. The group was given permission to move into the old building and begin a school for mentally and physically handicapped children. Coal to heat the building was an immediate need, and Norm Murphy from Roosevelt, who had donated coal for some of Dr. Stringham's needy patients, came to the rescue and supplied coal. leanne Stringham approached both the Ute Tribal Council and Uintah School District for assistance. The tribe donated funds and a bus driver. Local residents supplied cash, books, carpet, art supplies, games, and other needed materials. The school district provided transportation and the use of the building. Principal Len Gotfredson of the new Naples school invited the students to come across to the new school for hot lunches, and the Utah social services department also supplied materials and aid. A teacher was trained by Dr. Hoffman of Utah State University. Uintah School District assumed responsibility for the New Life Training Center in August 1969 after executive and public meetings with school officials, social services people, and parents of handi­capped children.61 Before this time everything had been donated. The 276 HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY Stringhams always furnished the turkey dinner at Thanksgiving time and even the teacher's wages were paid from donations; yet there were funds left in the treasury when the district took over. When the new Maeser school was built in 1970, the school moved to the vacated Maeser school. The name was changed to "The Children's Center" on 2 September 1975. In 1977 the old Maeser school was demolished to make room for a new structure built just to the north for these special children. The new $350,000 facility contained 11,000 square feet of floor space, and the name was changed to Uintah District Learning Center. Seventy-six children enrolled in the new school and as many as 100 children have been enrolled at times, with sixty-two enrolled in 1994. Colleges Beach Business College was established on 5 lanuary 1891 under the direction of H.B. Beach. The college operated until November of that year, when the Uintah Stake Academy was organized. In 1920 the first University of Utah branch summer school classes were held in the Central School building. The faculty included Professor Christian D. Steiner as superintendent and three teachers.62 Since that time special classes have been offered from time to time from the University of Utah. In 1940 there was agitation for the establishment of a state-sup­ported junior college in the Uinta Basin, but it was doubtful any early action would be taken, particularly since a junior college in 1938 had been opened by the state at Price in Carbon County. Again in 1959 a concerted effort was made to obtain a college, and the legislature passed a bill which authorized the establishment of a junior college; however, due to lack both of funds and the required number of antic­ipated students, it did not come to pass. Upon further study, it was decided to use existing facilities and have Utah State University (USU) operate a resident center in the area. This proposal passed the legislature, and in 1969 the education center was placed under the control of the Utah State Board of Higher Education, with the state providing funds. Instructors were faculty members at USU who were often flown to the center by chartered planes to classes in Vernal and in Roosevelt. Qualified residents of the area also were used as instruc- EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 277 tors. Its official name was Uintah Basin Center for Continuing Education; however, it was often called "Uintah Basin's Fly-In College." The college was first housed in the Roosevelt post office building, with classes also being taught in Uintah school district classrooms in Vernal. In 1990 a building for the continuing education center was built in Roosevelt behind the Union High School with community-impact- board money. This program had used as many as eight loca­tions for classrooms before the center was built. In 1987 the Ashton Energy Center building was considered as a possible community cen­ter; but in 1988 a record number of voters turned out and soundly defeated the proposed acceptance of a $1.9-million grant from the Utah Community Impact Board to purchase that facility. However, in 1990 Vernal City approached the Utah Community Impact Board for a $475,000 grant to purchase the building for an education center. The grant was awarded and the city purchased the building in 1991 for $350,000 and leased it to the Utah State University extension pro­gram for operation and management of a learning center in Vernal. In lune 1994 Vernal City signed the deed over to the USU Vernal Education Center. Now called the Utah State University Education Center, the facil­ity continues to grow. The Vernal center also houses the Uintah Basin Applied Technology Center and Utah Rehabilitation Services, among other groups. In 1983 there were 419 students enrolled. That num­ber grew to 1,000 students by 1993 and continues to grow yearly. Advantages over a junior college include the fact that USU provides a variety of four-year degrees, concurrent enrollment through USU allows high school students the option to receive college credit, aca­demic scholarships are available, and advanced placement classes are offered. By attending college in the basin, local students save an esti­mated $6,000 a year in rent, food, and transportation costs. USU also provides the Cooperative Extension Services. In 1911 L.M. Winsor was appointed the first county agent to help teach farm­ers new and better methods of agriculture. Winsor was the agent before the extension division was set up by Dr. lohn A. Widstoe. In 1913 Widstoe appointed Don B. Colton of Vernal as board chairman to direct the extension activity and assist in formulating state poli- 278 HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY cies. Since that time many county agents have served the county, as have also home-demonstration agents who help the homemakers of the county. Education of Ute Children Education proceeded slowly on the Ute reservation. From the years 1874 to 1910, one agent after another attempted to establish and maintain schools on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation and also on the Uncompaghre Reservation. Agent lohn J. Critchlow estab­lished a one-room, log-cabin school in 1874 for the Uintah Ute chil­dren at Whiterocks; it was taught by his sister-in-law.63 This school only operated for three months because few students attended and Critchlow had no money to feed the few who did come. He tried to keep school in session between 1877 and 1879, again without much success due to lack of funds and employees plus the fact that students had to travel too great a distance to attend school.64 In 1880 a three-room, one-and-one-half story, 16-by-32-foot frame school was built at a cost of $2,000, and Uintah Valley Boarding School opened in Whiterocks in January 1881 under contract with the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions. The facility could board forty students, with additional space for ten day students. Three employees were hired-a male teacher, a woman assistant, and a cook. Attendance was poor-only sixteen students boarded in 1882. In 1883, when the Presbyterians became discouraged and withdrew, the school, with an enrollment of seventeen students, was placed under government supervision. In 1890 the frame building was moved to another loca­tion in Whiterocks (where it has remained) and the name was changed to Uintah Boarding School. In 1891 two brick buildings were constructed, making a total of three buildings located next to the agency. By 1899 the frame building was used for employees; it later was used for storage. Some Utes complained that when the children went to boarding school their traditional long hair was cut off, they were not allowed to speak the Ute language, and they were severely punished if they did. Students had to wear uniforms and every attempt was made to strip them of their cultural identity. The objective of the boarding schools was, in fact, to make them like white Americans. Some EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 279 Whiterocks Indian Boarding School boys in uniform. (UCLRHC, L. C. Thorne collection) accepted the white man's teaching, that the old ways would hold their children back in this world, while others fought to maintain their tribal culture. A school was constructed for the Uncompahgre Utes four to five miles southeast of Fort Duchesne at Randlett in April 1885. Native opposition was strong, however, and an estimated attendance of 453 students never materialized. Discussions to combine the schools began, but interband contention prevented the merger.65 The school was closed by 1886 because the parents refused to send the children to school. During the year 1888 the department distributed the sum of $1,500 as a gratuity among those Indians who brought their chil­dren to school. The Indian police were utilized to persuade the par­ents to bring their children to school; however, they were not very successful, so the white school superintendent was given the task. The total number of Indians on the reservation in 1890 was 833 Uintah and White River Utes and 988 Uncompaghre Utes, for a total of 1,821, with all children needing education.66 There soon came a renewed effort to educate Indian children. Two new schools, boarding institutions for the Indians, were con­structed in 1892 at Randlett and at Whiterocks and were maintained 280 HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY by the federal government.67 The school at Randlett opened in April 1893 with twelve pupils; it had increased to forty-four by May 1894. The Whiterocks school housed the Uintah and White River children and the school in Randlett housed the Uncompaghre children.68 The attendance at both schools was low, as most parents were still openly hostile to the program and refused to allow their children to attend. One government inspector stated he found boys in the school with "long hair and painted faces, handkerchiefs worn on the head instead of hats and behavior in the dining hall more like wild savages than school children attending a well-regulated agency boarding school."69 By 1896 an average of eighty-three students were attending the Uintah School at Whiterocks.70 On 13 September 1899 the War Department was requested to allow the agent at the Uintah and Ouray agency to call upon the commanding officer at Fort Duchesne for soldiers to assist in placing children in school. By 1900 attendance had dropped to fifty-eight stu­dents at Uintah. The War Department agreed and army officers were often sent to bring the children to school. Mrs. Robert Marimon, who lived in Whiterocks in 1902, reported, "I remembered seeing a squaw throwing rocks at an officer who was taking her child to school."71 The Utes' fears of sending their children to school were often jus­tified. In 1901 a measles epidemic at the Whiterocks school killed sev­enteen of the sixty-five pupils. On the morning following the first death, according to a report, "nearly all the patients were taken from their beds and carried away by their parents and placed in the hands of the Indian Medicine man."72 The epidemic reached the Randlett school, where four children died. Superintendent Myton wrote in his report that "the health of the children was good except for the out­break of measles and chicken pox and many deaths attributed to improper treatment by the Medicine Man." He also stated his opin­ion that the medicine men were a great nuisance and hindrance to the Indians.73 In 1904 five students died at Whiterocks and six students died at Randlett. Up until 1910 the education project continued to founder. The Utes were hostile toward the teachers and the agents for forcing Ute children to attend school, for letting the children die at school, and for accusing Ute shamans of malpractice. They felt that the EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 281 teachers had brought about the deaths of Ute children, which they attributed to the "White Plague."74 The attitude of some whites also may have discouraged some Indians from sending their children to school. A teacher at Whiterocks attempted to find out why students did not attend school. He traveled throughout the Uinta Basin searching for White River and Uintah children of school age. When he got back from his travels, he reported: "I have squatted in their filthy wickiups and counseled with the stubborn savages, only to be told that they had no children, or that their children always died when they went to school, or that they would not let them go."75 In 1905 the Ouray school was moved from Randlett and consol­idated with the one at Whiterocks. From 1910 to 1925 Mary E. Balmer (Davis) was a teacher at the Uintah-Ouray Boarding School.76 The Randlett school was subsequently given to the state of Utah, which in turn gave it to the county. A third government school, dating from about 1890, had been supported by government officers at Fort Duchesne. Henry Harris, a part-blood Indian educated in the east, taught the white children. Some Indian children also were sent to Grand Junction, Colorado, to a boarding school. There were mixed feelings among the Indians, some wanting to send their children to boarding schools, others wanting their children at home. At the national level, discussion centered around the need to inte­grate Indians into the local schools. As reservations opened up and as Indians received citizenship, education was to become the responsi­bility of the states and local governments. With the opening of the Uintah Indian Reservation to settlement and the conferring of citi­zenship upon the Indians, Utes occupied the same position before the law as other citizens of the state and were brought within all of its pro­visions. This included the statute known as the compulsory school law, which required every child between the ages of eight and sixteen to attend a public, district, or private school at least twenty weeks in each school year. The attorney general sent a written opinion that this applied to the new Indian citizens as well as to other children.77 Within two years after the opening of the Ute reservation to white settlement in 1905, local school districts were established on the former reservation and taxes were levied against homesteaders. 282 HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY To keep down the cost of education, the local school district worked out an arrangement with the federal government to educate some white children at the Whiterocks School. Local tax revenues were paid to the agency to cover costs.78 How long this arrangement continued is uncertain. The Indian agent at the Uintah Reservation wanted to contract out Indian students to local schools, but the slow develop­ment of public-school facilities made his initiative impractical; the Whiterocks boarding school continued to provide education for the Indians. The Randlett Indian school was given to the state by the fed­eral government in 1911 on the promise that the state would operate and maintain the facility and that Indian children would continue to attend free of charge. The federal government provided periodic sub­sidies to support the Randlett school. In 1921, 107 Indians attended school; fifty-nine of these were in the public school system.79 Attendance of Indian students continued to be a problem. Cutting rations to families with school-age children who did not attend school as well as using the Indian police to coerce attendance were common practices. On 14 lune 1921 the federal government implemented compulsory attendance for all school-aged Indian chil­dren. Indian agents were required to cooperate with states to carry out the intent of the federal action in the public school systems as well as in the Indian schools.80 It appears that Indian education efforts on the former Uintah Reservation were a shared responsibility between the federal, state, and local governments. Their proximity to white schools likely determined which Indian children attended pub­lic schools. The success of that relationship cannot be determined, but it must have at least worked somewhat, since the relationship continued into the 1920s. In 1950 when the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) closed the schools on the reservation, Utes began attending integrated schools off the reservation. The BIA began awarding grants to Duchesne and Uintah counties to build schools that would serve whites and Utes. The bureau, under the auspices of the lohnson-O'Malley Act of 1935 and following the termination policies established by Congress in the late 1940s and early 1950s, was attempting to force all Utah children to attend white schools and to acquire white American education, skills, and values. The idea was to integrate Utes into the local communities EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 283 near the reservation. The BIA intended to disassociate the young Indians from tribal ways and to prepare them for the termination of special federal obligations. However, all did not proceed smoothly. Joseph G. Jorgensen made the following statement: "While serving as the tribe's education coordinator in 1960,1 often met with superinten­dents, principals, counselors, and teachers from the Uintah and Duchesne school systems. With one marked exception, they all spoke condescendingly about Ute children, allowing that they would tolerate the Indian students in class if they were quiet."81 Sometimes the Ute children sat in the back of the room and whispered in Ute, which upset the teachers who thought the children were whispering about them. Uintah and Duchesne counties formed a community education council in the late 1950s to deal with the delinquency problems involving all students. However, attention was not directed to the Ute children's delinquency problems because they believed that this was not their problem but the tribe's. "Whites did not care to work with the recalcitrant youths, since it was their opinion that nothing could be done to solve the Indian problem."82 School Issues and Problems Providing the essential physical facilities for education went a long way to insuring a successful educational program in the county; however, also important were a number of less visible developments, issues, and problems that have involved students, teachers, parents, administrators, and other county residents. These issues included transportation, school-lunch programs, adult education, taxes, salaries, and responses to new fads and fashions. Transportation to and from school in the early days included walking for the children who lived close to the school, riding to school horseback, or traveling in horse-drawn buggies, wagons, or sleighs. When riding horseback the students often brought their lunch in a lard can and a sack of hay for their horse. Later, school buses were introduced. The first school buses were quite unique. A covered wagon was used in Jensen to bring the children in from Sunshine Ranch and Brush Creek. Most schoolchildren in LaPoint rode in school buses made by Bert Norton, LaPoint blacksmith. Under the rows of seats on each side of the bus ran a three-inch gal- 284 HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY vanized pipe. The exhaust from the engine came through these pipes to provide heat in the bus, and the pipes became very hot. With a sixty-eight-mile round trip from LaPoint to Alterra High School, the riders often wished the seats were padded and that those with manure-covered overshoes would keep their feet off the hot pipes.83 Trucks were used to transport children to high school from Randlett and Ouray; Tridell and Lapoint; Leeton, Bennett, and Wilson; and Naples, lensen, and Davis. The students were charged thirty dollars a year to ride the bus. Later G.A. Slaugh proposed to furnish new, up-to-date school buses instead of trucks on the four routes at a rate of thirty to thirty-five cents a mile. Students from Dry Fork were transported to Maeser and Vernal in the back of a truck with a canvas stretched over some bows. The dust blew in when the roads were dry, and the students nearly froze in the winter. The bus drivers provided their own buses and some men built a wooden box with a door on their trucks to cut down on the dust. The roads were not paved, and, besides the dust, mud was a serious problem in the spring. Drivers often had to use a wagon and team to transport the students through the worst places. If a big snowstorm came, the dri­ver would hitch a team to a makeshift grader and push the snow out of the roads on Saturday and Sunday in order that bus runs could be made on Monday.84 The transportation fee dropped to twenty-five dollars per student in 1931. By 1933 the board made the decision to transport all stu­dents free who lived more than 2.5 miles from school. During the next few years the school board accepted the lowest transportation bids, and drivers had to furnish buses and drive on whatever route was assigned to them. Later, bus owners were instructed to paint their buses yellow or orange, and the following sign was to be painted on the back of all buses: "This bus stops at all railroad crossings." In 1935 the school board decided to purchase one large school bus and use it on the Randlett road. Rules for this bus included no use of tobacco or liquor on the bus and no charge for teachers riding the bus. Bus drivers were placed under bond-maximum $500, minimum $250. Consolidation forced the school district to provide transporta­tion for students to the more centrally located remaining schools, so more school buses were purchased. By 1940 the Uintah School District EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 285 owned and operated a fleet of nineteen school buses. These buses transported more than 1,600 pupils from all corners of the county. The district also owned three gasoline storage tanks, located at Uintah High School, Alterra High School, and the LaPoint school. From these tanks, gasoline was distributed to the various buses. In 1981-82 it cost the Uintah School District $695,317 to trans­port students. The average cost was $1.35 per mile, which included the bussing of 4,276 students a total of 413,023 miles a year. The buses had become much more modern and safe over the years, even featuring two-way radios. By 1994 the district had thirty-five routes and bus drivers, plus two plush activity buses. Credit for the first hot school lunches in Uinta Valley goes to Stella Richards, who was teaching in the Union School at Ashley. One hard winter she was concerned about the students eating cold lunches while huddling around the pot-bellied stove. She conceived the idea of having the children bring one thing from home-vegeta­bles, milk, butter, a loaf of bread, or anything the family could spare. Richards then put the vegetables into an iron pot she brought and placed the stew on the pot-bellied stove to simmer until lunch time. She later wrote, "I can still see the kids coming through the snow with their bottles in a stocking and a little bucket of potatoes, a few car­rots, an onion or whatever had been assigned." One day during "hot lunch," Ella Stringham of Maeser dropped by the school. She was quite impressed and took the idea back to Maeser. The idea spread, and in a few years most schools were following Stella Richards's lead. Some schools worked with parents, who took turns bringing in a pot of stew for the students. When Ella's brother-in-law Bry Stringham became a senator, he helped introduce a plan to start hot lunch pro­grams in Utah schools.85 By 1933 lunches were being prepared by the Parent and Teachers Association (PTA) in Central School, with the parents donating food and committees preparing the lunches. A proposal was made to build a kitchen and dining room in the basement of the school, and lumber and nails were provided to build a partition for this purpose. In 1934 a cafeteria was opened for Uintah High students, where a salad, a hot dish, and a dessert could be purchased for ten cents; a few pennies more would buy bread, butter, and milk. 286 HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY Government programs came into the picture in 1934 and 1935, and hot lunch programs were introduced to other elementary schools. A committee headed by Mrs. Phil Stringham met with the board, asking consideration be given for a school hot-lunch project. Students could still bring produce and receive credit for lunch or pay three cents a day. Food was provided for children of families who needed relief and the cooks were paid in kind from FERA funds. A $2,242 allotment was granted by the WPA for school lunches in Uintah County in November 1935. This project employed fourteen women; however, it was discontinued at the end of 1935. The general program continued, however, and by 1941 school lunches were in all Uintah County schools when the final one was established in the high school.86 When the new Central School was built in 1942, a special lunch room was established in the basement. The National School Lunch Act was passed in 1946. At this time Lola Christensen became supervisor of the program in Uintah County and worked to improve it for numerous years. In 1991 the district school-lunch program fed 2,400 students. Of those eating school lunch, 34 percent qualified for free or reduced-charge lunches. The percentage allowed Central Elementary School to offer a school-breakfast program and a summer hot-lunch program.87 In the sec­ondary grades, lunch choices include fast foods, and the school-lunch program continues in all the schools at the present time. Responsibility for public education is one of the most critical obligations an elected group of officials must meet. The biggest prob­lems have always been obtaining enough money to finance schools and finding qualified teachers. School taxes have repeatedly been raised, but Uintah County taxes have been among the lowest in the state. The district board has met many problems throughout the years, including dress code controversies. In 1965 there were disputes over mini-skirts in Uintah schools. Dressy pantsuits which covered bare legs were not allowed. Dress lengths were measured by teachers and secretaries, and many girls were expelled and sent home in tears. Again in 1972, under statewide media coverage, the board grappled with dress-code disputes with members of the Ute Tribe concerning the length of hair male students could wear to school. The result of this dispute was that girls were allowed to wear pantsuits and boys to EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 287 wear longer hair if the present code infringed on cultural, traditional, or religious teachings. In 1994 the board again revised the code, this time to outlaw the wearing of "clothing, accessories, and other per­sonal adornments which display gang symbols" at school or at any school-sponsored activity. The policy also prohibited any type of clothing which displayed "inappropriate" language or illustrations which promote alcohol, drugs, or tobacco. During the early years of Uintah County, a woman could not teach after she was married. Some teachers married in secret in order to continue teaching. During World War I the rule was stretched and several married women were hired. Women were also hired for out­lying areas if a male teacher could not be secured. During the Depression, this rule was strictly enforced as job opportunities were needed for men with families to feed. When World War II began, the rule was discontinued due to a shortage of male teachers. Teachers' salaries have always been controversial. In the 1930s Uintah County teachers' salaries were on the lower side of the state scale. Superintendent L.G. Noble stated in 1939 that "teachers deter­mine the quality of a school. It is essential that these teachers be remunerated on a basis that will afford them a high standard of liv­ing." 88 He was concerned because the salary schedule in Uintah County was in the lower one-fourth of Utah counties. In 1940 the board of education expounded the slogan "Better teachers make bet­ter teaching," and Superintendent Noble also stated that "the largest and most important business enterprise in Uintah County is the edu­cation of its boys and girls. What we do today will determine what they do tomorrow." He invited public input and support, writing: "Without your support we cannot succeed, with it, we cannot fail"8' By 1947 salaries were comparable with those of other Utah dis­tricts, and Utah rated seventh highest nationally. Since then, however, Uintah County's pay scale has continuously declined. In 1994 Uintah County teachers were again on the lower end of the wage scale and threatening to strike. At that point teachers were given a raise with a promise from officials that they would try to bring wages up to state level. As this book is being written in 1995, the local school board is initiating a highly controversial configuration plan with the elemen- 288 HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY tary schools in an attempt to make education dollars go farther and provide the promised pay raise to teachers. No matter what t h e c o u n t y economics have been, the county school board always seems to have a problem with sufficient revenue for salaries, buildings, and equipment. It must be constantly kept in mind that education is one of the great institutions through which bet­ter citizenship is obtained. The school board must keep abreast of pro­gressive changes, remembering that the child is always the center of the school program. Throughout the years the board of education has con­tinued to provide modern school buildings, fixtures, and equipment to the best of its ability. Ten public schools were located within Ashley Valley in 1928 with sixty teachers and over 1,600 pupils. This included the new senior and junior high schools located on the same campus, with a combined capacity of more t h a n 800 students. The Vernal Central School housed more than 500 students. By 1967 the number had grown to 4,300 students enrolled in Uintah District schools- 2,450 elementary-school children and 1,850 at the secondary level. In 1991 there were 6,702 students enrolled in Uintah School District, making it the twelfth largest school district of the forty districts in Utah.90 In 1995 the number had risen to 6,839. Education remains an important concern to residents of Uintah County. ENDNOTES 1. Alva Alexander Hatch, unpublished manuscript, copy located in the Uintah County Library Regional History Center, folder 1047. 2. There is some confusion over the location of this first school because Teancum Taylor was a polygamist and had another family up Dry Fork Canyon. His history states that his boys went to school at the mouth of Dry Fork and milked cows providing milk for Fort Thornburgh, which was below the entrance to the canyon. Fort Thornburgh was not moved to that area until 1882. When the Maeser School District was created in 1881, school was held in homes around that area until a school was built. School was evidently held in the Taylor home in the mouth of Dry Fork Canyon in 1881-1882. However, the first school I describe in 1878 was north of Vernal and east of Ashley town on T. Taylor's property, which is shown on a 1879 map of the Ashley area. 3. L.G. Noble "Fine Schools Established by Pioneers who settled Ashley Valley," Vernal Express, 14 December 1939. EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 289 4. There are stories written that the school in the fall of 1879 was held in the house of lohn Clark, east of town. In the history Mrs. Clark wrote pro­vided by grandson Lloyd Clark, she says the first school of Vernal district was held in 1889 in the house owned by lohn Clark where the home of Aubrey Hodgkinson now stands at 609 E. 500 S. Knowing the first school was held the fall of 1879, some people thought this was a typing error of the date and changed 1889 to 1879. In Mrs. Clark's handwritten history she states that as newlyweds she and her husband lived with his parents the summer of 1879 when they arrived in Vernal, leaving Vernal as soon as they could the next spring. They came back a few years later and did own the property where Aubrey Hodgkinson built his home. In 1889 the Central School was overcrowded and school was being held in rented houses for some students. Edwin Winder moved to the area in 1900 and purchased property from Israel Clark, father of lohn, next to where Hodgkinson built. There was a little cabin on the property and he was told it had been a school house. I believe school was held in this cabin just as Mrs. Clark wrote in 1889. See also Daughters of Utah Pioneers of Uintah County, comp., Builders of Uintah (Springville, UT: Art City Publishing Company, 1947), 221. 5. Minutes of Uintah County Commissioners, 1:1, Uintah County Clerk's office. Research was conducted of primary sources including old school records and correspondence from the trustees found in the court­house, Uintah County land records, selectmen minutes, personal histories of early settlers, and the county court record book. 6. The county minutes state that the selectmen created four school dis­tricts and indicated that descriptions could be found in the county court records. This book is titled, "Probate Record Uintah County, 1880." A copy of this was made by the author and is located in the Uintah County Library Regional History Center. From these records Randy Simmons of the county recorder's office marked the first districts and a map for the author, which can also be seen in the Regional History Center. 7. Descriptions taken from "Probate Record Uintah County, 1880," located in district court records in Uintah County Courthouse. 8. In setting up the first school districts in the 1880s, the selectmen sel­dom gave the districts a name, just a district number; however, reports from trustees provide the areas or school names. In later years record-keeping was more accurate, as the superintendent of schools sent in reports listing the districts by names and by numbers. Also, in the early records a school dis­trict would sometimes be petitioned for, and then, because no one would take the responsibility of becoming a trustee and running the schools, the district would not actually be created or was later rescinded. 9. Vernal Express, 24 March 1898. 290 HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY 10. Andrew lenson, Encyclopedic History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Publishing Company, 1941), 459; Vernal Express, 18 February 1916; Robert Bodily, unpublished manu­script, copy located in the Uintah County Library Regional History Center, folder 664. 11. Uintah County Commission Minutes, 2 and 10 May 1899, 353-54. See also Book B, 302, Uintah County Clerk's office. 12. The first log school, which was also used as an LDS church, was built where the Sage Cafe is located at 56 West Main. However, in 1881 the church built the little white-frame building to the side of this location and used it for a stake center, First Ward meetinghouse, and a tabernacle. The same year a new school was built, as this little one-room log cabin was not sufficient. See Lucille Richens, "History of Education in Uintah County," 1, unpublished manuscript, located in the UCL Regional History Center, which states that a school was built in 1881 to the west at 146 West Main. 13. Vernal Express, 26 November 1935. 14. Uintah County Selectmen Minutes, 3 March 1884, Uintah County Clerk's office. 15. Information provided by Ross Merrill. See also Inventory of the County Archives of Utah, Uintah County, 38. 16. Uintah County Selectmen Minutes, 2 March 1885, 34. 17. About 1922 the red building was remodeled and enlarged. It was used solely as a church and recreation center after the school moved out in 1902. It was torn down in 1947 to make room for a new brick chapel; see Vernal Express, 20 March 1947. 18. Uintah County Selectmen Minutes, 5 December 1887, 47. 19. Lucille Richens, "Sketch of the Life of Dr. Harvey Coe Hullinger," 15, unpublished manuscript located in UCL Regional History Center, folder 910. 20. Uintah County Commissioner Minutes, 19 September and 3 October 1904, Book B, 258. 21. Uintah County Selectmen Minutes, 4 lune 1888, 49. County Recorder Records Book 2, 597, gives a description of land deeded to School District 10 for ten dollars on 27 luly 1893. The records indicate when the school no longer existed, the land reverted back to George A. Davis or his heirs. 22. Uintah County Selectmen Minutes, 22 April 1890, 80. 23. Information obtained from Vera Moon Ainge, who possesses her mother's diary telling of the school. 24. Uintah County Selectmen Minutes, 5 March 1891, 95. This is where EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 291 the old H. J. Chatwin home and later the Oxborrows' home was located; it is now part of the Dee Curfew farm. Blanche Haslem Wilkins and Vera Moon Ainge, interviews with the author, 1 May 1994 and luly 1995. 25. Wilkins, in interview on 1 May 1994, stated she attended this school until it closed in about 1914. 26. Uintah County Selectmen Minutes, 5 lune 1895. 27. Larry Eaton, telephone interview with author, 30 lune 1994. 28. Uintah County Commissioners Minutes, 25 November 1898, 325, Book 1. 29. Uintah County Commission Minutes, Book C, 42. 30. Ibid. 31. Ibid., Book B, 366. 32. Ibid., Book C, 47. 33. Uintah County Historic Preservation Commission intensive level survey, located in the Uintah County Library Regional History Center, folder 2086. 34. Uintah County Commission Minutes, Book C, 53. 35. Uintah County Selectmen Minutes, 51. 36. Uintah County Commission Minutes, Book D, 71. 37. Uintah County Board of Education, Proceedings, vol. A, 1. 38. Uintah County Archives, Uintah County Library Regional History Center. 39. Inventory of the County Archives of Utah, Uintah County, 40. 40. Ibid., 75. 41. Uintah Academy, Minutes, 37-39, located in the Uintah School Board office, Vernal. 42. Uintah School Board Minutes, 17 October 1911. 43. Vernal Express, 15 September 1911. 44. Minutes of Board of Education of Uintah Stake Academy, 43-113, Uintah School District office. 45. Uintah County Board of Education, Proceedings, vol. A, 402. 46. See folder 0130 Uintah County Library Regional History Center. 47. In early copies of the Vernal Express Wilcox was spelled Willcox. The first yearbook of the school spelled it Willcox. 48. Annual Catalogue of Wilcox Academy, 1915-16, 5, 11; Inventory of the County Archives of Utah, Uintah County, 39. 49. Told to the author by Rhoda Thorne DeVed; Leo Thorne was the owner of Thorne Studio. 292 HISTORY OF UINTAH COUNTY 50. Ruth Hart (Lundell), "Eleven Years Sees Many developments in Uintah High School at Vernal," Vernal Express, 10 lanuary 1935. 51. Vernal Express, 29 October 1931. 52. Ibid., 11 lanuary 1934 and 14 December 1933. Words to both songs can be found in the Uintah High School folder 1429 in the UCL Regional History Center. 53. Electa Caldwell, unpublished manuscript, located in Uintan County Library Regional History Center. , 54. Uintah School District Board Minutes, 16 September 1975. 55. Vernal Express, 10 lanuary 1935 and 18 September 1991. Other information from Uintah High School office per telephone call by author, 11 May 1994. 56. Information on this school was taken from two unpublished man­uscripts located in the Regional History Center. One is written by Ramona Harrison and Donna Rasmussen; the second by Gwendolyn Wiscombe, lune Birchell, Essie Labrum, Nola Hawley, and Wilma Smith. Other infor­mation was obtained from the Uintah County School District office. 57. Vernal Express, 20 April 1994 and 15 November 1989. 58. The Uintah High School Minutes of 12 September 1924 states that junior high school will be taught at the high school, that the canning factory building will be used as the carpenter shop and for physical education classes, and that the portable school building at Central School be moved. See also Vernal Express, 12 September 1924. Viola Caldwell stated that the Maeser ninth grade was moved to the high school building in 1924. 59. Vernal Express, 10 May 1934. 60. Ibid., 1 September 1982. 61. See Uintah Care Center Minute Book, in possession of Lois Bennion,Vernal. 62. Vernal Express, 16 luly 1920. 63. Uintah Valley Agency, teacher's report, 18 luly 1882; U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Indian Affairs, Annual Reports 1873- 1900, microfilm 1070, roll 54, available in UCL Regional History Center. 64. See loseph G. lorgensen, The Sun Dance Religion (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1972), 56. 65. U.S. Department of the Interior, Annual Reports 1880 and 1890, microfilm 1070, roll 54. 66. Eugene White to Commissioner Atkins 20 September 1886, Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs (RCIA) 1886, 226; Gary Lee Walker, "A History of Fort Duchesne, including Fort Thornburgh," Ph.D. diss., Brigham Young University, 1992, 1:238. EDUCATION IN UINTAH COUNTY 293 67. Robert Hughie, paper located in Uintah County Regional History Center, 14. 68. lames Randlett, 1894: Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs; lorgensen, The Sun Dance Religion, 57. 69. Office of Indian Affairs, microfilm 1070, roll 54. 70. Superintendent G.S. Binford to Agent lames Randlett, 9 luly 1896; Superintendent Charles Walker to the Superintendent of Indian Schools, 30 lune 1896, RICA 1896, 308; Thomas G. Alexander, A Clash of Interests: Interior Department and the Mountain West, 1863-96 (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1977), 164, 166, 170. 71. Mable Haub, "Uintah Basin," unpublished paper located in the Uintah County Library Regional History Center, folder 1377. 72. E. O. Hughes 1901, RCIA, 382. 73. H. P. Myton 1901, RCIA, 381. 74. lorgensen, The Sun Dance Religion, 58. 75. E.O. Hughes, 1901 RCIA; lorgensen, The Sun Dance Religion, 57. 76. A letter from Mary E. Balmer (Davis) dated 1925 from Whiterocks stated she had taught at the Uintah-Ouray Boarding school for eleven and one half years. 77. Vernal Express, 29 September 1906. 78. Office of Indian Affairs, Annual Report (1907); Secretary, Department of the Interior, to County Treasurer, 15 December 1909, UCL Regional History Center. 79. See Office of Indian Affairs, Annual Report (1921). 80. Ibid. 81. lorgensen, Sun Dance Religion, 170. 82. Ibid., 171. 83. loe Norton, "The Builder," unpublished manuscript, copy located in UCL Regional History Center . 84. Leslie Thacker, unpublished manuscript, copy located in UCL Regional History Center. 85. Stella Richards, unpublished manuscript, copy located in Uintah County Library Regional History Center, folder 0696. 86. Vernal Express, 18 September 1991. 87. Ibid. 88. Ibid., 31 December 1936. 89. Ibid., 12 December 1940. 90. Ibid., 18 September 1991.