A History of Washington County

End of isolation, 1930 - 1960 - 2

232 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY Tourism in the Eastern Part of the County The up-river communities of the county remained rather quiet into the 1950s, at which time new tourist businesses began to appear. Even then most activity seemed to be in Springdale, except for a cafe and a few cabins in Virgin that have long since disappeared. As of 1994 there were nine thriving motels and three restaurants in Springdale, with the prospect of more being added. A convention center was added in 1996. In recent years, bed-and-breakfast estab­lishments have become popular in all towns. Springdale, Rockville, and Virgin all have a few. This appears to be about the only kind of business the people of Rockvdle allow in their town. Until quite recently, both Hurricane and La Verkin remained quiet towns, with only the Swan Motel offering up-to-date tourist accommodations. La Verkin may still be classified as a bedroom com­munity; however, within the last decade one motel and various other businesses have blossomed along state Route 9. Hurricane is rapidly expanding southward into what used to be farmland, and westward across the Virgin River to Interstate 15. There are four motels in Hurricane. Hddale, on the Utah-Arizona line, has one motel and a restaurant. The tourist industry continues to expand in the county. Campgrounds have always been part of the national park scene, but only since World War II have they become common whde taking on a new look with the advent of the recreational vehicle. Those campgrounds provided by the National Park Service remain old-fashioned to the extent that they don't furnish electrical, water, and sewer hook-ups. They do, however, have conveniently located dump­ing stations. Commercial campgrounds are now found in nearly every town, taking advantage of the popularity of the travel trader and motor home (RVs). At this writing, Springdale had only one commercial campground, La Verkin had one, and four were in Hurricane. As most RVs are self-contained, a one-night stay in a campground without hook-ups is acceptable, so the Zion camp­grounds are full nearly every night during summer months. Tourists and St. George The motel, gas station, and restaurant business in St. George has been one of continuing expansion. The arrival of U.S. Highway 91 in END OF ISOLATION, 1930-1960 233_ 1930 enabled the city to become a vital tourism center. Located mid­way between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, the city quickly devel­oped a hotel business at the tabernacle and Main Street junction where the Snow and Arrowhead hotels were located. Then "Jockey" Hail and others in the local Democratic party convinced the state government to move Highway 91 one block north to what later would be called "the Boulevard." In the 1930s it was simply "100 North"; today its formal name is "St. George Boulevard," and it has become the motel/restaurant lane. Had budt the Liberty Hotel on the 100 East block, soon to be foUowed by some twenty other accommo­dations between 800 East and 500 West. These included Fred Schulze's cabins (at Dick's Cafe); Motel 91 and Cafe operated by Bid and Lida Prince; the Colonial, west of the Sugar Loaf Cafe run by Bert Milne (it later moved to 400 East and was called the Milne Motel); the Red Mesa owned by Bert Covington; the Holt Brothers' Sands; the Twin Oaks at 300 West; the Desert Edge Motel next to the Sands; the Thompson Motel; Blaine Andrus's Bennett Motel; the Shady Acre, where Julio Paolasso and Melvin Larson were in charge; Clarence Force's Big D Motel; the Travel Inn owned by the Wittwers, across from the Sugar Loaf Cafe; Lynne Empey's LynMor Motel; the Lamplighter Trailer Park on the west end; Hail Motel at 200 East operated by Brown Had and Richard Jenson; and Andy Pace's motel at 100 West. When aU of these were operating in the 1950s, there were about 500 beds avadable. In contrast, there were 2,500 in 1995 (plus 500 more in the rest of the county). When the freeway arrived in 1972, a whole new arrangement developed as motels were budt near the two St. George exits-South Side, Four Seasons, Thunderbird, Motel Six, Travel Lodge, Comfort Inn, Regency, and Chalet were built on the north, very recently. Ramada and Hampton Inn opened on the east side of the freeway at exit 8. At exit 6 on the south end of town, motels including Heritage Inn, Budget 8, Super 8, Ancestor, Claridge, and Comfort Suites have been budt in the 1990s. Despite these developments, other motels were budt in the center of town: Anthony Atkin's Travel Lodge at 100 West, Sid Atkin's Rodeway Inn in the 200 East block (recently renamed Singletree), 234 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY Wittwer's Coral Hdls across from Dick's Cafe, Weston's Lamplighter in the 400 East block, and the Coronada in the 500 East block. Certainly one of the biggest developments was the coming of the Hilton Inn on the south end of town (exit 6). When it was built, it seemed far away from town and very ambitious. A golf course was developed in conjunction with the inn. John and Daisy Morgan were the proprietors, and they invested heavdy in television advertisements in the Wasatch Front market. The image of those ads-sunshine, golf, recreation-reinforced the southwest image that the chamber of commerce had initiated in the 1940s with its theme: "Where the Summer Sun Spends the Winter." Northern Utahns increasingly came to see St. George as a destination recreation spot. The Hdton became a major attraction, which was then matched by the Holiday Inn on Bluff some twenty years later. These two facdities have been active in attracting conventions to St. George. The restaurants that captured the tourist market from the 1930s to 1960s included dining facilities in the Arrowhead and Liberty hotels; George Pace's Big Hand Cafe at the junction of Main Street and St. George Boulevard (where Ancestor Square is today); Dick's Cafe, which became famous when movie industry crews were on location in St. George; the Sugar Loaf Cafe at 300 East and Boulevard, operated initially by Don McDonald and later by the Atkin famdy; the Whiteway malt shop owned by the Whitehead famdy, across from the Big Hand Cafe; the Desert Kitchen at 800 East; the Wishbone, run by Walter Fuller, which later became a Chinese restaurant caUed John John's (where Zion's Bank is today on the Boulevard) and the Trafalga Restaurant run by Fenton Terry. These restaurants have all disappeared except Dick's, which is slated for removal. They have been replaced by some sixty other dining establishments, which tes­tify to the brisk trade supported by tourists and residents alike. The development of a sleek highway and many passing automo­biles caused someone at the newspaper to consider the future. On 16 April 1931, a brief article appeared near the bottom of the second page, not making any waves; but it certainly was an early prophecy. A Golf Course is the first step toward making St. George a winter resort. People from the North who generally spend their winters END OF ISOLATION, 1930-1960 235 in California say that our greatest asset and opportunity lies in this direction. Our climate is unexcelled and there are many places in the valley which could be made into a first-class golf course. Governor Dern is one of our biggest boosters and at the banquet in his honor two weeks ago, and in letters to local people, [he] urged that we develop along these lines and take advantage of our natural resources. As it is now we have nothing to hold the vacationist. He stops for a few minutes or stays over night, goes to a picture show, gets a glimpse of the surrounding scenery and is gone the next morning. A large majority of these people if we had a golf course, and other like amusements, would remain a few days and in some instances, as the town became better known, would establish winter homes here.15 Aviation Another sign that Dixie was overcoming its isolation was the arrival of airplanes. An early airport, southeast of Washington City, was started in 1924. By 1948 it had become an emergency Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) facdity, but it was abandoned in 1955. Another small strip was established as an air-mad field west of Little Valley on the road to the Arizona Strip. In the 1920s, Maurice Graham, a Western Air Express mad pdot, landed on a race strip atop the Black Hdl during bad weather. Graham's landing may have led local officials to settle on that location for the official St. George air­port. In the early 1930s, city officials established an airport on the hdl in St. George, and in 1940, they blacktopped the main runway and built a smaU hangar and terminal budding. Dixie Codege joined in the operation. In 1938 the college, under the leadership of President B. Glen Smith, gained authorization to offer an aeronautics program. The class was first given in the fad of 1940 after a hangar was budt, an airplane obtained, and an instruc­tor, E. L. Anderson, appointed. By January 1941 seven students had passed their CAA flight tests: Van Blaine Cutler, Kanab; Lester Cottam, Merlin Milne, and Keith Hafen of St. George; Ray Sorenson, Ordervdle; Bdl Frei, Santa Clara; and Lowell Terry, Rockvdle. The story from that beginning is one of gradual improvement of the gravel airfield, hangars and terminal. The road up the hill was 236 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY widened and graded in 1940. The city appointed Lee Owens as the local manager and the facdity was dedicated with much ceremony in May 1941. These efforts were rewarded in 1946 when Western Airlines gained approval to stop in St. George. In October of that year, Challenger Airline began a dady flight to Salt Lake City. Neither of these services lasted long, however. During that decade Owens had his hands ftdl searching for funds to enclose the facdity with a fence, improve the runway, and eventu­ally finish a hard surface and instaU lights. After the hard surface was added with a grant of $84,000, the airport was dedicated once again in 1958. All those improvements were a prerequisite to the establish­ment of regular air service by Bonanza Airlines beginning in January 1958. That commercial effort lasted only two years. In November reg­ular airmail service began but the airport remained largely a facdity for Dixie College, commercial flight training, and private planes.16 World War I and the Depression As was the case throughout the nation, Washington County citi­zens served in the military in World War I. Some 321 men and women entered the service from among 1,250 who were registered with the Selective Service. Of those, eleven died: Daniel Lester Keate, Sterling Russed, David L. McNed, and George C. Felter of St. George; Wadace Gray and Glen J. Reber of Santa Clara; Charles E. Scannel of Ordervdle; Moroni Kleinman of Toquerville; Isaac H. Langston of Springdale; and Alton Hiatt and Ray C. Coleman of Enterprise. The members of the Selective Service board in Washington County served voluntarily, without pay, and completed three rounds-5 June 1917 (543), June and August 1918 (74), and September 1918 (633)-totaling 1,250 registrants. FoUowing the war, the county and the city presented 321 medals to those who served as soldiers, sailors, marines, and Red Cross nurses.17 The United States entry into the war created an enormous mar­ket for agricultural goods, and farmers in Dixie thrived as never before. Trucking of agricultural produce boomed, overcoming the lack of a railroad. For a short time, Dixie residents thought they were going to be an agricultural power, but the war ended as abruptly as it had started for Americans. Markets for foodstuffs dropped dramati- END OF ISOLATION, 1930-1960 237 Washington County Soldiers at Camp Lewis, Washington, November 1917. (Lynne Clark Collection, donor-Archie Wallis) cally; the county slid quickly into economic difficulties and felt the Great Depression a decade early. Mining for copper at the Apex Mine southwest of St. George also fell off. The trucking of ore to the smelter located on Diagonal Street in St. George had employed many men as had the mining and pro­viding of charcoal. The demand for copper declined precipitously with the end of the war. Activity at Apex slumbered untd World War II revived the price of copper. When the Great Depression of the 1930s hit the nation, people in Dixie were not initially alarmed. Black Friday did not even merit an article in the 31 October 1929 issue of the Washington County News. Few people were involved with the stock market, and everyone was already accustomed to scarcity. City fathers soon noted difficul­ties as valuation of property declined, however. The income from tax­ation for municipal government and county spending also waned. Total valuation for the state of Utah was $728 million in 1930 and $618 mdlion in 1931, a drop of $110 mdlion. Taxable valuation of St. George City in 1930 was $859,400 and $840,000 in 1931, a drop of $19,400. A dramatic example of the Depression was seen in the 10 December issue of the News-some thirteen pages (seven columns per page) of tax delinquent notices. In comparison the delinquent notices published on 5 December 1918 occupied a page and a half. The editor complained that his staff could not write news or meet the 238 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY printing deadline because everyone at the paper was setting type for the delinquent tax list. Just as alarming was the fall in farm prices. Between 1929 and 1931, wheat prices dropped from $1.03 to 46 cents per bushel in Utah, oats from 60 cents to 35 cents, potatoes from $1.10 per bushel to 45 cents, eggs from 32 cents to 22 cents, butter from 47 cents to 31 cents, and sheep from $8.70 per 100 lbs to $3.10. At the same time, tax burdens actually rose slightly. Many banks in Utah closed during the early 1930s. Six fadures were announced on 21 January 1932. Washington County was fortu­nate that two of its banks, the St. George Bank and the Bank of Hurricane, were able to avoid closure. David Hirschi was instrumen­tal in working with northern banks and preserving the Hurricane institution. The Stockman's Bank in St. George closed in 1932. Many people in Dixie suffered greatly during the Depression. Erinn Bowler, described the plight of her grandfather Marion in Gunlock: They faced problems in farming during the depression, the biggest of which was the constant struggle to keep from having to sell their farmland because of crop and livestock failures. For example, in 1928 his father spent a great deal of money on a herd of goats, which at the time seemed like a good investment. Unfortunately when the economy faltered the next year, die goats became worth­less and the entire investment was lost. "As if the depression was not enough, during the same time we had the worst drought in our history." His father gladly accepted the job of running the Drought Relief Program. "No one turned down any job that paid money," he emphasized. This meant that, during the summers of 1932 and 1933, he seldom saw his father who, "practically worked around the clock, running the farm and working at any otiier job that came along." At one point, Bowler said," father was put in charge of well drilling to get water for crops which were burning up." Then he got a job inspecting livestock, "which the government was paying $10 a head to have them killed, because the drought was so bad there was no feed on the range for them."18 END OF ISOLATION, 1930-1960 239 Another Bowler famdy memory of the Depression was captured in Erinn's account: I will never forget the day the bank went broke. It was just before Christmas. Dad had been able to raise about $70. He had sent it by mail to the Dixie Stockgrowers Bank to be deposited to his checking account. The next morning we received word the bank had gone broke. Mother was in tears and Dad was very upset. He knew if this money had reached the bank it was gone, and that was the only money they had to buy Christmas with. Dad finally contacted some friend in St. George who worked in the bank. He found out the money had not as yet reached the bank. This friend got the money out of the Post Office and dad was able to get it back. What happy excitement ran through our house when we received this word. Mother and Dad told us without this money there could be no Christmas presents. Imagine $70 for thirteen people. And to think that meant each of us would get an orange, a pair of high top shoes, a twenty-five cent pocket knife, or a piece of candy for Christmas.19 The Depression had a huge human impact. People lost jobs; even worse, some lost their farms to foreclosure. Some had to wait to attend high school, and when they did graduate, there were few jobs. Bowler returned to Gunlock to work on the farm but had no prospect of attending codege, even though there was one nearby. As with many people, the Depression made a deep personal impact on Bowler, the future mayor of St. George, who said: "I own everything. If I can't pay cash, I wait. I never borrow."20 This mindset became widespread in Dixie, complementing the long-held experience of "doing without." Schools quickly ran out of funds to pay teachers' salaries. Despite many attempts to avoid it, including agreements by teachers to teach three weeks without pay, Washington County schools closed early- on 28 Aprd 1933. Another measure of the intensity of the Depression was that 3,835 people applied to the Red Cross for wheat and flour in April 1932. The wheat was used largely for animals, including 1,946 cattle, 497 horses, 304 hogs, and 8,222 chickens.21 240 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY The New Deal The election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt was welcomed by the majority of Washington County citizens; 1,678 voted for him and 1,328 for the Republicans. Soon various programs sponsored by President Roosevelt's New Deal legislation began to impact Dixie. In general, they were not seen as outside intrusions. The majority wanted a solution to the Depression and soon sought to participate in the various relief programs offered by Congress. One of the most innovative efforts was intended to provide employment for housewives. The initiative was taken by Juanita Brooks who at the time was serving as St. George Stake Relief Society president. Working with Nels Anderson, a former resident of the county and a writer for the federal government in Washington, D.C., Brooks devised a plan to employ Mormon women in Dixie to type copies of the original diaries of Washington County pioneers and later residents. As part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), dozens of diaries and journals were borrowed and transcribed by women in the county, with the original diaries being returned to the families. Today these transcribed diaries and journals are found at Brigham Young University, Dixie Codege, the Huntington Library in California, and elsewhere. This kind of work provided supplemental income for dozens of families living in Washington County and, equaUy important, it helped preserve important historical records. A successful New Deal program was the preservation of food. Several canning centers established in the county by 1934 had canned 15,500 cans of peaches, 1,400 cans of tomatoes, 650 cans of meat, and 100 bottles of meat. These canning centers provided fidl-time work for sixty women and fifteen men on county relief. The men and women were paid a salary, the cans and sugar were furnished by the federal government, and the fruit, vegetables, and other food items were purchased from local farmers. The canned goods were then pro­vided to needy families through a county-operated storehouse.22 The distribution of food for needy famdies and feed for animals was a thorny task, fraught with jealousies and criticism. The newspa­per editorialized that "no man has a right to take the wheat unless he needs it, no more than he has a right to take money out of the United END OF ISOLATION, 1930-1960 241 States treasury. No individual is entitled to more wheat than his ani­mals can eat in a sixty-day period." At that time, 1,400 fifty-pound bags of flour and $7,620 worth of wheat had been distributed to needy Washington County residents, with $9,000 more expected. Unfortunately there was bickering about how much each county and each state received. The News responded to this: "It is assumed by too many that the flour and wheat are gifts in which all have an equal right, rather than an effort on the part of relief agencies of the nation to help those ready in NEED."23 With assistance from the Federal Emergency Recovery Administration (FERA), Henry Pickett and county officials directed a campaign to improve local sanitation. Materials were provided to construct privies for homes not having such accommodations. Neither the city nor the county had yet developed a sewer system or septic tanks.24 This was yet another program that provided work for individuals while solving serious community problems. By 1934 it was reported that 24 percent of the people of Utah were on govern­ment relief rolls, and that to October of that year $372,841 had been spent by the federal government in Washington County for relief.25 The most welcome of ad WPA projects was funding to complete the piping of water from the Cottonwood Canal. Cold and clear water from the source springs was transported to the residents of the city through eighteen mdes of open canal. There was a significant loss of water from seepage and evaporation. Flowing under bright sun, the water, by the time it reached the residents of St. George, was warm and had become poduted from grazing animals. The WPA pro­ject provided for steel and concrete pipes buried underground to transport culinary water for thirsty St. George residents. The total cost for the project was about $140,000, with the WPA contributing nearly a third of the cost. About fifty local workmen were employed for the better part of a year to complete the project.26 The building of a junior high school in Hurricane and a high school in St. George were assisted by WPA funds which provided 46 percent of the cost of construction. Numerous other projects were completed with federal help, including a new post office in St. George which opened on 30 September 1937. WPA funds of $13,000 were helpful in completing the Mechanic Arts Building at Dixie College. 242 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY Another appreciated federal program was the government's insuring of bank accounts to the amount of $5,000 in 1934. The social security system was established during the Depression. Of the 12,000 Utahns eligible for assistance, some Washington County residents were among the 15 percent who participated. Another federal agency, the Home Loan Program, aided some home buyers. Even as these federal programs were aiding county residents, the local newspaper complained that federal taxes were too high.27 The Washington County News editorialized against the mounting national debt, decrying wild spending by the federal government. Almost in the same breath, however, the News complimented the fed­eral government for its various projects in the county.28 The most remembered New Deal effort was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). This program initiady employed 300,000 (eventually 2.5 midion) young men nationally, in 1,500 camps. They were placed in military-style quarters, generally in remote areas, to work on national park lands as wed as forest projects, park buddings, road improvements, land conservation, and dam construction efforts. This brought many young men from outside Utah into the county to reside and work under army-like supervision. Some Utah youths were also included in the corps. This provided a real infusion of new blood into the isolated communities of Washington County. The CCC leaders knew there would be opportunities for clashes with the local residents, so they kept the young men under tight con­trol. On the more positive side, they undertook a public-relations campaign which included weekly news articles in the local newspa­per. One article noted that $180,000 was brought into the county as a result of the CCC.29 Open-house invitations to the public as wed as various recreational activities were standard modes for public rela­tions. CCC teams played in local leagues so that people would have regular but controded contact with the young men. Towns sponsored open-air dances in which CCC officials brought the youths to the pavilion then transported them back to camp right after the event. Basebad games, dances, and other socials resulted in several romances and marriages. Some of the young CCC men, including Frank Holland, Bill Strickland, Joe Prims, Don Horn, Skylar Maggart, Jimmie Sammons, Bdl EweU, Max Huff, and Rowland Piatt, settled in END OF ISOLATION, 1930-1960 243 Bridge Mountain Civilian Conservation Corps Company 962, Zion National Park, 1935. (National Park Service Photograph, J. L. Crawford Collection) Washington County. Ray Squiers came with a training program at the airport and remained. Other young men returned home with their new Dixie brides. Local resident Don Horn of Washington City recalled life in the CCC camp. [It was] run like an Army camp. We got up to a bugle in die morn­ing, and there were an Army captain and a lieutenant in charge of the camp, but I believe everyone else was a civilian. Everyone in the work force was a civilian. We did a lot of road building, grading and graveling. Most of our entertainment took place in Hurricane. The CCC would send a truck to bring all the boys who wanted to go, down to Hurricane on a Saturday night.30 FundamentaUy the CCC efforts were intended to benefit the local communities, so it was expected that residents would be sympathetic. Certainly that was generally the case in Dixie. One company, the 961st, originally worked near Panguitch but was transferred to St. George for the winter, during which time the men worked on flood control for the Santa Clara Creek. A long dam was budt about a half mde above the Shivwits Indian Reservation. It included both dirt-fill 244 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY and masonry walls. The St. George Chamber of Commerce also requested CCC help to budd a road to Dammeron Valley. Camps were established at Leeds (recently restored by local resi­dents), Veyo, Gunlock, Pinto, and Enterprise. The Veyo camp crews constructed a dam and recreational facilities at Pine Valley. In Washington City the CCC was particularly active grading and improving city roads and streets. Corpsmen budt a dam and canal on both the south and north sides of town. Two camps were located in Zion National Park where their crews completed dozens of projects, including landscaping, budding construction, basket dams to prevent the Virgin River from cutting away acres of meadowlands, comfort stations, campgrounds, fireplaces, trails, road grading, boundary fencing, and an outdoor lecture circle.31 Through the many New Deal projects, Washington County was drawn somewhat more into the American fabric. Closer ties were established with Washington, D.C. The local economy was made more dependent on outside help, and non-resident officials and inspectors came in to the county-all at the invitation of the local people. Dixie College Becomes a State Institution Dixie Codege in St. George nearly became a fatality of the Great Depression. The LDS church, its patron, faced tremendous financial chaUenges, and church leaders chose to withdraw from the higher-education arena as one solution for coping with the Depression. This had long been under consideration, but the Depression certainly influenced the decision to close Dixie Codege.32 Attending Dixie College was one way for Washington County youth to cope with the county's isolation. From the very beginning of the southern settlements, county residents had budt schools and theaters, bands and choirs, lyceum series, and literary clubs. Eventually they persuaded the LDS church to support a stake acad­emy. It began in fits and starts, initially in 1895; firm commitments finally brought forth a college building in 1911. The LDS church pledged $20,000 toward its construction if the community would raise $35,000 in labor and materials and support the school in other ways. This meant that the citizens must yet again donate to a com- END OF ISOLATION, 1930-1960 245 Dixie College under construction, c. 1910. (Courtesy-Mddred Larch) munity project, this one of major proportions. They responded. For example, one campaign (of several) raised funds just for the maple floor of the auditorium in the budding after the major structure was nearly done. One hundred and forty-nine people donated amounts from fifty cents to twenty-five dollars. Many of the donors were prospective students, and most donations were between one and five dollars. The donation list, found among the papers of Joseph K. Nicholes at Dixie College, reads like a Who's Who of 1911 Dixie. Begun in 1909, the handsome sandstone building was ready for its initial class in 1911. This enabled young people to pursue higher edu­cation opportunities without leaving the county.33 Beginning as a high school-level academy, Dixie graduady moved to become an accredited junior college. Local leaders adopted a plan that was gaining popularity around the United States to combine the last two years of high school with the first two years of codege; thus they had a four-year institution for students from ages 16 to 20. This meant that the codege worked closely with the Washington County 246 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY School District, which paid for the first two years of the students' training. The plan allowed for joint use of buddings and faculty. Located in the heart of downtown St. George, adjacent to the tabernacle and the city/county library, the college quickly became a center of community activities, especiady cultural events such as the­ater, music, and lectures. Dixie College athletic teams also became a focus for community boosters. The codege leaders in turn solicited support from the community to provide housing for students who came from nearby Nevada and Arizona towns such as Panaca and Bunkervdle. Local citizens supported the codege by providing equip­ment, employing students, and attending codege events. Without a doubt the college and the Dixie community became one. Enabling students from the area to obtain a college education was pivotal in human terms. Even though there was another codege fifty mdes away, few could have afforded the costs of traveling that distance and paying for board and room. Having a college in the county seat also gave stature to St. George that it could not have attained otherwise. The LDS temple was certainly a great source of pride and importance, but the college enabled hundreds of young people to enter professions, establish businesses, and become national leaders. It was these young people who, in the long run, brought sig­nificance to Dixie out of proportion to its population. By 1921, however, the LDS church began to close academies, cit­ing the problem of competing with tax-supported education in areas where LDS members paid both taxes and tithing to underwrite col­leges. Church leaders had concluded that, as with public elementary education, the church did not need to maintain a separate parochial system in order to sustain the faith. The first church academies to close were St. Johns Academy in Arizona and Cassia Academy in Oakley, Idaho. Eventually, nine church-supported academies throughout the Intermountain West were turned over to the states to operate or were closed.34 The immediate result of the initial closures was the strengthen­ing of the remaining academies. Two-year teacher training courses were initiated in seven of the academies-including Dixie College. But as the financial crisis of the Depression more deeply affected the church, its leaders in Salt Lake City decided to close more campuses, END OF ISOLATION, 1930-1960 247 retaining BYU in Provo as the lead institution with only one or two others. Initially on the list for closure, Ricks, in Idaho, and Juarez, in Mexico, were spared, and the others were closed. On 31 January 1931, Elder Joseph F. Merrill, LDS church com­missioner of education, notified President Joseph K. Nicholes of Dixie Codege that financial support for the college would terminate at the conclusion of the 1930-31 school year. He stated that the church would provide $5,000 a year for two years to help transform the codege into an exceUent high school. He urged President Nicholes (who also served as St. George Stake President) not to seek assistance from the state legislature to continue the college. His reason for such a request was clear. He pointed out that the legislature had just agreed to accept Snow Codege and Weber Codege for state support. Merrdl feared that a request from Dixie would endanger plans for the con­tinuance of the other two and that ad three would die. Not stated, but easy to infer, was the fact that there was already a state-supported col­lege in southern Utah in Cedar City.35 Evidendy President Nicholes kept that letter confidential because a movement began immediately to seek state support for the contin­uance of the college. Nicholes, along with W. O. Bentley and mem­bers of the St. George Chamber of Commerce, held discussions with many community leaders. Once that movement gained strength and the attention of the legislature, church leaders in Salt Lake City sup­ported the local delegation. They repeated their pledge to provide $5,000 for the next two years, this time as a transition to state sup­port of the institution. The campaign to win legislative and gubernatorial endorsement was an uphill battle. Governor Henry Blood was determined not to expand state expenditures during the hard times of the Depression. Legislators had to be convinced that there was good reason to have two codeges in southern Utah. There was no one to convince state leaders other than the local residents themselves. The state board of education was not campaigning for Dixie College (though it eventu­ally received the assignment to supervise the two-year college). Mormon church leaders were not taking the initiative, but they offered the campus, valued at $200,000, to the state. Dixie had one inside person at church headquarters in Anthony W. Ivins of the LDS 248 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY First Presidency, a consistent supporter of the codege who had grown up in Dixie. He was an avid reader, a prolific writer, and a promoter of education, and used his influence in the church on behalf of his home county during this debate. At his funeral in late September 1934, he was described as a fighter for the continuation of Dixie Codege, a huge task.36 Arthur F. Mdes was the local representative in the legislature who carried the bdl in the 1933 session. Former legislator David Hirschi of Hurricane also helped. Others in the community who worked with legislators included Joseph S. Snow from the St. George civic clubs, state representative Othello C. Bowman of Kanab, and David H. Morris. Orval Hafen represented the chamber of commerce as its president. Prior to the 1933 session, Mdes and others convinced the legis­lature to make a trip to St. George to inspect Dixie Codege. In a ses­sion held in the St George Tabernacle but sponsored by the chamber of commerce (with Orval Hafen presiding), President Nicholes reported that 546 students currently were enroded-221 of them in the junior- high programs, 153 in the senior-high curriculum, and 172 in college. He said: "Dixie Codege is more than a school. It is a community enterprise. It is a cultural center. It has been developed through the efforts and self-sacrifice of the people of our section."37 The local committee felt it had a 50-50 chance of success. W. O. Bentley, Nicholes, David Hirschi, and Joseph S. Snow stayed in Salt Lake City for most of the legislative session, supported with funding raised by the local chamber of commerce. They were able to gain the cooperation of leaders at Weber College and Snow College, whose support was absolutely critical. They also enjoyed tacit support from LDS church leaders. One crucial person opposed the idea, however- state senator Wdford Day of Parowan. He argued from the beginning that having two colleges in adjoining counties in rural southern Utah was not necessary. With a good road now avadable in ad seasons, stu­dents could travel to Cedar City he maintained. His arguments were loud on the floor of the Senate, but the alliances built behind the scenes overruled him handily. In the House of Representatives, there was a clear majority for the bill, but the question of an appropriation was the next hurdle. END OF ISOLATION, 1930-1960 249 Governor Blood was adamant about not increasing the state budget. A compromise finally was reached in which Dixie Codege was made part of the state system, but no appropriation would be made to the school untd the next legislative session in two years. Since the LDS church agreed to provide $5,000 toward faculty salaries and the com­munity was determined to keep the college, legislators argued that the college could survive on tuition, Washington County School District support, and donations until an appropriation could be made in two years. That was acceptable to the governor. The issue of Dixie Codege did not occur in a vacuum. The "hot potato" before the legislature in 1933 was the matter of repealing the Eighteenth Amendment-Prohibition. Thirty-five states had passed its repeal; if Utah were to vote for repeal, national prohibition of alco­holic beverages would be ended. Delegates from some sections of the state were very anxious for repeal, particularly those from Price. Reportedly, horsetrading occurred in which the Carbon County vote supported Dixie College and the Washington County vote went for repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment and to support Carbon County later in its bid for a junior codege. Though these were austere terms, they brought celebrations in Dixie. The local newspaper spoke with pride: The action is conceded by Dixie residents to be one of the most vital movements to the development of this territory since the settlement of the Dixie mission in 1861. Education has always been one of the foremost objectives of the pioneers of the region, and the continuation of the local school is unquestionably an item of the greatest interest to every home in which there are boys and girls who are anticipating advantages of a college education.38 Continuing, the paper set an optimistic tone: "At the end of that time [two years] it is expected that the condition of the state's finances wdl be such that an appropriation can be made at least comparable with that for B.A.C., Weber and Snow codeges."39 That time came quickly. Arthur Mdes, who guided the legislation tiirough, was replaced by Francis Joseph Bowler. He inherited the task of getting an appropriation two years later, an amount comparable to that received by Snow and Weber colleges, so Dixie could become 250 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY a credible junior college. Bowler's son Truman recaded being with his father for two weeks during the next legislative session. They stayed in the Newhouse Hotel where accommodations were less expensive and walked the eight-block distance between the capital budding and the hotel. "One night about at the Federal Building Dad stopped and said, 'You know we might as well not go home if we don't get the appropriation.' I think it was $38,000."40 They were fortunate in the support they received from Weber College and Snow College and from legislative colleagues. Without question, that was an important moment for Washington County. Success was brought about specificady by wefl-organized local leadership who applied pressure directly at the legis­lature. State and church leaders must have received many protests from every community where academies were closed. That the Dixie leaders surmounted such grim economic circumstances is a credit to them. Once the victory at the legislature was achieved, its supporters came home and organized the Dixie Education Association to raise the financial support to get the college through the tight years ahead. Their experience in lobbying convinced them that they simply could not drop the problem in the lap of the state. In 1953 Governor J. Bracken Lee convened a special session of the legislature and succeeded in passing a bill to transfer Dixie College, Snow College, and Weber College to the LDS church, the original owner. There was a good deal of support for the idea in St. George, but the people of Ogden were very critical of it. They suc­ceeded in placing an initiative on the ballot in 1954 which passed statewide although people in Washington County opposed it. By a majority of 2,649 to 482 the Washington County voters preferred returning the college to the LDS church.41 The success of the referen­dum statewide prohibited the transfer, so almost by default Dixie continued as a state codege. An example of community support for the college occurred in 1954. College president Glen Snow became aware that nearby eccle­siastical leaders were hesitant to send their young women to Dixie because there were no official dormitory facilities for girls. He deter­mined to remedy the situation. He had a building designed then END OF ISOLATION, 1930-1960 251 arranged for traders to be removed from some land near the codege in order that the budding could be placed there. There were no state funds available for the project. Snow turned to the college's Building Trades Department headed by Wayne McConkie, and together they enlisted faculty and students to con­struct the dormitory. The carpentry class laid out the site. With picks and shovels, students dug the foundation and heat trenches, hauling the dirt away in wheelbarrows. Faculty members such as Arthur Bruhn joined in during afternoons and evenings. The new president Ellvert Himes was often on site with a shovel. Civic clubs and other citizens helped in the evenings. Some like Bill Barlocker donated money, others labor. Women's clubs held fund-raisers. McConkie led the night shift and Clair Stirling of Leeds headed the day shift. In a two-year period, without state funding and mostly without pay, these volunteers built the Dixiana Dormitory. The facdity was a symbol of community support, faculty dedication, and student vitality. It helped the codege maintain a spirit of progress. The Dixie Education Association quietly continued as a patron of the college thereafter, slowly codecting a sizeable fund. When the right time came, they had the money and the political connections to help the college move to a new campus on the edge of town where space was sufficient to allow for an expanded institution. President Edvert Himes met with the association in the 1954-55 academic year and presented the problem: there was no more space downtown to expand the campus. The legislature was about to appropriate funds for a new building, but no site could be found. The leaders finady decided to consider the idea of a completely new campus. Once that plan took hold, land was found quickly. Orval Hafen was then in the Utah Senate. He and others proposed the concept to the legislature. The Dixie Education Association would buy six city blocks and give them to the state in return for locating the new building (the gym­nasium) there and beginning plans to graduady move the entire cam­pus to the new location. The plan was approved, and the gym was completed in 1957. Results of this citizen commitment continue, and its impact since 1935 has been immensely positive. Clearly the college came about through community effort, was saved from extinction by the same 252 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY kind of effort, and was propelled toward expansion by citizen fund­ing and direction. No wonder people in the county feel strongly that they own the college. It is not the preserve of professional educators; it is the possession of the citizens of Dixie. Electric Power One more accommodation resulting from the Great Depression was the change from private to public ownership of electrical power in St. George. Citizens complained that prices had dropped for many things with the market decline in the 1930s but power rates had not. Many customers were unable to pay their power bdls. The St. George City Council drew up a resolution on 18 March 1933 demanding a 25 percent rate decrease. All of this caused people to think about municipady-owned power again. The first power company in St. George was a private business formed in 1909. It brought electricity to the city rather belatedly, nearly thirty years after Salt Lake City had electrical service. In less than a year of its operation, city fathers became critical of the com­pany, and with the support of a city vote, they passed a bond to pur­chase the system which the city operated untd 1916 when it needed to upgrade the plant. Also, the city council soon wearied over the management role and began looking for an opportunity to sed the facdity. Another community election was held, and by a simdarly large margin, citizens approved the city councd's recommendation to sed the system. The highest bid came from A. L. Woodhouse of Richfield, who was granted a twenty-five-year franchise to supply the city with electrical power and gave birth to what became the Southern Utah Power Company. Over the next two decades, the company expanded to include Cedar City and the Washington County communities of Enterprise, Hurricane, and Springdale. Additional power plants were built at Gunlock, Veyo, and La Verkin. As that twenty-five-year franchise renewal date neared, the mood in the St. George area was to go back to municipady-owned electric­ity. In 1940 Albert E. Mdler, who had been mayor and a state legisla­tor, proposed changing to municipal power. He argued that since the private system was profitable, the municipal one could be profitable END OF ISOLATION, 1930-1960 253 too.42 His argument was countered by Reid Gardner, manager of Southern Utah Power, headquartered in Cedar City, who claimed that a municipal system would not be profitable because expensive gen­erating equipment would have to be installed. That set the tone for an intensive public debate, creating a fervor seldom seen in Dixie. An election committee (consisting of E. Eric Snow; chair, Byron Taylor; George P. Lytle; Albert Fawcett; Andrew McArthur; Arthur Cottam; Newell Frei; Wilford Schmutz; Paul Seegmdler; and James Andrus) opened a formal campaign on 27 March 1941 for approval of a municipal power system, with an election date set for 6 May 1941. They sponsored pamphlets, neighborhood meetings, advertis­ing, and letter writing in the newspaper. Mathew Bentley argued the case for a public utdity, fending off criticisms by the Southern Utah Power Company. His letter to the newspaper reflects his precise accounting manner as he dealt with bond rates, equipment costs, and the very interesting possibility of cheap federal power in the future from Hoover Dam. In the same edition, Orval Hafen wrote in oppo­sition of the move to public ownership. His equady long four-column article was a reflection of his legal demeanor, challenging the logic and validity of the proposers' arguments. He caded for exact research instead of enthusiastic promotion, pointing out that the city had no good data on the water flow essential to operate a new plant.43 The controversy heated up from there. Helen Reichman entered a housewife's doubts, suggesting that locating the new plant in the city park would interfere with radio reception in that neighborhood, that the Cottonwood Canal water used to generate the plant's power would have to be chlorinated after it passed through the plant, and that the plant would not generate enough electricity to supply the town's needs at peak times like Christmas.44 Proponents answered her in a large advertisement a week later. M. J. Mdes wrote a measured letter with nine reasons for adopt­ing the system, pointing out that employees of the power company naturady argued for its retention, and although that was their right, it did not necessardy make their logic sound. He claimed that if it were sound for the city to own its own water system, which no one doubted, it was equally sound to own the power system. The 254 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY Southern Utah Power Company also placed large advertisements but was not able to stem the tide. Considerable argument centered around Provo's recent move to municipal power. People discussed how well that project was going. Joseph K. Nicholes, respected past St. George Stake president and past president of Dixie College who now lived in Provo, sent data and encouragement for the public system. This letter and other informa­tion were advertised by the proposing committee, mayor, and city council in the last newspaper before the 6 May election day. The bond election for $300,000 passed 952 to 287 in the largest election turnout in the city's history to that date. Quick action was required to make the transition to public power. The city had already engaged a Mr. Bletzaker to build the plant and Mayor D. C. Watson hired Ken Parkinson of Murray to manage the facility, which he did for the next thirty-two years. The building of the power plant took longer than expected, and the city encountered serious difficulties with Southern Utah Power Company which announced it would turn the city's power off on the day their contract ended. It took a court order to prevent that. Belatedly, the switch was turned on in April 1942, and St. George had its own power system, which it still maintains. The possibility of acquiring inexpensive electrical power from Hoover Dam and later from Glen Canyon Dam became a reality in succeeding years, a great advantage to the community that subsequently grew beyond anyone's expecta­tions. Dixie-Escalante REA The development of electrical services to the rural areas of the county was closely connected with the Dixie Rural Electric Association, the Escalante Valley Rural Electric Association, and the Littlefield Rural Electric Association. The Escalante association was started by Parley Moyle, who was attempting to farm in the Newcastle area. By using an old truck engine to drive a pump, Moyle succeeded in bringing enough well water to the surface to supply a small irrigation system and grow successful crops. That venture was very limited, so he and several neighbors applied for federal funds to organize a rural electric cooperative, which was granted in 1946. A END OF ISOLATION, 1930-1960 255 lot of effort was required to get federal government support and even more to find equipment to build a functional system, but Moyle remained with the project. The Escalante Valley REA group hired Leon Bowler as manager because of his previous experience with the Southern Utah Power Company. With that electricity, several farm­ers successfully pumped well water and maintained farms in the Newcastle area west of Cedar City. Rumell Reber, Louis Reber, Afton Reber, and Clifford Peterson organized the Littlefield Rural Electric, also in 1946, to facilitate the delivery of electricity from Hoover Dam. The power arrived in 1952 after rather complicated negotiations with Arizona. The Dixie Rural Electric Association was organized in 1946 under the leadership of Evan Woodbury. He and several neighbors (Walter Cannon, Wallace Iverson, Charles R. Sullivan, Clare Sturzenager, Daniel H. Heaton, and George H. Seegmiller) appealed to the Southern Utah Power Company to supply their farms with electric power, but the company declined. By 1948 lines had been built to thirty customers by Dixie REA which contracted with Ken Parkinson of the St. George Utilities Department to maintain the system. The Dixie REA served everyone south of 700 South in St. George, west to Santa Clara, and east to the Washington Fields and Berry Springs.45 In 1974 the Dixie REA merged with the Littlefield REA and four years later joined with the Escalante Valley REA. Leon Bowler became the manager of the combined associations and continues in that position today (1996). Membership has grown to 4,500 and includes those in Newcastle, Beryl, Modena, Pine Valley, Bloomington, Bloomington Hills, Washington Fields, and Littlefield, Arizona. Telephones The installation of telephones was not nearly as controversial as was that of electrical power. It was also more of a force for opening communication beyond Dixie, even though long-distance service outside the county required relaying the call through each central- for example, to Cedar City, then Beaver, Fillmore, Nephi, and Provo to Salt Lake City. A backup at any central office could cause a delay. Telephones were actuady an adaptation from the telegraph, using the same wires and poles, merely replacing telegraph keys with tele- 256 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY phone receivers. In 1904 telephone equipment was installed by the Southern Utah Telephone Company, an enterprise organized by Edward H. Snow and a group of local businessmen. They linked St. George with Toquerville and Cedar City, where messages could be relayed north through the state. Initially there was one phone in each town, requiring all customers to come to that instrument. When a cad came for a person in town, runners would be sent to find the per­son and bring him or her to the receiver. Chddren were often given a dime for being runners. Soon thereafter residential phones began to be installed, but the rates were expensive, one dollar per month. As the number of phones increased in St. George, there were two operators, one for local cads and one for long distance. Alma Nelson was the first operator, assisted by his sister, Jennie Nelson Hall. The people in Gunlock worked together to set up their own company called the People's Progressive Telephone and Telegraph Company. It served Moapa, Bunkerville, Mesquite, Santa Clara, Enterprise, Newcastle, Pine Valley, Central, Veyo, Gunlock, and some ranches.46 The year 1930 was a turning point for telephones in Washington County; the same year that U.S. Highway 91 was completed. The Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company purchased Southern Utah Telephone Company on 1 Aprd 1930. At the time of acquisition, there were 336 telephones in St. George and twenty-seven in Hurricane. The acquisition of Southern Utah Telephone expanded long-distance telephone service for the residents of the county.47 Most of the phones were on party lines with four receivers each. The people of the area came to know the telephone operators by name as the communication network bound them together. By the 1930s, it required five operators at a time to meet the county's needs. Several of these operators still live in Washington County and have vivid memories. Alice Holland recalled her saddest day at the switch­board: "I was at the switchboard alone and the oil well explosion occurred south of town, killing about a dozen people. The board lit up like a Christmas tree as people called about their famdy members and wanted to know what had happened."48 The explosion occurred on 6 March 1935. Nine died instandy, one the fodowing day, and four others were injured. END OF ISOLATION, 1930-1960 257 Telephone operators were important to the functioning of the town. Local operators served as alarm clocks, provided wake-up cads to their customers and cads for nighttime water turns, gave the time of day, answered emergencies for doctors and police, and rang the noon siren. Helen Bennett, one of the early telephone operators, reviewed the procedure for an emergency: "When there was a cad for the police, we put a red light on at the Tabernacle and they would see it from wherever they were patrolling and call us for information. The volunteer firemen also called in for addresses of the fire."49 Oil Exploration The story is told that Bishop Joshua T. Willis discovered some rocks with unusual coloring twelve mdes east of Toquerville; he felt they were manganese ores that could be mined to bring new fortunes to the poor pioneers. He quietly preserved them to show Brigham Young on his next visit; however, Young is said to have told Wdlis to bury the ore because the time had not come for the Latter-day Saints to be involved in mining. Other tales are told that Erastus Snow thanked the Lord for the mines at Silver Reef in a prayer at the St. George Tabernacle, but it is quite clear that he intended the Mormons to profit from the mines indirectly. They could supply the miners with lumber and food in exchange for coin, but he and other leaders urged their followers not to move to the mining camps and be directly employed in the mines. The values of the mining camps were not those the Latter-day Saints should condone.50 These stories rein­force the general idea that the Mormons wished to maintain their isolation and develop agriculture as the base for their economy. However, this situation was changing by the turn of the century. When oil drilling began in 1907 near the entrance to Zion National Park, it was generally welcomed. The prospect of a new income source seemed to outweigh worries about outside capital tak­ing over the economy. About fifteen wells were drilled two miles northeast of Virgin, most of which produced little. Some flowed enough to sustain a flame, and three captured about thirty-six bar­rels of oil a day. That was enough to raise big hopes, so drdling con­tinued. Up to 140 wells were drilled to a depth of 1,000 feet.51 One of the avid promoters of oil exploration in the Grafton- 258 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY Oil Derrick at Virgin. (Wm. L. Crawford) Virgin area was Henry Doolittle, superintendent of the Dixie Apex Mine, a good forty miles southwest of Virgin. He was an entrepre­neur extraordinaire, investing in copper mining near Shem-the Apex Mine-as well as doggedly supporting oil explorations. Doolittle wandered into Washington County from Riverside, California, in 1904 and soon progressed from working in the mines to buying property and searching for other mining opportunities.52 Beginning about 1920 regional drilling for oil picked up and Washington County was an active location. In addition to the areas near Virgin and Grafton, there was a lot of activity from Bloomington to the Arizona Strip as far as Littlefield. The Arrowhead Petroleum Corporation was busy working what it caded the Escalante END OF ISOLATION, 1930-1960 259 Weds and the Punch Bowl Well. In contrast to the "outsider-insider" relationship that existed in the sdver mining days of Pioche and Sdver Reef, the od-drdling effort directly involved local people as employees and shareholders. The St. George Chamber of Commerce promoted local investment in the companies, held meetings to court outside investors and organized field trips to the drdling sites. Od exploration in the county was a risk. Investors had to be con­stantly encouraged to reinvest and Washington County News articles provided that reinforcement.53 An inspector from the oil company working in the Virgin oil field provided hopeful indications to would-be investors: "I wdl stake my reputation that this wdl become one of the most important fields in the United States." He added that a "gusher production may be expected" at a depth between 2,300 and 2,500 feet.54 Perhaps in response to such reports, local businessmen organized a holding company to attract capital to drill for oil. The News reported that the following were involved in the company: Joseph Prince, Albert E. Miller. F. A. Reber, Kumen D. Williams, Dr. Clarke Woodbury, George Hale, and A. B. Andrus.55 This was just one side of the financial picture. There were buy outs and mergers of national companies that impacted the drdling as wed as other ups and downs. With each new disappointment there was a call for new equipment and a drive to lower depths, but the printed news continued on the upbeat side year after year. For example: Oil indications on the Punch Bowl dome, being drilled by the Arrowhead Petroleum Corporation are increasing daily. The bit is now at a depth of between 1300 and 1400 feet and is nearing the end of the Kaibab lime formation, ready to break into the Coconino sands. Oil showings are increasing as depth is made, and for the past few days from a quart to a gallon of live oil is brought up with every bailing. It is of a light high-grade nature, and evaporates within a few minutes after being brought to the surface.56 Certainly the people of Washington County were changing their atti­tudes about outsiders, isolation, and a lifestyle of agrarian austerity. They were ready for more affluence. 260 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY Many of these hopes were dashed in one second, though. Arrowhead company officials had decided to lower a large explosive charge of nitroglycerin into its Escalante Wed #2 with the expectation that they were very near a breakthrough, and the explosion would bring in a gusher. A crowd of a 100 people went to the site to see the anticipated flow of oil on 6 March 1935. As the explosive was about to be lowered into the well, it blew up from unknown causes. The blast damaged several automobdes used to carry visitors to the wefl-head. The explosion wrecked the 120-foot steel derrick and started fires in adjoining lumber and od-rigging buddings.57 And, most trag-icady, the explosion kdled ten people, including Charles Alsop-pres­ident and general manager of Arrowhead Petroleum Company-and his wife. A wed drdler, C. M. Flickenger; Joseph Empey Jr., an electri­cian; his son-in-law, Cad Nicholson; and Bdly Maloney, a worker, also died. Onlookers kdled included Olive Bleak Snow, Ray Nelson, and Joseph Kitterman. Leah Cottam died in the hospital a few hours later. Drdling continued at some sites for a few more years, but the dis­aster took the wind out of the drdlers' sads; the momentum, nursed so hopefully, staded. Washington County would not experience sig­nificant od production. ENDNOTES 1. Clarence Dutton, "The Tertiary History of the Grand Canyon District," (Washington, D.C.: USGS, 1880). 2. Quoted in Angus M. Woodbury, A History of Southern Utah and Its National Parks (n.p., 1950), 187. The original typescript of Leo Snow's full report is in the Dixie College Archives through the generosity of his sons and daughters. 3. Ibid., 188. 4. Horace Albright, interview, by J. L. Crawford, 10 Aprd 1979, Dixie Codege Archives. 5. J. L. Crawford, interview, Washington County Centennial History Committee, Dixie College Archives. 6. See Charles Bigelow scrapbook, Dixie College Archives. Bigelow became so fond of St. George and so closely identified with its tourism that he chose to be buried in the St. George cemetery. The Arrowhead Hotel, built in 1926, and Snow's Hotel, built in 1921, were the main facilities to cater to the automobile drivers. A tiiird hotel, the Liberty, was added in 1929 END OF ISOLATION, 1930-1960 261_ by George W. "Jockey" Hail to serve the growing number of tourists coming to the county. 7. Helen Gibbons, "The 3 mph Adventure-Horseless, Helpless Carriages," Deseret News, 8 May 1980, C-l. 8. Bret Whittaker, "Road Travel and Development in the St. George Area," 1980, Gregerson File, Dixie College Archives. 9. Washington County Court, Roads, Bridges, Highways, 5 June 1867, 5 March 1867, Record A, 6 March 1876, Record B, William R. Palmer, archivist. Copy in Dixie College Archives, in "Roads" file. 10. Journals of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, Twenty-Third Session, for the year 1878. 11. J. L. Crawford, "A Tale of Two Bridges," Washington County News, 13 September 1984. 12. Ezra C. Knowlton, History of Highway Development in Utah (Salt Lake City: Utah State Road Commission, n.d.), 178. 13. Washington County News, 8 January 1931, 1. 14. This statement was written by J.L. Crawford at this request of the author. 15. Washington County News, 16 April 1931,2. 16. Kathy Cottam, "The St. George Airport: Past, Present, and Future," Gregerson Collection, Dixie College Archives. See also Sid Atkins, "History of Aviation in St. George," in Legacy, Art and History in Utah's Dixie (St. George: St. George Art Museum, 1996). 17. Washington County News, 26 Aprd 1934,6. 18. Erinn Bowler, "The Reality of Human Suffering as a Result of the Great Depression," ms„ 1988; in possession of Marion Bowler. 19. Ibid. 20. Ibid. 21. Washington County News, 21 April 1932,1. 22. Washington County News, 16 August 1934,1. 23. Washington County News, 26 May 1932, 2. 24. Washington County News, 21 March 1935,1. 25. Washington County News, 7 March 1935,1. 26. Washington County News, 26 June 1936,1. 27. Washington County News, 22 March 1934, 6, 8. 28. Washington County News, 16 June 1932. The Washington County News, 1 March 1934, 4, noted that the national debt had risen to $314 per person. 29. Washington County News, 31 March 1938,1. 262 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY 30. Washington County News, 12 January 1988, 7. 31. Washington County News, 6 June 1925,6. 32. Other academies included Murdock Academy in Beaver, Utah; Snow College, Ephriam, Utah; Weber Codege, Ogden, Utah; Ricks College, Rexburg, Idaho; St. Johns Academy and Gila Stake Academy in Arizona; Millard Academy, Hinckley, Utah; Brigham Young College, Logan, Utah; Brigham Young College, Provo, Utah; Latter-day Saints University, Salt Lake City; Uintah Academy, Vernal, Utah; Cassia Academy, Oakley, Idaho; Fielding Academy, Paris, Idaho; Oneida Academy, Preston, Idaho; Emery Academy, Castie Dale, Utah; San Luis Academy in Manassa, Colorado, and Big Horn Academy in Cowley, Wyoming; Snowflake, Academy, Snowflake, Arizona, and Juarez Stake Academy in Colonia Juarez, Mexico. 33. Edna J. Gregerson, Dixie College, Monument to the Industry of a Dedicated People (Salt Lake City: Franklin Quest, 1993). 34. Thomas Alexander, Mormonism in Transition (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986), 164-65. The first to close were St. Johns Academy in Arizona and Cassia Academy at Oakley, Idaho. Then the Gila, Arizona; Uintah, Utah; and Snowflake, Arizona academies ceased to function. In 1923 the Fielding Academy in Paris, Idaho, Murdock Academy in Beaver, Utah, Emery Academy in Castle Dale, Utah, and Oneida Academy in Preston, Idaho, were notified of their closure. San Luis Academy in Colorado and Big Horn Academy in Wyoming were turned over to their respective states. 35. Joseph K. Nicholes, Correspondence File, 1932. Dixie College Archives. 36. Washington County News, 27 September 1934, 1, 5. 37. Washington County News, 9 February 1933, 1. 38. Washington County News, 23 March 1933, 1. 39. Washington County News, 23 February 1933, 1; 2 March 1933, 1; 9 March 1933,1; 11 May 1933,1. 40. M. Truman Bowler, Interview, by Douglas Alder, August 1993, Dixie College Archives. 41. Washington County News, 4 November 1954,4. 42. Washington County News, 8 February 1940,1. 43. Washington County News, 10 April 1941,6. 44. Washington County News, 24 April 1941, 9. 45. Loren Webb, "Brief History of Dixie-Escalante Rural Electric Association," ms. in Gregerson Collection, Dixie Codege Archives. 46. Roark Smith, "The Growth and Development of the Southern Utah Telephone System," Gregerson CoUection, Dixie Codege Archives, 6. END OF ISOLATION, 1930-1960 263_ 47. Ibid., 9. 48. Elaine R. Alder, "The Heartbeat of St. George," St. George Magazine July-August 1993,67. 49. Ibid. 50. Andrew Karl Larson, I Was Called to Dixie, 315. 51. Osmond L. Harline, "Utah's Black Gold, the Petroleum Industry," Utah Historical Quarterly 31, (Summer 1963): 294. See also EIRoy Nelson, Utah's Economic Patterns (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1956). 52. Brest van Kempen, "Harry Doolittle-An Honest-to-Goodness Splendid Citizen," 19, typescript, Dixie Codege Archives. 53. Washington County News, 17 December 1931,2. 54. Washington County News, 12 August 1926. 55. Washington County News, 9 September 1926,1. 56. Washington County News, 3 September 1931. 57. Orval Hafen, Diary, I, 26; ms. in possession of Bruce Hafen. AMERICANIZATION ESCALATES Culture: Motion Pictures and Authors After 1930 Dixie's absorption into the American fabric acceler­ated with each decade. For example, like other Americans, people in Washington County fell in love with moving pictures. With the demise of vaudevdle theater in St. George came the rise of the movie house. Two main theaters became gathering places: the Wadsworth and the Gaiety Electric Theater. The production of films in Hollywood was such that these theaters could show four to six dif­ferent movies a week. In the week of 16 November 1939, for example, the Wadsworth offered Drums Along the Mohawk with Claudette Colbert and Henry Fonda on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday there was a double feature, Law of the Pampas with William Boyd and Television Spy with Widiam Hendry and Judith Barnett. Over at the Gaiety Theater When Tomorrow Comes was showing Thursday, Friday, and Saturday with Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer. Sunday and Monday brought Fifth Avenue Girl with Ginger Rogers, Walter Connoley, and Veree Teasdale. 264