A History of Wasatch County

Returning to Normalcy and depression, 1946 - 1975 - 1

RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 L odowing World War II, the United States attempted to return to normalcy. Once rationing ended, Americans wanted to buy new cars, homes, and household appliances-all scarce during the war. Government programs for education and housing helped many returning veterans go to college and purchase homes. The 1950s and 1960s were for many a time of luxury. New inventions provided Americans better communication and made common tasks easier and less time consuming. Television became almost a necessity for every home, providing on-the-spot entertainment. Television sit­coms helped define the American view of the ideal famdy lifestyle. Advertisements convinced people to buy more. The country remained a leader in the free world. The Soviet Union moved into Eastern Europe after World War II, and many feared another war, this time against the Communists. Such a con­flict would be even more threatening because atomic weapons were now available. The Cold War was more than just anxiety; it also meant worldwide police action. The United States attempted to pro- 220 RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 221 tect certain nations, sometimes by sending troops. Americans fought in Korea and Vietnam. Actual fighting as well as the threat of war forced the United States to keep up its military strength. With government spending and the demand for consumer goods, the economy grew and did not enter the recession many Americans feared would follow the war. Construction jobs were plentiful as people built new homes in the suburbs, schools, public buildings, and churches that had been delayed because of the war. Whde there was a move toward "bigger, newer, and better," there was also an attempt to preserve the old. The Historic Preservation Act of 1966 encouraged the saving of elements of the past. Utahns formed a private organization, the Utah Heritage Foundation, ini­tially to save the Wasatch Stake Tabernacle and Heber City Town Square and later to lobby for other historic buildings in danger of demolition. With financial assistance from the federal government, the state established a preservation office in 1969. With an economy dependent on mining and agriculture, two industries that did not share in the postwar prosperity, people began leaving Wasatch County. The county's population dropped from 5,574 in 1950 to 5,285 in 1960. Economic conditions improved dur­ing the 1960s, resulting in a population increase to 5,863 in 1970. But the main industries continued to decline. Agricultural values fell from $2,267,981 in 1930 to $1,911,164 in 1954. Construction plunged one-half from 1956 to 1958. There was a 5 percent drop in manufacturing, wholesale, and retad sales from 1930 to 1954, and the number of stores in the county continued to decline. According to business listings, the number of manufacturers in the county dropped from 102 in 1952 to 92 in 1957. In 1972 the J. C. Penney store in Heber closed its doors. The district manager explained, "The economics of the situation just don't permit us to continue." According to a 1959 study, the area was "rather static, rustic and beset with the economic and social problems of a declining population."1 To help offset the depressed economic conditions, businesses asked local residents to shop at home. They planned special shopping seasons so the residents would patronize their stores. In March 1953 when the Wasatch High School basketball team won the state cham- 222 HISTORY OF WASATCH COUNTY pionship, businesses sponsored a parade as part of "flying saucer day" in honor of the team and the start of the spring shopping season. The county attempted to encourage new business, and some moved to Heber. Osborn Apparel Company opened a Heber sewing factory in 1962 which hired seventy people. The company officials explained that they selected Heber Valley because there was a building they could remodel and because of the "cooperative attitude of the com­munity and power company officials." Two years later the company expanded and became Utah Sportswear. The company hired more women, and the Wave praised it as an important economic tool in the area. Despite these efforts, Wasatch County remained depressed and eligible for federal aid. In 1964 the Wave explained that the county should take advantage of redevelopment funds, pointing out that Treasure Mountain Resorts in Summit County had converted mines into ski resorts. Two years later, however, the county had not used any of these funds.2 Mining Fodowing World War II, mining in Wasatch and Summit coun­ties became less important. There was less demand for some ores as wartime industries closed, and worldwide markets flooded the U.S. with cheaper metals. In 1949 area mining companies told workers they would have to take a cut in pay if the mines were to remain open. The workers refused, and the companies laid off 500 men. The effects on Wasatch County were immediate. Retad sales dropped as miners had less money to spend. Although the mines eventually reopened, the situation remained unstable. In 1953, when the mines closed again, Wasatch County felt the impact. Miners sought employ­ment out of the area. Other businesses closed or laid off workers as the economy declined. During this period, Keetley lost nearly ad its population. Over founder and mayor George A. Fisher's protest, the government closed the town's post office.3 In response to the mine closings, the Wave circulated a "preserve our community day petition" in 1953. County residents appealed to the House of Representative Ways and Means Committee, the Utah congressional delegation, the Secretary of the Interior, and the President of the United States to support metal prices. According to RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 223 the petition, mining brought $60,000 a month to Wasatch County and was a necessary industry. The appeal worked. Park City and Wasatch County mines reopened as President Dwight D. Eisenhower agreed to stockpde lead and zinc, although he still refused to raise tar­iffs. The good economic conditions did not last. In 1956 the New Park Mining Company closed the Mayflower Mine, laying off 290 men. Later, when New Park Mining Company leased the mine to independent contractors, the United Steelworkers sued, but the union lost its argument in federal court.4 There were some bright spots in the depressed market. In 1961 the Hecla Mining Company of Idaho leased the Mayflower Mine from the New Park Mining Company. The next year it opened a new automated mill that could process 400 tons a day, separating the ore into lead-copper concentrate and zinc concentrate. In 1966 the mine was the sixth largest gold producer in the United States, and the next year it produced 72,000 ounces of gold. In 1958 the Mayflower Mine opened with a grant from the Defense Mineral Exploration Administration, and during the 1960s the New Park shifted its oper­ation from lead and zinc to phosphate, potash, gold, budding stone, od, and uranium. Most of its production was not in Wasatch County, however.5 Mining's role in the county's economy continued to dwindle. Timber An important industry in Wasatch County during the 1950s and 1960s continued to be the timber industry. H. Bowman Hawkes said, "The most important manufacturing industry of the area is depen­dent" on it. In 1950,2,240,000 board feet were cut on the Lake Creek District of the Uinta National Forest. The timber cut supported eleven sawmills in the county and provided lumber for the local yards. In 1959 the industry was still growing and the paper bragged that the lumber was better than that found in Oregon. That year the three national forests included in Wasatch County produced twelve million board feet, 55 percent of the timber cut in Utah. In 1963 three mdlion board feet were cut from the Strawberry and Heber Ranger Districts; there was claimed to be a potential for five mdlion. When 224 HISTORY OF WASATCH COUNTY timber was sold, Wasatch County received a percentage from the gov­ernment to help with roads and school programs.6 Livestock The dairy and livestock industries also declined after World War II but continued to play a role in the Wasatch County economy. In 1976 cattle and mflk were the two most important agricultural prod­ucts in the county, followed by sheep and wool. But still the drops were dramatic. The number of sheep, for example, dropped two-thirds between 1910 and 1954. One reason was that the Forest Service continued to curtail range use because of overgrazing. Edward P. Cliff, a Wasatch County native and later head of the Forest Service, reported in 1944, "The major problems can be stated very briefly- too early and too heavy use in West Fork and too much stock in Wolf Creek." That same year Don Clyde, a sheepman, and L. C. Montgomery, a cattleman, rode the range and found overgrazing at Lake Creek, a center for sheep dipping and "some beautiful range at the head of Currant Creek."7 When the Forest Service decided to cut permits in 1946, the local cattle association complained. Supervisor George C. Larson responded that this was only the third reduction in permits on the forest and that the Forest Service had warned the ranchers of possible reductions. The proposed cuts led to a heated debate. The issues included not only protecting the range but preserving the watershed. County officials and leaders in the cattle association led the fight against the reduction. In January 1946 county commissioner Guy Coleman appealed to Secretary of Agriculture Clinton P. Anderson, saying, "This is a livestock country." After explaining that the vadey was high and the growing season too short and cold for "anything but hay, grain, and a few hardy vegetables," Coleman added, "We do pro­duce some of the best cattle in the West and our farmers depend entirely upon the range for the grazing of their cattle. There is no watershed or erosion problems involved in this county." However, Chief Forester Lyle F. Watts emphasized the need of a well-cared-for watershed in the county and added, "Furthermore, the Uintah Forest is an important source of irrigation water for farms in the Utah val­ley." 8 RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 225 Watts's concern for protecting the watershed opened old wounds. At a meeting of the Heber Cattle Company on 7 March 1946, fifteen cattle permittees and Uinta National Forest representa­tives held a three-hour discussion at "high blood pressure" level. Charles De Moisey tried to explain the importance of maintaining the range to protect the Provo River watershed, arguing that the pro­tection of Deer Creek should be important to the Wasatch County residents. L.C. Montgomery maintained that Deer Creek was not a concern of the Heber Valley people. In an earlier letter to Forest Service employee W. L. Hansen, Montgomery responded to the same issue, "Your recent sympathy for the Deer Creek project is nothing but crockadile tears," adding that the water had been "confiscated." He added the range had been used starting on 1 May for years and had "steadily improved," jabbing, "You cannot ted us about the range conditions because you do not know about them like we do. We've been here too long and you have not been here long enough to understand them."9 Despite Montgomery's arguments, the Forest Service contended that overgrazing was a problem. In 1951 the government agency studied the area and informed cattle operators that the range needed to be improved. Even oldtime stockmen recognized the obstacle. At first Bennett Lindsay told a Family Farm Policy meeting in 1952 the range had not changed since 1900; however, when Forest Supervisor James L. Jacob took Lindsay, Clark Crook, and other county residents over the range, Lindsay recognized the damage. In 1955 the assistant Forest Service superintendent reported he had been on the range from 1926 to 1953. During that time the weeds were up 1,000 per­cent, sagebrush up 140 percent and grass was down 30 percent, reducing the grazing capacity by 40 percent. Whde the Forest Service hoped to increase range capacity with water development, rangers explained that there would be cuts in the livestock permits. In 1956 and 1957, the government agency reduced the number of permits twice, first by 10 percent and then later by 20 percent. Calvin Giles recalled how these cuts directly affected him. He obtained a permit to run forty cattle in Strawberry Valley after World War II. When the government cut his allotment to only twenty, it forced him out of the cattle business.10 226 HISTORY OF WASATCH COUNTY The dairy industry was stdl strong in the 1940s. For example, in 1947 and 1948 Charleston produced 3,500,000 pounds of mdk per year from approximately 450 milk cows. The gross income to the community was $155,000 from mflk and $15,000 from the sale of young livestock. In 1954 the industry brought $1,500,000 a year to the area. Nearly every major dairy in Salt Lake received milk from Heber Vadey in 1949; five years later one-sixth of the milk used in Salt Lake County came from Wasatch County. Calvin Gdes recaded that he sold his milk to the Arden Dairy untd 1957. He then sold it to Pet Ice Cream and later Clover Leaf until Western Dairy Incorporated was formed. When Paul Daniels became the county extension agent in the 1950s there were 250 dairy farmers in the area. The dairy industry became the mainstay of some Wasatch County families. Calvin Gdes bought a small dairy business after World War II and built it up to thirty-five cows. He raised hay for them and milked them with his son. He explained, "That was a large saving thing for us to have a cream check come in about every two weeks."11 Yet the dairy industry suffered setbacks during this period. In 1953 the milk producers met to chadenge the drop in prices by Weber Central and Hi-Land dairies. The next year a county delegation protested the changing milk standards set by the Salt Lake City Commission. The Salt Lake City Board of Health inspected the farms every thirty days to make sure the barns, cows, and facilities were clean. During the 1950s improved technology changed the industry as farmers installed pipelines so that the milk went directly from the cow through the milking system. By 1964 every grade-A dairy farm in the county had refrigerated bulk mdk tanks. Salt Lake City con­tinued to push for better dairy facdities. Since most of the city's water supply came from Deer Creek, officials worried about the corrals and farms draining into the water system. Elmer Kohler explained that by 1970 the requirements were so stiff he had to quit milking his twenty-five cows. The health board also worked with the truckers who had to upgrade their vehicles. At first ice on top of the cans to maintain the right temperature met the board's requirements. Eventually, though, the truckers had to use tank coolers.12 RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 227 Farming By the end of World War II, farming had become more mecha­nized. A single farmer could produce more crops with the improved equipment. As H. Bowman Hawkes explained in a study of the area, "In agriculture the shift over the century has been from diversifica­tion based upon a self-sufficient phdosophy to mechanization and specialization." Irene W. Thacker, who moved to Daniel after her marriage in 1945, remembered that she and her husband both had tractors. They would bale hay for recreation and time together. LeRoy Sweat of Center Creek recalled, "My brother and I were about the last ones to go to tractors. We worked his and my farm together. We could get two good teams walking. We could cut a lot of hay in a day. It was back in about 1951 when we went to tractors." Most farmers focused on barley instead of wheat; they used their crops to feed livestock. Earlier crops such as potatoes and sugar beets were completely elim­inated. During the 1950s most farmers continued to flood irrigate. Thacker recaded, "It was hard. We had to go down and water all night long. We had to pud our dams and let the water run to the next dam. We had to be with it ad the time."13 Irrigation continued to play an important part in Wasatch County agriculture. In 1948 residents irrigated 21,000 acres. There were sixteen irrigation companies and ninety-eight miles of main canals. That year the county farmers asked the state for money to construct additional reservoirs in the Bench Creek, Hobble Creek, Lake Haystack, and Daniels Canyon areas. The state also funded other projects. Farmers were continuady upgrading irrigation facdities. For example, in 1958, forty-four shareholders of the Heber Lake Creek Canal improved the canal to save water. But the projects occasionally had problems. In 1973 the Center Creek Reservoir Number 1 broke and flooded ten homes and eighty acres of farmland. Officials blamed the breakage on water saturation.14 Crops changed fodowing the war. Growing peas had always been difficult in Wasatch County. The season was short; the crop some­times froze. The peas often varied in quality, and farmers received payment for only the lowest grade even if the load showed a variety. Because of these problems, landowners were reluctant to grow peas, 228 HISTORY OF WASATCH COUNTY but Woods Cross would not maintain its cannery in the area if there were fewer than 400 acres under cultivation in the Heber Vadey and Kamas areas. In 1951, 57 percent of the acreage required came from Wasatch County; the remaining 43 percent was in Kamas/Woodland. Even then the cannery officials complained that only 40 percent of the Heber City peas were top quality and they needed at least 70 per­cent of that quality to operate.15 Throughout the early 1950s, the Wave encouraged the pea indus­try. The newspaper argued that the county needed the income. It could not afford to lose the $70,000 paid to farmers each summer. Committees contacted farmers in each town asking them to raise peas. Woods Cross eventually shut down anyway. Company president R. A. Moss complained he had less than half the peas needed to keep the cannery open. In a letter to the pea growers he explained, "Hoping each year that conditions would improve, the Company has kept the factory operating even at a loss. Some growers found the pea crop profitable, and they have furnished peas continually. They wanted the factory to operate. Others farmers have gone over to dairy farming and have used the fields for hay and grain. Because of the shortage of acreage, the Woods Cross Company does not plan to operate in 1956. We regret that it is necessary to close after nearly 40 years of operation in the Heber Valley." He hoped to sell the vinery to Utah County canners so that local farmers would still have a mar­ket for their peas. In 1960 Woods Cross started to dismantle the can­nery budding and salvage the wood. However, in May "a spectacular midnight fire" destroyed the cannery.16 Tourism and State Parks As the mines closed and agriculture became less important, Wasatch County leaders and residents looked for new sources of income. Many suggested recreation. They hoped to draw on the beautiful, cool mountain atmosphere and the county's close proxim­ity to Utah's population base. By 1959 it appeared that the county was attracting more visitors. While the number of retail stores had not changed, sales had increased. Between 1933 and 1959 food store sales were up fourteen times, automobde services were up seventeen times, and eating and drinking establishment business increased. According RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 229 to one study, "This is a significant trend for an area that has had a declining population for almost two decades. It means that the flux of tourists and vacationers is constantly increasing and if the area is to maintain a good economic base this facet of its economy should be greatly encouraged."17 One proposal was for a state park in the county. Earlier, others had supported a park system in Utah but faded. The Utah State Legis­lature passed a bdl creating the State Board of Park Commissioners in 1925, but it did not form any parks. In 1957 Utah became the last state to create a state parks commission. The new board declared, "We stand on the threshold of the greatest opportunity for recre­ational development that wdl ever be avadable to the people of Utah. The nation is in the midst of a new era of recreation." With the new board in place, Wasatch County officers listed four potential park sites: Pine Creek Area and Bonanza Flat, Knolls in Wallsburg, Deer Creek, and Mid Hollow Mountain Camp. The Wave liked the idea of a state park, exclaiming that the area was "rapidly coming into the limelight as one of the top recreational areas in the state."18 While some county residents favored a park, they did not take the initiative. Most agree that the Wasatch Mountain State Park was the brainchdd of Harold P. Fabian, the first director of the Utah State Parks and Recreation Commission. Fabian, a Salt Lake City native, helped establish Grand Teton National Park and worked in that area until 1953. After retiring from his law practice in 1955, he returned to Salt Lake City. Because of his experience with other parks and his work with the Republican party and the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce, Governor George Dewey Clyde appointed him to lead the state agency. Fabian worked closely with his lifetime friend Henry D. Moyle, a Mormon church leader. These two men recalled their summers in Brighton as chddren. As they were hiking in the Wasatch Mountains, they "looked down in the Heber Valley and pretended it was their own big ranch lay-out." They thought the area would make an ideal state park. After completing a study, the state agency pro­posed providing summer and winter recreational sports such as fish­ing, golfing, and skiing. According to the report, "Few metropolitan areas have such a scenic alpine region available virtually at the back door."19 230 HISTORY OF WASATCH COUNTY With this positive endorsement from the state, the local chamber of commerce encouraged the park. Business leaders entertained the members of the legislative councd at a shelter in Charleston in order that elected officials could see the advantages of the site.20 In 1958 thirteen county political, business, and church leaders asked Governor Clyde to support the park. When the governor expressed concerns about the costs, the Wasatch County people pointed out that area property values were going up and if the state did not act soon it would be impossible to develop the park. Some of the 25,000 acres suggested by the 1959 report were immediately avadable for the park; 560 belonged to the Bureau of Land Management, and 1,280 acres were state-owned school sections. To encourage progress, Wasatch County donated forty-six acres that included a small ski tow. However, the rest had to be purchased from private owners. InitiaUy the state bought approximately 500 acres.21 During the next two years, hopes for a park rose and fed. The leg­islature did not fund all the money requested; also, not ad county res­idents favored the plan. Three or four of the nine farmers who owned the proposed land demanded more money than offered. Just as it looked as though the park would die, the newspaper asked Wasatch County residents to talk to those who were refusing to sell their lands. The Salt Lake papers suggested the state should take the land by emi­nent domain, but some in the county felt that the landowners had refused to sed because the state park commission had "bungled" the land deals.22 Despite these setbacks, plans for the park continued. Henry D. Moyle urged his famdy to donate 100 acres on the edge of the park to the state. The Wave claimed that if the park did not come the area would become a "dusty ghost" whose tombstone would read, "Here lies Wasatch County. She lost the only opportunity which could have saved her." When plans started again in January 1960 the paper applauded "a determined effort by the group of men appointed to reach a workable solution of the problems existing between the State Park Commission and the group of Midway land owners [who have] brought the Wasatch Mountain State Park issue back onto stable ground."23 Graduady plans revived. In 1961 the Utah Legislature appropri- RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 231 Wasatch Mountain State Park Headquarters and Visitor Center, March 1996. (Allan Kent Powell) ated $1.5 midion to acquire the land. County and Midway town offi­cials contacted the landowners and encouraged them to sell. Earl Kohler, Midway's mayor who also served on the committee prompt­ing the park, recaded, "I went to everyone that owned l a n d . . . north of Lime Canyon and west of Pine Creek." He got statements from ad the landowners that they would be willing to sell. The state hired H. Clay Cummings to negotiate the terms and make the purchases. Cummings was also the LDS stake president in the area, and that position helped him convince some people to sed. Moyle's authority in the LDS church also helped. Alma Huber remembered, "None of us were excited about selling. We wanted to keep the property. What they were offering us wasn't too much. I didn't want to sed because it was a liveldiood for me. It was something that I had been attached to ad my life. But finally it got to the point where there was so much pressure put on us that we were forced to sell." Huber recalled that Moyle "kind of said you are not doing what you ought to do by not selling it. The state wants it, you had better sed it to them. The church has quite an influence on you, even though I wanted to keep the 232 HISTORY OF WASATCH COUNTY property." Vernon H. Probst also felt compelled to sell his property for the park. "The legislature gave the Park Commission the power of eminent domain. They can condemn it if you do not want to sed it to them, just like a road or something else. So they came up and told us what they would give us for it. We could take it or leave it, and they would condemn it if we didn't."24 The state offered the same price for all the property-six hun­dred dodars an acre for farmland and thirty dodars an acre for range-land. For some like Huber the price was not enough for having to relocate. Others, looking back over the years, thought about how much the property might be worth. Probst argued in 1985, "Today it is worth $20,000 an acre. I would have been a mdlionaire if I could have kept it."25 For some it represented a enormous profit. According to Kohler, one owner "chuckled into his grave.... He sold all of his trashy land up here that he bought for two and three dollars for thirty." The state also promised to lease the land back to the farmers untd it was developed and to restore some historical buddings. Not all of these commitments were in writing, and some feelings were hurt when they were not kept. Despite all the problems, Kohler appreciated the farmers' support. "They jumped in there and helped whenever they could They gave up their livelihood and every­thing else." None of the property had to be condemned and the own­ers made "a lot of sacrifice Even though they got what was then a fair price for their land, you've got to remember they were picked up and uprooted."26 As plans for the park developed, state, community, and federal agencies worked together. The Bureau of Reclamation had planned to line the Provo River with rocks from the park area but agreed to change its plans. Utah Senator Frank E. Moss applauded the effort, "I compliment the Bureau of Reclamation on its cooperation in this matter. We are proud of Wasatch State Park and of the State's devel­opment program. Recreational and scenic value wdl be better main­tained without a quarry and access roads." Midway planned a shelter on the town square for tourists and townspeople.27 In 1962 the state hired H. Clay Cummings to develop the park. The LDS church released him early from his calling as the New Zealand Mission president to take the position. Cummings dreamed RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 233 of "a massive, year round recreational area with complete facilities of great value and worth to people who like the out of doors." Three months after his appointment, however, Cummings died of a heart attack. Others shared his vision, though. Plans included a two-mdlion- dollar lodge, swimming pools, restaurants, an eighteen-hole golf course, trads for horseback riding and hiking, ski runs, ice skat­ing rinks, bobsledding facilities, and sleighriding hdls. State officials compared the park's recreational potential with Switzerland, Jackson Hole, and Sun Valley. Some Mormons felt the park would be a show­case to the world of the LDS lifestyle.28 Some of these plans were put into effect. An eighteen-hole golf course opened in 1967. Kohler recaded that it was not used very much the first few years, but soon it was fufl. In 1972 the state added nine additional holes. Despite a short playing season because of the high altitude, the course paid its expenses. In 1968 Governor Calvin Rampton dedicated the park, and a visitor's center was completed. By 1970 the park had 324,939 visi­tors to the 22,000 acres. Five years later, half a million people visited the park and it generated 72 percent of the state park system's rev­enue. 29 State and federal agencies developed other recreational facdities. Moroni Besendorfer recalled that for the first thirty years Deer Creek Reservoir "was ruled off limits." He could not swim in it because that might pollute the water. In the 1970s the state received a grant from the U.S. Bureau of Outdoor Recreation to provide fishing and boat­ing facdities at Deer Creek. The state and federal governments coop­erated in setting up the facdities at the Deer Creek State Recreational Area. Uinta National Forest also provided recreational activities. Whde the early focus had been on grazing, L. G. Woods, head forester in the 1950s, looked to the future: "Grazing is only one of the mul­tiple uses of the national forests. As greater demands are made for the other uses, i.e. timber, wildlife, water, and recreation, it becomes imperative that grazing be properly regulated to avoid undue inter­ference with the other uses." In 1963, 214,800 visitors came to the Strawberry and Heber Ranger districts' four developed camp­grounds. 30 Heber Valley officials tried several other ways to encourage tourism in the area, but not everyone thought tourism would help 234 HISTORY OF WASATCH COUNTY Fishing on the Provo River. (Utah State Historical Society) Wasatch County residents. According to an editorial in the Wave in 1953, some residents "condemned the efforts of our Chamber of Commerce to attract tourists to this area as . . . too costly and of little value to the average person." But the newspaper continued, "Congratulations to the Chamber of Commerce and its Tourist Trades program. It at least realizes Heber Valley [potential] with its wide sweep of fields, hills, mountains and blue sky." The Heber City Chamber of Commerce went ahead with its programs. After a vadey-wide contest for a slogan, the business community selected "Beautiful Heber Vadey: Paradise of the Rockies." The LDS church and the city chamber of commerce held classes on the history, industry, and scenic areas in the county every night during the summer of 1953.31 Various groups continued to encourage tourism. The Wave RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 235 claimed in 1955 that "the tourist dollar is just as sound as the dairy doflar." It explained three years later: "With our economy being at the present low that it is, every effort should be made to put Wasatch County on the recreational bandwagon. Let's make Heber Valley a place that a person would want to spend every weekend." In 1961 the Heber City council, Midway Town board, Charleston Town board, Highway 40 Association, Highway 189 Association, the school dis­trict, the LDS church, the Midway Boosters, the Wasatch Chamber of Commerce, and the board of county commissioners formed the Wasatch Mountain Parkland Association. According to the Wave, the main purpose was to have the different groups "concerned with the development of Wasatch County" work together. How much devel­opment should be promoted continued to be a concern. H. Bowman Hawkes explained in 1959, "Today the communities of... Wasatch County stand at an important crossroad." He described a "conserva­tive rural group that had deep roots in the past" who "oppose change because the area possesses for them a beauty and rustic charm"; but others saw hope in developing new business, resort centers, and the state park.32 Midway's Harvest Days attracted hundreds of tourists to town in mid-September 1947. In 1951 organizers gave away 1,600 barbecue sandwiches. This evolved into the Midway Swiss Days in 1953, and the town changed the celebration's date to Labor Day weekend. The town asked farmers to put bells on their cows and sheep. Salt Lake City papers carried advertisements for "the most exciting midway fes­tival in the town's history." The Wave and local residents declared the first Swiss Days a success. As late as 1959 the town still offered a free barbecue. By 1960 it was called the "Big Thing"-Midway was no longer just "quiet streets [with] 700 everyday people [and] cows."33 Private companies also developed recreational facilities. In 1947 Joe B. and Pauline Erwin purchased Luke's Hot Pots for $100,000. According to a county history, the Erwins were "the first to envision Heber Vadey as a national resort area that would draw thousands of visitors." The couple added an outdoor swimming pool and had great plans for the resort; but the plans were too ambitious and after five years they returned the property to John Luke. The property trans­ferred ownership several times untd Luke sold it to Willard Draper 236 HISTORY OF WASATCH COUNTY Heber Creeper trains on the west side of Deer Creek Reservoir, 1974. (Utah State Historical Society) and Eugene Payne. They enlarged the facdities. Payne continued to operate the facility after Draper died in 1958. In 1952 the Whitaker brothers-W. Ferrin, Berlin, Wetzel, and Scott-along with their brother-in-law Lowed Turner purchased the Schneitters Hot Pots and changed the name to The Homestead. Owners who followed also promoted the area's recreational value. In 1952 W Ferrin Whitaker dreamed of the valley becoming a winter and summer resort like Sun Vadey.34 In 1964 Zions Investment Company purchased the company, hoping to develop The Homestead along with a Swiss Alpine residential development west of the resort.35 The Heber Creeper was another attempt to promote tourism. The railroad continued to operate out of Heber until 1967, but it was running one trip a week from Provo to Heber City. In 1968 the gov­ernment allowed the railroad to abandon the route. Ecologists who RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 237 did not want a four-lane highway up the canyon, railroad fans, and Heber business people who saw recreational possibilities worked together to save the tracks. Kennecott Copper Company donated some tracks and equipment. In 1970 the new company brought in equipment and operated a tourist run that summer. In January 1971 the new Heber Creeper made its first run to Bridal Ved Falls as part of the celebration of Utah's seventy-fifth anniversary of statehood. The first three years of operation the Creeper lost money, but it showed a profit in 1973.36 Some suggestions failed. In 1960 the Heber Valley Advertising Association suggested Heber could be developed into a western town. Tourists would see a sign, "Heber City-You'll Like the Western Flavor," leading to "a typical old west town, complete with covered sidewalks, hitching posts down the center lane of the highway and a whole population of cowboys and cowgirls. Every gingerbread store front tempts you to stop and see what's behind it, and you do s t o p ­fer an hour which lengthens into a day which stretches into two as you and the family explore this fascinating town and all it has to offer." The idea did not take. Some residents complained that the western theme suggested "liquor and loose women." The Wave con­tended, "It is inconceivable that our community's most honored cit­izens could be accused of advocating a program of moral destruction."37 But the supporters did not succeed in turning Heber into the western town it had never been. Another unsuccessful scheme was to make Wasatch County a ski-resort area. These plans included building a road from the Cottonwood canyons in Salt Lake County to Midway. In 1945 the Heber Lions Club asked the Salt Lake County commissioners for assistance. The club saw potential in building the road but needed help from the Wasatch Front community. Discussions continued.38 In 1954 the Wave explained, "The road, unsurpassed as a scenic attrac­tion, would encourage capital for the development of a Sun Valley playground" during the summer and winter. The next year the national guard started budding the road, but it was not completed as planned. The scheme included a tram from Brighton to Wasatch County. The state legislature approved bonds to build the tram in 1964 but a ceiling was set on the interest. In 1977 Wasatch County 238 HISTORY OF WASATCH COUNTY state senator Robert Clyde attempted to raise the limit and the county received a grant to study the feasibdity of the tram; but other resorts, including those in Park City and Big and Little Cottonwood canyons, opposed the plans because they feared competition. The only skiing in Wasatch County was a ski lift at Mdl Flats operated by Wasatch Ski Association, a nonprofit organization. With the help of the national guard, volunteers kept a ski run open.39 Building an airport also did not bring many results. While ini­tially flight was entertainment for most Americans, commerce and city leaders saw it as good business. Promoting aviation created an image of a progressive, forward-looking community-a goal nearly all boosters adopted without serious question. World War I showed some of the possibdities of flight. Following that war, the federal gov­ernment established an airmad system. Cities on the airmad routes used WPA funds to construct airports during the 1930s. World War II showed that flight had even more potential. By the end of the war, almost every community wanted an airport. Merrill Christopherson, the manager of the Provo airport, and Oscar Olson of Shell Oil Company told the Heber City newspaper that the "coming age was to be the Air Age and . . . every community that does not want to be isolated must provide facdities which wdl encourage the increased air traffic."40 Despite the clamor for air facdities, Heber City did not have an airport in 1946. Guy McDonald, a resident of Heber, had served as a flight engineer on a B-17 bomber during World War II and flew mis­sions over Germany and Czechoslovakia. He continued to be inter­ested in flying after he returned. After obtaining a license, he purchased an Aeronica Champion, a two-place trainer airplane, in the spring of 1946. Because there was no place to keep the plane in Heber City, he stored it in a hangar in Provo. Since this arrangement did not work, McDonald sold shares in his plane to five other men and organized a Heber flying club. They located some ground that they could use as an airstrip southwest of the present runway. The owner gave the group permission to budd a hangar and to develop the runway. The group also contacted Joe Bergen, the director of the Utah Aeronautics Authority. Bergen came to Heber in June and authorized the group to budd an airstrip. When RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 239 Heber City Airport, March 1996. (Allan Kent Powell) he came, he encouraged the city and county to become involved, stat­ing, "This is the most populous section of the state to be without landing facdities." He told of a smad plane that had had to land in a farmer's field because there was not even an emergency strip. Two weeks after Bergen's visit, the county took an option to buy land for an airport. Six individuals-Guy McDonald, Elmo Jacobson, Rex Whiting, Russed McDonald, Sperry Rodins, and Lloyd Lawton- formed a company called the Heber Vadey Flying Service. The county allowed the company to build a runway on the newly acquired land. In exchange for creating the runway, the county gave the flying ser­vice a lease to operate a flight school, service airplanes, and provide fuel. The group built a cinder block hangar and an office building and provided flying instructions. Russell McDonald, a licensed flying instructor, taught the classes. The Veterans Administration qualified the Heber Valley Flying Service as an air training school, and as many as fifty students were enrolled. The company owned three two-place airplanes and one 240 HISTORY OF WASATCH COUNTY four-place airplane. The larger plane was used as a trainer and for charter flights. When Russell McDonald left the area to fly for United Airlines, the school closed and the county took over operation of the airport. In 1949 the Civil Air Administration agreed to cover approxi­mately 60 percent of the $100,000 needed to construct the airport. The State of Utah, Heber City, and Wasatch County shared the remaining cost. Clay Cummings dedicated the budding in May 1950. Three years later, a Wave editorial lamented that no airplanes were landing and the hanger was empty.41 Continued Plans to Export Water As the Wasatch Front population expanded, it required more water. Even though the Wasatch County area already provided 95 percent of the water for 74 percent of Utah's population, the federal government made several suggestions on how to meet the growing needs of the urban areas and still provide irrigation water for the agricultural areas. In 1959 the Bureau of Reclamation suggested that Deer Creek Reservoir be enlarged. Wasatch County residents protested. A delegation of citizens asked the U.S. Senate water com­mittee which was meeting in Salt Lake City to consider the Bates Dam east of Heber instead, explaining that 70,000 acres of Wasatch County land had already been covered by reservoirs and they did not want to lose more land to meet the water needs of other areas.42 The Wave editorialized that Deer Creek Reservoir had "become a beauti­ful and permanent part of our vadey," but the plans to raise the water level had "opened old wounds and recalled bitter memories of farm and yards and roads and famdiar landmarks which went reluctantly under water. It could happen again." The planned enlargement would destroy homes, displace ninety families, and require the radroad, the Charleston bridge, two highways, the Charleston community center, and the Midway fish hatchery to move. The LDS Charleston ward chapel would be "accessible by rowboat." The editorial concluded, "Wasatch County wake and fight for your land." Later the newspaper complained, "The Deer Creek was just completed a few years ago. The people did not have the foresight at that time for the enlarge­ment. Why is it feasible now at additional costs?"43 RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 241 Recreationists at Deer Creek Reservoir, June 1960. (Utah State Historical Society) The Deer Creek Dam enlargement was scrapped but so too was the Bates project located on the Provo River a short distance down­stream from Francis. In 1963 a dam was proposed for Jordanelle, six mdes north of Heber. Before the dam could be completed, the U.S. Congress needed to approve the Central Utah Project and seven counties-Juab, Utah, Summit, Wasatch, Salt Lake, Duchesne, and Uintah-had to approve a water-conservation district. In 1962 five of those counties, ad except Duchesne and Uintah counties, approved the water district. Walter Montgomery, Wasatch County commis­sioner, told the Midway Boosters that the county needed the conser­vancy district to save its water interests: "Wasatch County's area is the birthplace of most of the water for the northern part of the state of Utah and we can't get a drink." Residents could not even drdl wells because in 1921 the Provo Water Users Association filed on the underground water and claimed weds in Heber Vadey affected their water use. Two years later the Central Utah Water Conservancy 242 HISTORY OF WASATCH COUNTY District was created by delegates from ad of the seven counties. Clyde Ritchie represented Wasatch County.44 For the next ten years the Bonnevdle Unit of the Central Utah Project was a political football in the U.S. Congress. In 1975 Clyde Ritchie supported the plans for Jordanede because it would increase Heber Vafley's water supply by 20 percent and bring recreation to the area.45 While they were waiting for the Central Utah Project, other projects went on: Strawberry Reservoir Was expanded and Soldier Creek Dam was started in 1968, requiring Highway 40 to be relo­cated. The project included thirty-three miles of tunnels and pipelines.46 The new reservoir started filling in 1973 and eventually was connected with Strawberry Reservoir.47 Civic Improvements Despite the declining population, weak economy, and struggle for identity, Wasatch County residents wanted the latest improve­ments in the years after World War II. These included door-to-door mail service in 1946. There was some opposition at first from busi­nesses which would have to pay to mad fliers and keep up with home addresses. But most residents painted their addresses on their homes and looked forward to receiving their mad there. Heber City also got a new post office in 1967. At the dedication the postmaster spoke: "The fact that Heber City was chosen for a new post office reflects credit on our growing contribution to the economy and life of the nation."48 Telephone services also improved in the 1960s. Wallsburg had phone services from 1900 when the first line arrived at George A. Dabling's store, but service was always poor. The town organized the Wadsburg Telephone Company in 1941. The residents used that sys­tem untd 1955 when they turned over their rights to Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company. By the end of the year, Mountain States had installed fifty-six dial phones through the Heber exchange.49 Center and Daniel also formed their own telephone companies at the turn of the century. By the 1960s the Center Creek line was inadequate and residents asked Mountain States Telephone to put in a new line. One resident wrote, "Our little line looks rather forlorn RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 243 beside the stately tall poles that linemen are placing alongside it. Within a few days the church and every home in Center wdl have a new phone and ringing a neighbor on the 02,06, or 09 party line wdl just be a memory." In 1964 the telephone company completed a dial system for the entire area.50 After the war, communities in Wasatch County started working on their roads. In 1946 Charleston started paving. The Wave praised the effort, "With barely enough population to maintain a town orga­nization, the enterprising community is pushing a project to take its traffic out of the mud." Heber was also improving its roads. In 1947 the city could only afford to pave the east and west roads, but offered to provide base gravel if private or church groups wanted to pave the other roads. The state authorized money in 1958 to improve Highway 40 from Heber to Keetley and to resurface Main Street in Heber.51 One immediate concern was a sewer system. Deer Creek Reservoir raised the water table, and since its water went directly into the culinary systems in Salt Lake and Utah counties, governments along the Wasatch Front encouraged Wasatch County communities to upgrade their sewage treatment facilities. Heber City received a $4,000 federal grant to study its sanitary facdities in 1947. Six years later there was stdl an urgent need for a citywide sewer system. Salt Lake City threatened to sue if Heber did not clean up its sewage sys­tem. Since federal grants would not cover the expenses, the city pro­posed a bond issue. The Wave argued that the citywide system with the bond would be cheaper; but if the bond did not pass, the city councd would charge those currently using the sewer system to con­struct a sewage disposal plant. The Wave concluded, "We, like many of our neighboring cities in Utah and Salt Lake County are con­fronted with a serious health problem that not only affects us but others and we have to take care of our own sewage." The bond passed in May 1953 by a margin of six to one with 33 percent participation. The city awarded the contract to a local busi­ness, Turner Budding Supply. The new facdities were in operation by the first of 1955. The Wave boasted that the system was one of the finest in the nation and had a capacity of providing for 6,000 people. Within fifteen years the system was outdated. In 1970 the Wave reported that while the sewer system was adequate, there were cer- 244 HISTORY OF WASATCH COUNTY tain months of the year when it did not meet all of the needs. Sometimes, "manholes . . . [spewed] raw sewage out of open ditches and on into canals and then into Deer Creek."52 Midway also needed a sewer system. In 1965 the county com­mission formed a sewer district for Midway, and the town passed a bond in 1966. Half the eligible voters turned out and approved the measure-126 to 88. The bond provided $225,000 of the $772,000 needed for the system. The rest of the money came from the state and federal governments, including funds from the Wasatch Mountain State Park. Ah/in Kohler, mayor of Midway at the time, explained, "We had the Deer Creek Dam to the south of us and that water was being diverted into culinary use. We felt that we weren't contributing to the water quality for people downstream. We felt that the time had arrived that Midway have a collection system, a sewage system. During my term in office we spent in excess of a million dodars to install a sewage codection system here in Midway."53 Communities also had to improve their water systems. Charleston had unique problems because it was so close to Deer Creek Reservoir. Residents there had used thirty shadow weds since 1875 to supply culinary water. However, in 1948 the state board of health condemned the wells, claiming "hazardous surface contami­nation." The Salt Lake City Board of Health threatened not to use the milk from the town's sixty-five farms if the water supply was not improved. To solve the problem, Charleston received a grant from the Utah Water and Power Board to develop two springs at Soldier Hollow, two miles east of Charleston. The new pipeline served 65 families-270 people and 450 cows. Heber City also upgraded its water system. In 1953 the government decided to chlorinate the water; the Wave pointed out that the water had always been contam­inated and this would help clean it up.54 Not all water improvement projects were simple. Whde cities like Midway, Heber City, and Charleston had power and money to make the changes, outlying areas had to depend on the county for help. Daniel had always been an unincorporated area. In 1965 some resi­dents complained that they had no water and hoped to incorporate so they could rebuild the culinary water system. According to the Wave, residents voted according to where they lived. Those who lived RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 245 east of the water system had plenty of water and opposed incorpora­tion; those west of the headhouse with no water wanted a town gov­ernment. The east side won; a majority of the Daniel residents submitted a petition to the county commission opposing incorpora­tion. The area was not incorporated.55 Throughout the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s the Wave carried articles about community clean-up drives. For example, in May 1946 Mayor Joseph Hylton signed a proclamation asking Heber City resi­dents to clean up as part of the Mormon centennial celebration. In 1953 Midway launched a "Let's be proud of Midway" clean-up drive. The Wave declared, "Every citizen of Midway Township owes it to himself, his community, and his church and state to be present in the Town Hall promptly at 8:00 P.M." to attend the meeting launching the drive. A week later the Wave editorialized that the LDS church wards had kept the valleys clean, but since they were no longer in control, everyone needed to help. Eleven years later the newspaper bragged when Heber City won first place in a community beautifica-tion contest sponsored by the Utah State Municipal League and the Utah State University Extension Service.56 In 1966 Heber won a national award. Edward P. Cluff, a former resident and then chief of the U.S. Forest Service, told Heber Mayor Winterrose, "You fine people of our hometown are to be congratulated for this recognition. . . . Our town is located in one of the most beautiful mountain val­leys in America. The community should match the beauty of this natural environment and the progressive spirit of its citizens." These are just a few of the drives. Every year each town had a drive to clean up, and the Wave published the plans and the results. It was a high­light of each year.57 The Wave listed other firsts. Heber City got a new police car in 1951. While the first television came to the area in 1949, reception was poor. In 1951 a new antenna was set up to improve reception over the mountains. In 1958 the city voted to have natural gas, and in 1962 Mountain Fuel Supply Company gave the city a natural-gas franchise. The company agreed to bring the gas since there was no opposition from Heber fuel dealers. The electric power plant needed updating again, and in 1947 Midway, Charleston, and Heber approved a bond election to improve the power plant; by 1949 it was 246 HISTORY OF WASATCH COUNTY operational. Not all changes were seen as progress and not all were approved. There was a movement in the 1960s to fluoridate water to prevent tooth decay. Wasatch County residents claimed unnecessary government control and in 1966 overwhelmingly defeated the mea­sure 1,075 to 350.58 The defeat was part of a conservative movement against government interference. Building Despite depressed economic conditions, there was new con­struction in Wasatch County during the 1950s and 1960s. Even with­out population growth, the schools in the district were old and the school board wanted to replace them. In addition, the baby boomer era immediately after the war increased the school-age population. According to the state board of education, the war delayed construc­tion, and "how school districts can secure these needed school budd­ings is one of the unsolved problems of public education in Utah." The state report explained that many elementary schools were square two- and three-story buildings with no special rooms for libraries, auditoriums, health clinics, and supply rooms. Also, the buddings were overcrowded.59 Lula Clegg, the school district superintendent, forecast the growth and the need for new schools. In 1947 she presented a plan that would add three new classrooms to the Central school by 1950 and predicted the district would need a new high school by 1954 or 1955. With this plan in mind, the district considered enlarging the Central school. Not everyone in the county agreed with the school board's decision. Some residents felt that a new gym at the high school was more important than elementary classrooms. Clegg wrote an article in the Wave defending her position. She delayed her retire­ment until the addition was completed and the school district's bonded debt of $150,000 was paid off. She was proud she could com­plete the $120,000 addition without adding to the county's debt.60 Clegg's projections for new schools proved true. In 1952 the school board hired Fred Markham, a Provo architect, to design a new county high school and also proposed an addition to Heber's North School. In March 1953 it called for a special bond election to fund the construction. The board told Wasatch County residents that it RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 247 needed the bond because a "rapidly increasing school population in Wasatch County School District, together with the antiquity and inadequate condition of the existing buildings, have created an imperative demand for the enlargement and improvement of presently owned school buildings and for additional school build­ings." The voters passed the bond in Aprd by a vote of 303 to 204. In 1959 construction began on a high school addition. In 1962 Ferrin D. Van Wagoner, the school district superintendent, asked his board for a new high school. The school board agreed and proposed a high school with an auditorium that the community could use for con­ventions and sport facilities. The board members asked LDS stake president Harold Call if they could hold a special meeting in the wards after church meetings. He said it needed to be cleared through the bishops. The extra effort was successful; the bond passed 1163 to 235. The board hired Paul K. Evans as the architect for the school and accepted his plans after making some modifications in the wrestling and music rooms. Cannon-Papanikolas construction company received the contract to budd the school with a request to use local labor whenever possible. The high school was dedicated in August 1964.61 By 1970 the board supported building a new school in Midway, a new elementary school in Heber, adding on to the high school, and remodeling the junior high-projects that would require additional bonding. The board delayed the vote, fearing a defeat at the pods. In 1972 the school district stdl felt that the community would not sup­port a $2 mdlion request and split the plans into two parts. The first was for a Heber elementary school, an addition to the high school, and the renovations to the junior high. The second was a new junior high school. The board printed a flier telling voters that bonding was the only way the school had to raise money and costs were going up. They needed a new elementary school because of small classrooms, no library facilities, cracked walls, deficient school-lunch kitchen facdities, and poor radiator-heating-pipe systems making it extremely uncomfortable for students. Despite the appeal, 62 percent of voters voted against it. The next year, the Midway school had too many stu­dents, and the kindergarten had to be moved to the town had. When the board proposed another bond election, it passed. Construction 248 HISTORY OF WASATCH COUNTY Wasatch High School, completed in 1964. (AUan Kent Powell) started on the new school in May 1974, and the district dedicated the budding in August 1975. The same year the board selected a site for a new junior high school. Work began in 1975, and the district dedi­cated the building and an adjacent community swimming pool in October 1976.62 The LDS church was active in building new chapels. Heber had three wards from 1903 until 1947, at which time the stake decided there were enough members to create a fourth ward. The Fourth Ward met in the Third Ward's chapel for eight years and started work on its own budding in April 1953. The building was completed, paid for, and dedicated in 1955. New wards followed quickly. The stake created the Fifth Ward in 1954 and then soon after formed the Sixth Ward. The Daniel Ward started a chapel in 1951 and dedicated it in 1956. The Charleston congregation constructed a meetinghouse from 1949 to 1951.63 Carl Batty became bishop of Wallsburg in 1948; the next year, he presented plans for a new church budding. Each mem­ber family contributed $500 and helped with construction. The building was dedicated on 29 Aprd 1950. A Center ward chapel ded- RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 249 icated 15 May 1960 had been under construction for three years and cost $58,000.64 Midway wards were also involved in new construction. Elmer Kohler recalled that the bishopric discussed ways to improve the old building when he became bishop of the Midway Second Ward in 1952. The basement needed a new floor and the roof shingles needed repair. That was only the start. The final plans called for demolishing the back part and retaining the front as the recreational had for the new chapel. In August 1953 the bishopric asked each family in the ward for $250, collecting $20,000 before construction started. While work was going on, the ward met in the town hall. The new chapel was dedicated on 15 July 1956. The Midway First Ward also remod­eled its old budding, starting in the spring of 1959. A year later the priesthood leaders complained that not many men were helping with the construction; but the building was completed in the summer of 1961 with ward members landscaping the grounds.65 Not all church construction was without controversy. Wasatch County was in the news because of an attempt to preserve an old building in the 1960s. Stake and general church leaders decided to budd a new stake center which would also be used by the Second and Fifth wards. After considering several options, the leaders decided to tear down the tabernacle, constructed between 1887 and 1889, on the Heber Town Square. The decision caused an outcry from people throughout the state interested in preserving historic buddings. The dispute also split the community. Some favored saving the budding; others agreed with church leaders that the downtown site was the best place for a new budding and that the tabernacle could no longer meet the church's needs. Wayne C. Whiting, a member of the stake presidency described the budding as an "old and hadowed building, so dear to the hearts of so many in the Stake."66 When word of the imminent destruction of the tabernacle became public in 1961, people outside Wasatch County sent letters to the Wave and to LDS Stake President J. Harold Cad. These letters put forth reasons to save the tabernacle including: "That stately building is one of your main tourist attractions" and its loss would be "a senseless destruction of a historical treasure." Elizabeth Cannon Sauls's letter to Call was typical when she called the budding "a beau- 250 HISTORY OF WASATCH COUNTY tiful monument to a dedicated, courageous group of people who in the midst of poverty and many hardships built a work of art as an expression of their appreciation and love for the finer things of life." Call published a response to Sauls's letter. While he felt that many people agreed with Sauls, he justified the decision to tear down the tabernacle by explaining that the church had been looking at alter­natives for two years. Architectural studies found it would cost $70,000 more to try to adapt the tabernacle than to tear it down and start over. LDS church leaders had rejected other alternatives such as budding a joint high school/stake center. Whde people had proposed alternate uses for the tabernacle, no group had submitted a proposal or even returned for a second meeting.67 That fall a group of local citizens organized a committee to save the tabernacle. Clark Crook headed a drive which collected 250 sig­natures from people in the area who opposed destroying the historic budding. The group met with church leaders and Crook assured the Wave, "We feel confident that a plan will be worked out whereby a renovated and beautiful building and grounds will continue in the future to be the fine missionary it can and should be to those visit­ing our area." The battle to save the tabernacle delayed action for two years. But by 1964 the LDS stake presidency announced that not only the tabernacle but also the social had would be torn down to make way for a new budding. Stake President Call made the announcement at a stake conference in June 1964; the stake presidency defended its actions in an open letter in the Wave a month later. After carefully outlining the previous attempts to save the budding, the stake presi­dent pointed out that the alternatives had not been acceptable and Crook's committee had not been "able to codect the first dollar" to purchase the property. The presidency also explained that each ward and the stake had voted twice and always "the majority voted to raze the Tabernacle."68 This announcement led to another flurry of letters opposing the move. Articles from Everett L. Cooley, director of the Utah State Historical Society, Fred L. Markham, Preservation Officer, Utah Chapter of American Institute of Architects, Lee C. Knell, an AIA architect, and the Community Committee to Save the Wasatch Stake Tabernacle all reiterated the 1961 arguments. The local committee RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 251 Constructed in 1889 and used for religious services for many years, the Wasatch Stake Tabernacle, now the Heber City Hall, is an excellent example of adaptive use. (Lavon Provost) questioned, "Can any sacrifice we might make to restore this budd­ing to its original form and beauty, modified to fit the needs of our modern way of life, compare with the sacrifice the pioneers made to budd it?"69 This time the appeal brought action. The local committee turned in a petition with 1,366 signatures to Hugh B. Brown of the LDS church's First Presidency. Brown presented the petition to the church's financial committee, which voted to find another place for the stake center. The LDS church had given in; the tabernacle would be saved. But who would own and use it? In October 1964 a fund raising effort began to codect the $60,000 needed to purchase the site and repair the budding. Efforts were not immediately successful; in December the church granted an extension to continue fundraising.70 In May 1965 the LDS church again announced plans to demol­ish the tabernacle. A committee met again with the First Presidency, who again assured the local residents the church would save the budding if they could raise enough money. Finady in July 1965 Hugh B. Brown told a special priesthood meeting in Wasatch County that 252 HISTORY OF WASATCH COUNTY church president David O. McKay wanted the tabernacle preserved. He proposed, "A deed to the tabernacle property will be issued to Heber City Corporation with the restriction that if the tabernacle and grounds aren't properly maintained, they will revert back to the church." In March 1966, the local leaders broke ground for the new stake center, which was dedicated in January 1967.71 The question of how to use the tabernacle remained. In 1966 state leaders joined local residents in creating the Utah Heritage Foundation, the first statewide preservation organization in the west­ern United States, and its first item of business was how to preserve and use the Heber Town Square. In February 1966 fifteen people attended the first meeting; half were from Heber Vadey. A week later one hundred people discussed not only saving the tabernacle but the entire Heber Town Square including the small courthouse and jad. The Heritage Foundation grew to be the most important private organization for preserving historic sites in Utah. A Deseret News edi­torial in 1964 predicted, "Whatever the final outcome of the 'Save the Heber Tabernacle' drive, its momentum should stimulate a statewide program of preserving historical landmarks." In September 1966 LucyBeth Rampton, wife of the governor, announced Heritage Foundation plans to raise $100,000 to save Heber Square. James Cannon, the manager of Pro-Utah, asked local residents to "bury the hatchet" and use the town square as a tourist attraction. The federal government listed the tabernacle and amusement hall on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.72 The city had a hard time finding uses for the tabernacle. During the late 1960s and early 1970s theater companies occasionally per­formed plays there. Ruth Witt, who had been instrumental with other members of the Wasatch County Historical Society, said the com­munity did not support them very much. During the 1970s some family reunions also used the building. By the 1980s the tabernacle was badly in need of repair. A 1982 issue of the Wave included sev­eral large photographs of the building. The short article said, "It is one of the most prominent structures in Heber. It has stood straight and tad through the many years since it was constructed. There aren't many old buildings like this one still around, and when you enter into it, if you listen closely you can stdl hear the singing of the early RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 253 saints as they sang out praise to their god. Maybe the structure is a little dusty inside, but there is the ever present recognition, that those who settled here before were... sturdy men who know who to budd a budding to last through the ages." At the same time, the Heber City Councd rejected an offer by the county to purchase the building for $60,000.73 Gradually, without much use, the tabernacle weathered and needed repair. In June 1984 Heber City councdman Louis R. Jackson appealed for volunteers to help fix the building. Pointing out that volunteers had donated time and labor to build the tabernacle, he asked for volunteers to help keep it up. In the early days, Jackson explained, "it was a religious focal point. Today, it is just a monument to those who struggled to build it." Robert J. McCormick, a retired engineer, agreed to manage the budding. Jackson hoped that once the building was cleaned up that the city could charge a use rental fee and the budding could maintain itself without cost to the city. The county fair had already asked to use it. A month later Jackson reported that he had only received two calls about the tabernacle. Despite the apparent lack of interest, however, McCormick had been inspecting the building to see what needed to be done. He had determined that the ceiling needed to be fixed and the original soft wood around the windows was rotting out. In addition, the flooring, roof, electricity, and plumbing needed to be inspected. Jackson pleaded that if some­thing was not done the building would be lost. "Those who deter­mined in the saving of the landmark will certainly step forward to continue its existence. Those who find it a financial plague may just sit back and hope that no rescue will materialize.... If nothing is done the building wdl eventuady be a tomb of decay on the inside, while red stones, weatherworn and emblematic stdl spire to heaven on the outside, untd the roof falls in." Some people questioned Jackson's commitment to the project, though. When the city councd planned a vote to put a cement stage on the grounds, Heber City resident Agnes Tucker explained, "We can't expect Mr. Jackson to vote for any improvement for the Tabernacle since he recently obtained the City Councd's approval to remove the Tabernacle's picture from Heber City letterhead. I cannot think of a more appropriate logo."74 HISTORY OF WASATCH COUNTY The Social Hall on Heber's town square is now used by the senior citizens. (Lavon Provost) During the 1980s, Heber City needed a new city hall. Because of the depressed conditions in the county, the city could apply for a grant from the Economic Development Administration. The federal grants were avadable to areas with high unemployment and could be used for constructing or refurbishing government buildings. Heber could receive up to $600,000 and the city would have to provide a 20- percent match. To determine if residents supported restoring the tabernacle, the city councd caded a public meeting. The city had con­tracted with Olson and Harris Architects to draw designs for using the building. George Olson brought those drawings to the meeting and made a presentation. He estimated that the renovation would cost $510,000. The majority of the residents at the meeting approved the adaptive use, so the city moved ahead with its plans. The exterior of the building would be maintained; the city would provide a park­ing area and add a drive-up window. The designers planned to RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 255 restore the interior woodwork. The interior space though would be split, creating a second floor. Jackson hoped the building would be "the focal point of the city." In March 1987 the city received word that the grant had been approved and that it would receive $311,820 in federal funds. The city hoped to have the new hall ready by Heber's centennial in 1988. The city kept samples of the benches and then sold the rest. The city held an open house to display the new city had in November 1988.75 The amusement hall has also been preserved, becoming the county senior citizen's center. While residents were able to save the tabernacle, they were not able to prevent destruction of the old courthouse and jail. The smad building was not large enough to meet the county's needs, and the commission planned to build a new one. In 1962 whde the contro­versy over the tabernacle was stdl raging, the county proposed a fed­eral grant to budd the new facdity. By 1965 bids were out. "The new facility, to be built of concrete and brick paneling, will be of can­tilever design, with the county jad, sheriff's office and county exten­sion offices on the lower level and courtrooms and general county offices on the second level." It was dedicated in January 1969.76 Heber City and Midway have many lovely old residences that represent their pioneer craftsmen. In 1977 when the Utah State Historical Society conducted a survey of the homes, the historian found the nineteenth-century homes on the corners. As the lots had been subdivided, more recent homes fided in the blocks. Most of the older homes were stdl used as residences. One home that represents adaptive reuse is the Abram Hatch home, now Zion's First National Bank. In 1972 the bank purchased the Hatch home and made plans to either adapt it for use or move it. The bank offered to give the house away and to finance the move. But that plan was dropped when a prospective mover found the house weighed more than 250 tons and could not be moved. After studies by the Historic American Budding Survey, the bank decided to turn the house into a bank. The cooperation focused on maintaining the exterior and using as much of the interior as possible. Like the tabernacle, it represents an excel­lent way to use a historical site. The bank opened in 1974, and bank president Roy W. Simmons proudly declared, "Rather than tear down this beautiful historic home, we were able to completely restore it and 256 HISTORY OF WASATCH COUNTY The Abram Hatch Home, constructed in 1892, was renovated as the Heber City Zion's First National Bank in 1974. (Allan Kent Powell) at the same time incorporate within a convenient and attractive Zions Bank office that wdl have ftdl banking facdities." He continued, "It is the only historic site in Utah-and perhaps the United States- that is also a modern banking facdity." Clair Norton, the branch man­ager, explained that the exterior had been restored and a new walk added using the stones from the original walkway. The bank hired craftsmen to restore the woodwork, walls, and doors inside. Even the pine wood which had originally been grained to look like oak had been restored. Wooden teder booths added to the historic look, and the modern elevator was hidden in a closet. The bank received a Utah State Historical Society and Utah Holiday Magazine Preservation Award in 1980.77 Other homes in Midway and Heber also have been RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 257 converted into businesses, but many remain private famdy dwellings. Some have remained in the same family for generations and are in excellent condition. Zoning As Wasatch County communities started to expand fodowing the war, there was pressure to regulate growth. Zoning was not a new idea. New York City adopted the first regulations in 1916; and the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of a city's right to con­trol settlement in Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co in 1926. Some scholars believe such ordinances reflected the fact that home owner­ship became possible for a large segment of the American population in the 1920s. Zoning was a tool to protect property value. Its stated purposes were "to maintain and defend the new American Dream." During the Depression of the 1930s and subsequent World War II years, city growth slowed and zoning became less important. After the war, when people again had the resources and the funding to build new homes, the idea of zoning resurged. In urban areas throughout the nation, housing became a concern for middle-class Americans, and they appealed to the government for help. The fed­eral government responded with low-interest loans. The local gov­ernments set up regulations for preserving and maintaining areas.78 Heber City had not yet become a bedroom community, but it responded to the same need for control that developed in the sub­urbs. In September 1946 Heber City appointed a commission to sur­vey the town and meet with school, county, church, and business leaders and residents to set up a zoning ordinance. The purpose of the commission was "to work out an overall plan for residential, industrial and business development and at the same time include projects for schools, churches and public parks." Six months later the commission had completed its review and presented its proposals. Areas were designated residential, single famdy; multiple famdy and livestock; commercial; agricultural; and industrial. The city hoped the new ordinance would control nonconforming uses such as barns on lots right next to the commercial area on Main Street without "a lot of inconvenience and antagonism." There were no industrial areas at the time, but Heber was planning ahead. The city held public meet- 258 HISTORY OF WASATCH COUNTY ings, and the residents debated the districts. The city councd passed the zoning ordinance in November 1947. Twelve years later the county passed a comprehensive zoning law.79 Medical Medical facdities had always been a concern in Wasatch County. The first hospitals were small and privately owned. A group of doc­tors completed a new eighteen-bed Heber Hospital in 1948, but by 1964 the doctors-R. E. Jensen, Jack D. Boggess, and J. Fred Bushnell-announced they would have to sell the hospital because they were losing $100 per day and the hospital could not afford to meet new federal regulations for Medicare patients. With the doctors' announcement, Karl Larsen, president of the Heber Valley Jaycees, published an open letter to the people of the county, explaining that if people were not happy with the hospital to let the public officials know. The county commissioners included a questionnaire about the hospital with the primary election badot. A bond issue was placed on the November badot.80 Those for and against the new hospital debated the issues in pub­lic. In October Dr. R. Raymond Green, speaking for the hospital, argued that a new hospital was needed just as Heber City was getting new street lighting and paving, sewage disposal, and gas lines. A Committee to Hold Tax Lines disagreed, claiming the county could not afford a tax-supported hospital. The group also opposed federal assistance because it felt that would allow government control. The group members insisted that the current hospital was large enough for the area and feared there was already too much new construction with the budding of schools, churches, and the post office.81 Most residents did not feel the hospital was necessary: 1,120 people voted against the bond issue while 809 approved the bond sale. Two years later, however, county residents reconsidered and approved a bond measure for a new hospital. The county bought land from Heber City on 6th East and Center streets. The new bonds and the passage of the federal Hill-Burton Hospital Participation Funds Act allowed the county to budd the hospital. It was completed byMayl969.82 A year after the hospital opened, the Wave praised it as "an out- RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 259 standing picture of a hospital in the rural community. Not only has the establishment of this excellent facility improved in a large mea­sure the avadable hospital care but it has also been instrumental in the improvement of medical care in general throughout the Wasatch County area." Six years later, the hospital did not meet those expec­tations. The Wave complained, "The Wasatch County Hospital has been a source of community dissension and bickering since it opened six years ago." The county started the hospital with the idea it was to be self-supporting. That did not prove to be the case. It was hard to attract and keep doctors at the facdity. The doctors wanted the latest equipment, but that cost money. In April 1975 the hospital asked the county commissioners for $100,000 to cover expenses. With the county's help and some changes in policy, the hospital was showing a profit by August.83 During the 1950s a pressing public-health concern throughout the world was the search for a vaccine for polio. Poliomyelitis was not a new disease. Cases were recorded as early as 1350 B.C., and epi­demics had erupted many times, most often in urban areas. But polio was the only serious epidemic disease left untreated by vaccine in the Western world. Intense search for a vaccine halted during World War II but started again after the war. Americans had "unquestion­able faith in the future . . . [for] fifteen to twenty years." They felt that science could cure everything and were especially interested in apply­ing science to stop a disease which crippled and killed chddren. The March of Dimes drive to find a vaccine was part of a "just war" to overcome the deadly disease.84 Along with the rest of the country, Wasatch County played a role in financing this drive. The Wave announced the first emergency polio drive in 1949. The local March of Dimes group supported a yearly smorgasbord to raise money. The first recorded case of polio in the county was in 1951 when Bonnie Morris, an eighteen-year-old whose husband was in Korea, became id. When other cases followed in 1953, the problem ready hit home. When vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk was finally ready in January 1954, Wasatch County was one of five counties in Utah selected to test the vaccine. The Wave reported polio was finally on the way out. The Salk vaccine was given to first and second graders in 1955. Eventuady all students received 260 HISTORY OF WASATCH COUNTY the vaccine, and the epidemic threat of polio subsided throughout the United States.85 Education Fodowing World War II, bigger continued to mean better in edu­cation. Schools continued to consolidate, and the larger facilities seemed to work wed. The only complaints were from Keetley parents whose chddren were on a run that took too long to get their chddren home. The board promised to speed up the run but could not change the bus system. Elsewhere, the state forced other schools to combine. While the state board approved Soldier Summit as a one-room school in 1947, it did not grant "special school" status to Charleston, Wallsburg, and Midway under the new minimum school program. The schools did not die quietly, though. In 1952 the residents of Charleston voted thirty-three to eleven to keep their school, and the county school district put it in the 1952-53 budget. The next year the board decided the cost was too high and closed it. The Wallsburg school stayed open longer. In August 1947 town citizens refused again to bus the eighth graders to Heber, but two years later they gave in and agreed to bus just that grade. In 1957 the board announced the school would continue that year, but students could also be bussed to Heber. In 1960 the district hired only a first-to-third-grade teacher for Wadsburg, and a year later the school board voted to completely close the school. To meet the concerns of Wallsburg residents, the school superintendent asked the state to improve Highway 189 at the Wallsburg junction. The board made other concessions, such as pro­viding a special bus run to return kindergarten children home at 11:30 A.M.86 The Soldier Summit school presented unique problems because the number of students there continued to fluctuate. In 1948 there were forty-seven students; the next year there were only eleven. The building needed repairs, but the board was undecided about fixing it. Teachers who were willing to live in the area were hard to find. In 1950 there were two teachers at the school, but in 1951 one was trans­ferred to Midway. The next year the board voted to close the Soldier Summit school because there were no Wasatch County students; but there were always a few pupds, so the school continued. In 1973 the RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 261 district closed the school and paid the famdies to take their chddren to Carbon County schools.87 LDS church groups continued to use school buildings for activi­ties from basketbad games and socials to LDS stake conference whde the church was building its new stake center. Schools were also used by other groups, including a Bible group from Grand Rapids and family reunions. Little League baseball, however, was barred from practicing in the girls gym at the high school for unspecified reasons. The board allowed a nonschool dance at the high school because it had already been advertised but would not allow more because they were against state law. The school board leased the social hall owned by the city for $2,400 for the Northeastern Utah Educational Service Center and adowed the city to use the junior-high gym a minimum of three nights a week. The Heber city councd agreed to use the lease money to restore the interior of the social had, and the school board agreed to pay utilities.88 Religion The LDS church remained the dominant religion in the Wasatch County area. There were disagreements over the tabernacle, but for the most part residents accepted the decisions of church leaders. Because of their influence, LDS leaders were an integral part of the decision making in the area. The communities used the church orga­nization to distribute material and occasionally used LDS chapels for meetings. But the LDS church was not the only religion in the county. Catholics met in homes, the public library, the city had, and even the fire station. In 1967 the Catholic church purchased the Heber Second Ward chapel and restored it. The restoration was a community effort. The Wasatch High School chorus had donated money from a con­cert, the Immaculate Conception Church in Copperton gave an altar, and the abbey at Huntsville gave a crucifix. A youth group from the Christ Methodist church in Salt Lake City helped to repaint the inte­rior. The Saint Lawrence Catholic church was named for the first bishop in Salt Lake, Lawrence Scanlan, and for a Christian martyr from the third century. The Most Reverend Joseph Lenox Federal, the 262 HISTORY OF WASATCH COUNTY bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, dedicated the new church on HJunel967.89 War and the Fear of War The end of World War II opened another kind of conflict-the Cold War. Very shortly after the Axis powers surrendered, the Cold War started. The Allies divided Germany and Berlin into sections, and the Soviet Union blockaded its former allies out of West Berlin. The Americans responded with an airlift of supplies. Many feared war with the Soviet Union. The Allies also divided territory in the Pacific. Japan had taken over the Korean peninsula after the 1904-05 Russo-Japanese War. After World War II, Japan had to relinquish con­trol of this area as one of the terms of surrender. President Harry S. Truman and Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin discussed Korea's future at the Potsdam meetings in July 1945, but no action was taken until after Soviet troops entered the war in the Pacific and quickly moved through Manchuria and Korea. The American military wanted to prevent a Soviet takeover of Korea and sent troops into southern Korea. The country was divided along the 38th parallel, and Americans started occupying South Korea. Open combat began in June 1950 and lasted untd 1953. Nearly six million Americans served in the conflict; 54,246 died and 103,284 were injured.90 Like other Americans, people in Wasatch County continued to stress civil defense. In 1951 a special committee distributed pam­phlets on air raids and survival under attack to ad county residents. Heber City developed a civil-defense plan set in motion by ringing the stakehouse bed. The basement of the new county courthouse was a fallout shelter. The Wave explained: "Participation in the Civil Defense program is a must in Russia. In a free country no one is required to do anything. But if we want this country to remain free, then we must work to make it strong. Military strength is not enough." The article continued that the next war would affect the civilian population and declared, "War is more probable now that Russia has the H-bomb."91 Americans were uneasy with the conflict in Korea, but it was not a paramount concern to Wasatch County residents. There was some evidence of the war: the mditary continued to draft young men, and RETURNING TO NORMALCY AND DEPRESSION, 1946-1975 263 the newspaper carried articles on how the draft worked. For those who had famdy members in the war, Korea became a watched place on the map. In February 1952,146 Wasatch County men were serv­ing in the armed forces. In all, 336 local men served in the war. Only one, Elwood Phillip Walch, a pdot, died during the war. Town General Service Heber Midway Charleston Daniel Center Creek Wallsburg Keetley Soldier Summit 71 11 7 3 5 11 1 12 OcCUpt ition Forces 26 5 6 2 1 National Defense 57 17 3 6 3 5 Servi 52 13 4 3 4 8 Requiring "financial ammunition" to fight the Cold War, the U.S. government continued to set quotas and encourage bond sales. In 1951 Heber was short three businesses using bond payrod deductions to be a "flag city." In 1957 Wasatch County residents purchased $82,168 in bonds, 183 percent over their quota. At Christmastime in 1953, the Wave editorialized, "Christmas this year is an uncertain world fraught with war, strife, commotion, and unrest with no one too far removed from its turmod to remain aloof."92 But for the majority of Wasatch County residents, Korea did not have the same home front effects as World War II. Rationing, short­ages, and salvage drives were not necessary. The war meant the fed­eral government continued to support industries in Utah. For example, in 1950,14,800 Utahns were employed in defense. In 1951 that number increased to 28,000.93 The defense industry did not directly affect Wasatch County; most of the military bases were far­ther north. But it continued to emphasize the importance of Geneva Steel in Utah County and other industries that directly affected those living in Wasatch County. Although the Korean war did not directly influence most Wasatch County residents, many felt the tension of a new war so soon after World War II. Barbara McDonald, who moved to Heber City in 1947, remembered, "The Korean war came right on top of 264 HISTORY OF WASATCH COUNTY World War II, and we were sick of death, destruction, and war. Many of the World War II veterans had remained in the military or in the reserves, and they, of course, were immediately recalled. Most of them had married and started families, and this new conflict meant they had to leave their loved ones behind whde they were once more transported halfway around the world to fight. This was very stressful for the young men and their families." She continued, "Those of us who lived through World War II knew what war was about, and our greatest fears were realized when our country called for our sons. Once more we were holding our breath and praying."94 The Cold War continued to rage, and the United States govern­ment believed that it should prevent any other countries from becoming communist-controlled. The domino theory held that the communists would continue to march through the world and there­fore they had to be stopped somewhere. The United States not only feared the Soviet Union but also the People's Republic of China. So when North Vietnam, a communist country that depended on both Soviet and Chinese support, attacked its neighbor, South Vietnam, the United States government decided that it needed to be involved. American military provided support to the South Vietnamese and those fighting the communists in the early 1960s. In 1964 the North Vietnamese attacked a U.S. destroyer in inter­national waters. Based on these incidents, President Lyndon B. Johnson asked Congress to pass a resolution adowing him to "take ad necessary measures to repel an armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression." Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (the Southeast Asia Resolution). Johnson used this legislation as justification for sending troops to Vietnam. American soldiers fought in Vietnam from 1965 until 1973. By the end of 1973 the forces were reduced to only fifty. Thousands of Americans, though, had fought in Vietnam during the war years, and 46,163 had been kdled in action. During the Vietnam war, the United States Selective Service con­tinued to draft young men into the military. Men registered when they were eighteen years old. Initially, men were drafted if they did not have educational, religious, or medical deferments. Later, a lot­tery system based on birth dates was instituted. It was a time when