A History of Beaver County

Entrance into the Twentieth century, 1900-1920

CHAPTER 6 I ENTRANCE INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900-1920 f you are a stranger within the gates of Zion and wish to make the best use of your opportunities, you will finish up your business during the day, visit some one of the various amusement resorts during the evening, partake of a light repast afterward, then repair to the Salt Lake Route Depot, where you will purchase a ticket via the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Route to Milford.1 This flowery travel account of a journey through Beaver County written by A.B. Blainey in 1911 gives a sense that the county held a certain attraction to outsiders. He continues: In a few minutes, after anointing the porter's palm with a gener­ous piece of silver, you step off the train in the bustling town of Milford near the geographic center of Beaver county. Substantial business houses are in evidence and attractive homes surrounded by growing shade trees, delightfully green, greet the eye. As you stretch your legs and incidently your neck to get a better view of the landscape, a young man with a weather-beaten, but withal a genial countenance, approaches. The young man takes the visitor on a drive through the county introducing him to the various vis- 179 180 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY The west side of the Beaver County Courthouse. (Utah State Historical Society) tas, and sites, through towns and across the valley floor. When twelve miles out, at the top of a slight raise, a delightful strip of green comes in view, straight ahead. This is Minersville, . . . As the eye shifts from the dusty sage green of the desert, to the vivid col­oring of the cultivated land, with its lofty Lombardy poplars lat­ticed with silver streams, it must be concluded that water is the soul of the West.2 ENTRANCE INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900-1920 181_ It wasn't only the land that inspired Blainey with feelings of awe, but efforts at civilizing the area moved him to comment as well. Speaking of Beaver, he said, "Wide streets, magnificent distances, elec­tric lights and cement sidewalks lend a metropolitan air. An after­noon spent in getting acquainted with the people and investigating conditions, impresses you with the possibilities of this valley, instead of 3,000 people Beaver should have 30,000.3 As part of the new state of Utah, Beaver County miners and farmers entered the twentieth century optimistic about the future, depending on the area's resources to continue to support their efforts to make livings, run businesses, and improve their communities. In this they were fully in line with the agenda of the Progressive Era-a time when Americans could pay new attention to the quality of life, not just survival. Enthusiastic boosterism benefitted Beaver County towns as they attempted to provide new services for local residents- gas, lights, telephone, and a more consistent water supply. Beaver's 50th anniversary celebration in the Beaver Stake House in 1906 acclaimed the efforts of the settlement generation. Over the next few years, city government directed a number of city improve­ment projects-paving sidewalks in District No. 1, building in the southeast part of the city, and installing fire hydrants and drinking fountains in the business section of the city. The city council announced on 5 February 1909 that 2,888 feet of the business district would be paved as a sign of the local commitment to "progress and improvement."4 The city applied to the Andrew Carnegie Foundation for a $10,000 grant to build a public library. They passed an ordi­nance prohibiting gambling in town. Civic leaders in Beaver were painfully conscious of the difficul­ties created by the distance they had to travel to transport products for trade to Milford and the railroad. Efforts to attract rail lines con­tinued throughout the first two decades of the twentieth century. Locals organized in the Milford and Beaver Railroad Company to build a branch of the railroad to Beaver. W.M. White conducted a survey during the winter of 1901-1902 with the intention of identi­fying the best route for rail lines through Minersville, Adamsville, and Greenville. The line would have crossed the Beaver River five times and covered 30.62 miles, but was never started. 182 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY Two Beaver businesses in the early twentieth century-The Mansfield Murdock and Company Building, and the J. F. Tolton General Merchandise Building. (Utah State Historical Society) While White was carrying out the survey of the long-hoped for railroad line, an earthquake rumbled throughout southwestern Utah during the night of 13 November 1901. In Beaver the tremors dam­aged the church, courthouse, the academy building, and most of the houses in town. The earthquake also temporarily increased the flow of water in City, Bullion, Cottonwood, and Beaver creeks as much as 50 percent.5 Public Services As Beaver City entered the twentieth century, civil government helped provide amenities that raised the standard of living. William R. Hurst and WM. White were hired by Mayor Frank D. Farnsworth and his city council N.P. Ipson, James H. Yardley, S.F. Howd, James Farrer, and J.E. Bennett to create an updated map of Beaver City for a fee of $125. This six-by-nine-foot map designated new expanded city boundaries, school and water fire districts, and monitored growth. This map is on exhibit at the Beaver Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum. In 1898 the city granted Rocky Mountain Bell Telephone ENTRANCE INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900-1920 183 The southeast corner of Main and Center Streets in Beaver with the Equitable Co-op Building on the corner and the tower of the Beaver County Courthouse in the background. (Utah State Historical Society) Company a franchise to install a telephone system. Under Mayor Lewis W. Harris in 1904, t h e first municipal electric light system was installed and a central electrical plant built on the edge of town. Main Street businesses and several homes were supplied with electricity at a time when there were still n o paved highways and transportation was still limited to horse drawn buggies a n d wagons. Minersville obtained electric power a decade after Beaver in 1913-14; however, some locations, like Greenville, did not receive electric power until 1941 and continued to use coal oil lamps for lights long after most homes in the county h a d electric lights.6 Floods were a perpetual problem for each Beaver County town. Every spring Beaver City streets were flooded with irrigation water used by farmers, but because of the nature of the soil the water did not filter down but spread through the streets, creating havoc for the citizenry.7 In 1907 b u s i n e s s m e n j o i n e d forces in a Commercial Club to boost Beaver's image abroad. "Why?" an article in The Weekly Press asked. "Because a community needs to advertise its advantages just as much as any merchant, manufacturing institution or other indi- 184 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY vidual enterprise."8 A c o m m u n i t y must n o t h i d e its "light u n d e r a bushel." Because Beaver is one of the best towns in Utah naturally and yet hardly any one knows it. Very few people in this state, let alone, those out of the state, know of the excellent lucern, beef, butter, cheese, potatoes, wheat, oats, eggs, poultry, etc., produced here. The same is true of our meadows and pastures which are the most wonderful in many respects in the state, and which can be doubled and trebled as well as not. Beaver is naturally the best dairy town in Utah, admitting the superiority of no other town in the state. But where have you ever read any statement of the fact in the newspapers or any kind of advertising literature? Because Beaver has not one single manufacturing industry worthy of the name. The woolen mills are sitting up here against the hillside almost begging for some one with a little nerve, energy and capital to make them over into a profitable enterprise employ­ing a large number of people who would live here, spend their money here, and by their taxes and moral support help maintain and increase the efficiency of our schools, town government and every other public utility. The working people of this community wear enough of the coarser grade of shoes to keep a shoe factory of fair size running a good part of the year, and this portion of the state offers a good market for its surplus product. A tannery is one of the crying needs of the community. Our Creamery today can­not come anywhere near producing enough butter and cheese to supply its demand. The list might be enlarged indefinately. Everyone here almost knows of the building rock in our hills, and yet not one soul is trying to find a market for it.9 T h i s , t h e n , was seen as t h e i m p o r t a n t role t o be played b y a Commercial Club-advertising Beaver's strengths. After 1896 fire p r o t e c t i o n a n d law enforcement also was regu­lated by c o u n t y offices. Beaver, Milford, and Minersville each h a d a few trucks, a n d each h a d a volunteer fire crew. Limited assistance was provided by t h e forestry a n d federal fire control p r o g r a m s in times of crisis. T h e c o u n t y sheriff' s office a n d t h e p o l i c e d e p a r t m e n ts j o i n e d forces for law enforcement. Some full-time officers and sev­eral p a r t - t i m e officers insured that t h e c o u n t y was well regulated. ENTRANCE INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900-1920 185 : ' Murdock Academy. (Utah State Historical Society) Schools Both Beaver City and Milford have high schools. Beaver, Milford, and Minersville each have elementary schools. It is interesting that school enrollment declined along with population during each decade of the twentieth century, but at a faster rate. Despite the reorganization of the districts and construction of new buildings, education in Beaver followed traditional curriculums and required strict discipline in the classroom. John Samuel Hanks was a teacher in Beaver between 1905 and 1915, where he taught at the Belknap School, served as principal, and eventually as County Superintendent of Schools. Former students remembered that under his instruction classrooms were absolutely quiet, no roaming about the room or leaving or speaking was permitted. Ilene Hanks Kingsbury was late for school one day in 1912 when she was in the third grade. She was ushered outside to the entrance of the building with other latecomers. "We became the Awkward Squad!" she later recounted. "We formed a double line and at rigid attention awaited the pleasure of Principal Hanks. When the entire school was quietly settled, then Mr. Hanks stood on the front steps. He was half through 186 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY Beaver High School opened in 1920. (Utah State Historical Society) his lecture before he focused in on me, his oldest, frail girl of eight, afraid to breathe, and on the verge of tears."10 His daughter, but also a student, the one important lesson she remembered learning in the third grade was to be on time. In 1908 the school district erected a new $30,000 school in Beaver City. The building included eleven class rooms, offices for the principal and faculty, an auditorium, lavatories, and physical plant. Reflecting the natural environment, the structure's foundation was built with blue lava rock and the building itself with Beaver's locally produced brick and distinctive pink tufa rock trim.11 The 1914 bill calling for the consolidation of the state's school districts pulled all Beaver County schools into one district. The new board of education superceded the authority of local boards of trustees and received jurisdiction over all school matters. The first board of education included C.F. Harris, E.R. Smyth, W.J. Burns, J.H. Rollins, and R.B. White, with Edgar White serving as superintendent and Gertrude W Gillies as clerk to the board. When White resigned in 1918, he was replaced by Karl Gilbert Maeser. On 25 September 1917, Beaver held a special bond election to raise $130,000 for a high school building. Ideally, the bonds would run for twenty years, with an interest rate of 5 percent. The county ENTRANCE INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900-1920 187 A train of ore cars crossing a trestle at Newhouse. (Utah State Historical Society) voted in favor of the bond, purchased Block 36, and began construc­tion on a building designed by architects Nelson & Ashworth. Members of the board of education who supervised the construction project included William Hurst, John P. Barton, A. L. Dotson, D.K. Barton, and W.J. Barns. The new high school opened September 1920, with C.B. McMullin as principal of the junior high. High school classes did not begin until 1922, when the Murdock Academy closed. At that time H.S. Alvord became the first high school principal. Railroads Rumors of the railroad finally coming to Beaver County fre­quently appeared in local newspapers. If negotiations were success­ful with Kentucky capitalists, one article maintained, "a steam railway will be built from Milford to Beaver this summer."12 "It should not take much of an effort to raise the bonus asked for, and the right-of-way is already secured, with good terminal facilities. There is no ques­tion but what the road will pay from the start, as a heavy ore tonnage is now in sight."13 On 14 October 1910, "Railroad for Southern Utah Practically Sure" confidently stated: "The prospects for a railroad into 188 ^ HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY Beaver are getting brighter all the time. At a meeting which was called by the promoters of the enterprise in Salt Lake last Saturday the sen­timents expressed by those present were very encouraging. Men who are recognized authorities in the financial world-Senator Reed Smoot, A. Hanaur, M.H. Walker and a number of others-have sig­nified their intention to become identified with the proposition, and will put considerable money into it. It's up to us to take the initiative and get in on the ground floor."14 In spite of the high hopes, the rail­road was not built. The one railroad line in Beaver County with its depot at Milford came under the control of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1921. Five hundred miles of railroad owned or being developed by the Oregon Short Line south of Salt Lake City under the San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake Railroad was consolidated with the line constructed by Senator William A. Clark of Montana in 1903. Owned by Clark and E.H. Harriman of the Union Pacific and the Oregon Short Line, the company name was changed to the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad Company. In 1921 Senator Clark sold his one-half interest in the stocks and bonds of the Los Angeles and Salt Lake company to the Oregon Short Line, owned by the Union Pacific, which assumed full ownership. Mining As Beaver County entered the twentieth century, mining contin­ued to be an important part of the local economy. Samuel Newhouse purchased the Cactus Mine in 1900 under the auspices of the Newhouse Mines and Smelting Corporation operating until 1910 when they reorganized as the South Utah Mines and Smelter Company. Production in the mine began in 1905 and continued until 1909, resulting in the production of 19,419,319 pounds of copper, 7,510 ounces of gold, and 176,365 ounces of silver. Originally pow­ered by a steam plant, eventually electrical equipment and power were furnished by the Beaver River Power Company. By the 1920s the Horn Silver Mine consisted of the original claim, 1,440 by 600 feet; two five-acre smelter sites located in Frisco; a complete three-stack smelting plant; a refining works located at Chicago, Illinois; iron-flux mines near Frisco; charcoal kilns, a forty ENTRANCE INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900-1920 189 Newhouse, Utah. (Utah State Historical Society) mile telegraph line to Beaver, two large stores in Frisco, and other less important property. After putting a new mining shaft in the mine in 1884, the mine continued to produce well. In 1911, however, the Salt Lake Company sold its interest in the enterprise to the New York Mining Company, which sent W. H. Hendrickson from New York to manage the mine and serve as superintendent. He managed the mine until 1943, when the Metal Producers Company of Los Angeles, California, assumed control of the mine under three men: George W. Clemson, general manager; James H. Wren, superintendent; and W.H. Hendrickson, mining engineer. An article in The Weekly Press described the Hub properties finds in the Star District, which had also been surprisingly rich. The article concluded, "Another year will see Beaver County one of the most active mining Sections of Utah, and a goodly tonnage of copper, sil­ver, lead and gold is promised. With men like Samuel Newhouse and the Knights, 'blazing the trail' the results have been assured for some­time past."15 Finds on Wild Cat Creek in 1914 sparked more interest in min- 190 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY Children in front of the Newhouse School. (Utah State Historical Society) ing Beaver County's mountains, as well as discoveries in the Sheep Rock Mine at the edge of the valley and at the foot of the same range seven miles south of the Wild Cat and about nine miles northeast of Beaver City. A "stampede" to Fortuna in the Bald Hills, where, according to The Beaver Press, "a remarkable series of outcropping ledges in Rocky Hollow were found to pan gold freely," and then dis­coveries on Mt. Baldy, ten miles east of Sheep Rock and on South Creek, fifteen miles southeast of Beaver City. The Sheep Rock Mine was considered the "star property" of the group in that it had the greatest amount of development work and high grade ore running as high as $1,000 a ton. "This mine is situated about mid way of a series of veins that strike north and south along the foothills of the Tushar mountains and can be traced by their outcroppings for a distance of ten miles." In short, "splendid outcropping veins can be traced along this zone over hill and valley, where never a hole has been sunk, but where the free gold can be panned at a surprising number of places."16 This mining revival brought new energy into the effort to find fur­ther mineral sources and brought Beaver's mines once again to the attention of the international markets. In April 1915 Potash was discovered near the town of Marysvale. ENTRANCE INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900-1920 191 Residents of Newhouse enjoy some leisure hours. (Utah State Historical Society) Before the world war, Potash was shipped from Germany. This new source was being tested to determine the quality of the product.17 The O.K. Mine was developed by owner Theodore Kronholm and operated by Jesse P. Villars and associates. Lying in an entirely igneous, quartz-monzonite or laccolith ore body, the mine is bor­dered on the north and west by talisman quartzite of the Pennsylvania Age, and was first opened along a fissure vein striking about N 80 degrees west and dipping to the n o r t h at about 60 degrees. The ore from the O.K. Mine was processed at the Milford Smelter; in 1903 thirteen cars of O.K. ore were shipped across the country, flying banners on the box cars labeling the contents as "Beaver County Ore," exhibiting the ore abroad as well before it returned to Milford and sent through the smelter. According to old-timers, this was "the most beautiful ore ever mined."18 The Weekly Press predicted that Beaver County was in 1908 about to enter a new period of mining prosperity: 192 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY A number of changes are taking place in the mining proper­ties of Beaver county, which are to mean much from a productive standpoint. Additional equipment is being installed, and operators are placing large forces of men at work. The Red Warrior property has recently developed fine ore bodies, and made several consign­ments of ore to the local market, which tells of the richness of that product, now being mined. Superintendent Merritt of the Red Warrior has just purchased the gasoline hoist plant that was formerly used by the Copper Kinz. It has been removed to the Red Warrior shaft and is doing its work nicely. This equipment will give the company ample facilities and the management intends to have ample tonnage mined and for­warded to the valley smelters beginning with the latter part of this week.19 Electricity Electricity first came to Beaver in 1902 when the Pelton Water Wheel was purchased by Beaver City under Mayor Lewis W Harris. The Beaver River Electric Company organized in 1900. After search­ing for a number of years for a suitable site for a hydroelectric plant, a site was located where the Beaver River exited Merchant Valley. From this narrow ledge area, the Beaver River plunged rapidly through the gorges below. Initially, the survey called for a thirty-four-inch steel pipe line that reduced in size farther down the mountain. In January 1904 the Beaver City council and mayor called a public mass meeting to discuss the hydroelectric plant proposal. They held a bond election the next week to raise the needed funds to built it. The mayor and council appointed various committees of local men to oversee the different jobs for the project. The ditch and bridges com­mittee worked on the power canal. Another constructed the building to house the electric generator. A third committee dug holes for the poles, four feet deep for 60 cents a hole; others cut red pine poles thirty feet long from the east mountains, hauled them into town, and delivered them to the site where they were to be used. The city paid them $2.00 a pole. The pole line came down the center of many city streets. The work commenced in April, and by October Beaver had electricity. Eventually the Beaver Electric Company used water out of the LaBaron Reservoir and piped water out of Dry Hollow Canyon. ENTRANCE INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900-1920 193 Inside the Newhouse Power Plant. (Utah State Historical Society) The electric company built a new dam, pipeline, and station build­ing in 1906. The pipeline from Dry Hollow down to the station again was larger at the top of the line and declined in size by the bottom. There were two generating units in the new power station which pro­duced 90 kilowats of power. Powered with water from the Beaver River diverted by a canal to the site, this plant and distributing sys­tem supplied Beaver City until 1927.20 The Upper Beaver Power Plant, also known as the Telluride Power Plant, constructed in 1907 by L.L. Nunn, pioneering hydro­electric entrepreneur, was located in Beaver River Canyon about twelve miles east of Beaver. The plant provided a cheap and predicat-able source of power for the silver mines and towns nearby. Stimulated in part by Nunn's recognition that the Newhouse mining operation had a deficient steam-generated electrical supply, he sur­veyed the Beaver River area and located a perfect spot for a hydro-electrical plant. When Lucien L. Nunn first came to Beaver County in the early 1900s, he had already established his reputation by building the Ames power plant in Telluride, Colorado, and the Olmstead hydroelectric plant in Provo Canyon, Utah. His speciality was high-head hydro­electric technology for small mountain streams. Despite Beaver County's growth during the mining years, its significance as a wool 194 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY manufacturing center, and its easily accessible markets by rail lines through Milford, it lacked hydroelectric power. For instance, the Newhouse Mines and Smelters Company depended on an unreliable source of power-a steam system fired by coal and wood for electri­cal power. Nunn was drawn by the area's potential and sent survey crews into the Tushar Mountains to locate a potential power plant site. Twelve miles to the east of Beaver City in Beaver Canyon, they located a steep incline where several different streams flowed into the Beaver River at a sufficient grade and supply to provide power for several good-sized generators. As a result, Nunn organized the Beaver River Power Company, designated himself as president, and hired a core of engineers who began measuring how water flow varied in different seasons and began drawing up plans for a power plant. A. B. Blainey superintended construction of the dam which began in 1905. Besides the dam, they laid 2.25 miles of wooden pipeline from the reservoir to a riveted steel pentsock or a sluice that guided water to the wheels. The powerhouse itself was built in 1907. Eventually a complex of offices, houses, a boarding house for workers, and shops for the com­pany post made it a self-sufficient company community site, designed by W. H. Lepper, Salt Lake City architect. Using the pink tufa stone so familiar to Beaver residential building, his designs were in the craftsman style with shingled upper walls and roofs. The two tur­bine- generators sat in a sunken floor area designed to house the transformers, switches, and other equipment. The generators had a total capacity of two megawatts. The penstock was built in 1908 and was 4,500 long, descending 1,000 feet. At the top the pipe measured twenty-eight inches and twenty at the bottom. The plant began production that same year, transmitting electricity to the Newhouse Mines' Cactus Mill, fifty-three miles away along a 40,000-volt line. Power was distributed from there by substation transformers to the Consolidated Mining Company's Indian Queen operations. Yet another substation trans­ported power to Milford City. Other customers eventually purchased power from the company, including Minersville and Marysvale. In 1910 the company built smaller diversion dams on three streams that fed into the Beaver River and built feeder lines to the ENTRANCE INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900-1920 195 An early airplane lands at Beaver. (Utah State Historical Society) main conduit. Although costly, these improvements proved to pay off in terms of increased capacity. That same year the company engineers installed a surge tank at the top of the penstock. Also important, the Telluride Power Plant became a training institute for electrical engineers learning Nunn's generating and transmission technology. Every summer apprentice engineers and student engineers boarded at the site and received on-site instruction. The Beaver River Power Company and the Southern Utah Power Company combined shortly after World War I to form the Telluride Power Company.21 Eventually the plant was purchased by Utah Power and Light. Water The innovative idea of pumping water was first discussed in Beaver in 1918. The government sank a test well in land near Milford under the supervision of G.C. Haskell. After its success, several wells were drilled throughout the farming area. Milford farmer Charles Baxter was the first farmer to successfully harvest a crop by pumping water. Beginning in about 1910, the Delta Land and Water Company 196 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY began buying land and surveying in anticipation of building yet another dam at Rocky Ford. In 1913-14, the company constructed the Rocky Ford Dam in 1913 at the head of Minersville Canyon, and much of the land between Minersville and Milford was purchased by the company. During that first summer they sold 14,000 acres of land and water but were unable to establish water rights for farmers far­ther down the river. During the 1920s, the Delta Land and Water Company assumed water rights from Minersville. And the next year the Rocky Ford Irrigation Company purchased existing rights from individuals in the Lower Valley. When the Telluride Power Company built a line through the area in 1920, pumping wells offered a consis­tent water supply. In addition to alfalfa seed, grain, corn, and pota­toes were also grown. Between 1920 and 1929, another sixty wells were drilled. In 1919 the state legislature appropriated funds to support research of alternate sources of water for irrigation from wells. Tests were conducted in various areas to determine if underground water was sufficient to create a flow for irrigation purposes, and to investi­gate what types of wells and well casings would best facilitate the maximum flow of water. They found that formations at about sixty to seventy feet could produce 400 gallons per minute, which was more than enough for a very good irrigation stream. In 1920 fifteen wells were drilled in the district and the Telluride Power Company constructed a power line seven miles through the district's center.22 Animal and Predator Control Rabbit control was frequently mentioned in both county and city council minutes as a principal concern of local farmers. The inge­nious methods for trapping, slaughtering and diverting rabbits ranged from the practical to the ridiculous. Bill Woods and Charles Jamison remembered a time when the problem was so serious in Minersville that the town held a mass meeting where they decided to fence the fields of the entire community with special rabbit guards. Their stockade fence around there to keep the other stock out was a rip gut fence, . . . made out of cedar posts and limbs, and well, some of that old fence is intact today down on my farm. And then on the outside of this rip gut fence, they cut small cedars and cedar ENTRANCE INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900-1920 197 limbs or anything that could be stood on end and made a solid fence right around the whole Minersville. It took women, kids and everything.23 According to Jamison, the rabbits got so bad, they were trying to break into the barns and feed storage sheds. So "the people cut some holes through and dug a pit, and then the rabbits would try to go through that hole, and they'd fall down in the pit, and then they'd have to make a trip around that fence and kill the rabbits and get rid of them."24 Sometimes they would kill as many as 500 rabbits in a sin­gle night. At other times coyotes would plague Minersville farmers, roam­ing their fields and sometimes coming into town. Animal life, like the agriculture itself, was affected by drought cycles. Oldtimers remem­bered times when wild horses ran thick in the mountain valleys and then cycles when cougars or coyotes were thick and would eat the colts, a condition which Bill Woods described as making "a balance in nature."25 Antelope and deer seemed to run in cycles as well. Agriculture Farming changed during the 1900s, largely driven by continuing problems with water. The Beaver Arid Farm Company organized in February 1907 with a group of solid businessmen at its core-J.M. Murdock, C.E. Murdock, CD. White, D.A. McGregor, N.P. Ipson, G.B. Greenwood, J.T. Tanner, J.F. Jones, and H.A. White. The group secured 4,000 acres of land on Indian Creek and in Wild Cat from the state-arid land that they intended to make "blossom like a rose." To do so, the company purchased a thirty-two h.p. traction engine, a Reeves double-cylinder type capable of drawing eighteen plows and turning forty-five acres per day. The engine would also be used to transport fuel from Milford. Local farmers would build and maintain canals, first clearing them with plows pulled by horses and then lining them with stones or hard-packed earth. Eventually, they paved them with cement. Regardless of the precautions they took in the preparation of canals, in Minersville sometimes floods would carry gravel and debris into town. The Farmer's Institute sponsored a series of speakers-professors 198 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY J ^ - . , ^ , ? ; : ; : * : ? ! ^ ! ; ^ ^ ; Mechanized farm equipment brought major changes to agriculture in Beaver County during the first decades of the twentieth century. (Utah State Historical Society) from the state's universities to introduce the latest techniques in dry farming, reclamation, and irrigation techniques.26 They conducted a dry land experimental farm to discover the best methods of raising grain in local conditions. David A. Tanner remembered that his father would transport water from the Beaver River to irrigate their family farmland. Before the reservoir was built, the water would often flood the land, "so thick and heavy down here in the north part of Hall's field that sometimes cattle would dig right in there and almost hide up away from me."27 This flood cycle would influence the crops his father would plant. "Well, father tried alfalfa, but the first year it would come all right, and then it would drown out, but he raised corn, potatoes, oats and different things of that kind and grass hay, such as red top and timithy [sic] and clover and so on, and fields to haul it in and hun­dreds of loads every year."28 ENTRANCE INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900-1920 199 A group of Beaver County residents gather around an early tractor. (Utah State Historical Society) An informative editorial appeared in the Beaver County News during 1913 which identified the important link between mining and agriculture. Recognizing that mining was the dominant and perhaps flashier producer of wealth for the county, the author described the mining companies and their workers as "patrons" of husbandry. Mining pumped needed revenues into local markets for supplies and agricultural produce. Therefore, he writes, it is important to focus attention on developing new sources of water-determining under­ground water flow. "There is no mistaking the facts, however, that a great acreage now barren can be made productive by the application of water that has been going to waste." At that time government engi­neers were conducting a study of 15,000 acres.29 In 1910 Beaver County had a total 319 farms with a total acreage of 45,986.30 The average value of the typical farm was $7,123. Ninety-five percent of them were irrigated by a system of canals with water furnished by streams. A proposed reclamation project would make productive land that in 1913 was covered with sagebrush in part by the construction of a reservoir that would impound 27,000 acre feet 200 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY of water. In addition, its potential for grazing could be augmented. Another similar project was organized by George A. Snow and W.I. Moody of Salt Lake City who proposed investing a million dollars in a dam, reservoir, and ditches to reclaim 48,000 acres near Adamsville.31 John R. Murdock and John C. Murdock were among the first promoters of the Beaver Bottoms project. Both homesteaded prop­erty in the area. Other individuals who farmed there were Jim Curfew, George Hardy, John Andrew Smyth, William Armstrong, Joe Hickman, John C. White, John Ashworth, Jim Robinson, W.S. Bond, and Nels Schow. What made this effort different was that the water for irrigation was pumped out of wells dug deep beneath their fields. After dismal failures with dry farming, subirrigation yielded good crops of hay, wild hay and alfalfa seed. By 1920 farmers were typically making between $6,000 and $7,000 yearly on their alfalfa crop. Creameries Thomas Cartwright lived at and ran the creamery located in the old Slaughter Tannery building in 1902. He ran the business for nine years, producing various cheeses and butter. Daily production from the herds at Beaver, Greenville, and North Creek was estimated at 1,200 to 1,400 pounds except during peak seasons of June, July, and August when production reached 4,000 pounds daily. Butter fat was sold during that time for fifteen and sixteen cents a pound. Gunner Gunderson operated the creamery after Cartwright until it became more popular for farmers to use separators and ship the cream to Salt Lake City and other markets. Some dairymen contin­ued in the traditional industry to churn and package butter locally and ship it to Milford, Frisco, and other mining centers in the area. In 1913 Thomas Cartwright joined with Warren Shepherd and Lester E. Harris to organize the Beaver Valley Creamery on the Shepherd Farm west of town.32 The plant processed milk from Beaver and other town herds nearby. The Forest Service and Natural Resources In 1902 chief grazing officer Albert F. Potter of the Department of the Interior's Division of Forestry came to Utah to conduct a sur- ENTRANCE INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900-1920 201 vey of natural resources and begin an era of public management of natural resources. His exploration took five months and led eventu­ally to the establishment of a series of forest reserves in the state. Potter's interests included ecological balance, conservation, and the relation of forest resources to the social needs of Utah's population, and was pragmatic in its orientation.33 He studied among other things the relationship of grazing and livestock to the mountain for­est areas. In fact, a compelling interest of Potter's was the potential for stock raising on mountain range land. The mountains were an important resource for both irrigation and stockraising. Opinions varied according to geography about Potter's findings. Stockmen in Beaver County, perhaps because they had not experienced a shortage of timber or had problems with watershed, were generally opposed to the idea of conservation. Economic investment in the sheep indus­try seemed to determine public opinion more than any single factor. A commitment to private ownership also was a significant factor. Repeatedly Potter was told that selling public lands was the best solu­tion to overgrazing and management problems. His report helped form the base for land use decisions and policies during the next sev­eral decades. One of the decisions influenced by Potter's report was the cre­ation of the Fillmore Forest Reserve in May 1906. The reserve later became the Fillmore National Forest, then the Fishlake National Forest. Most of the western slope of the Tushar Mountains in Beaver County was included in the reserve. Initially headquarters for the Fillmore Forest Reserve were in Beaver with William Hurst the first forest supervisor. Later, because of consolidation measures, the head­quarters moved to Richfield. While there was some resistance to the establishment of the national forests, many local people signed peti­tions calling for federal action as the last resort in dealing with the serious problems of over-grazing, erosion, loss of valuable timber resources, and destruction of watersheds. Every county in Utah contains government-owned land-in some places the land surrounding schools and public buildings, alongside roads or parks. But in Beaver County large proportions of county land are owned by the federal government and managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Forest Service. 202 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY The Public Lands Grazing Issue and the Taylor Grazing Act pro­vided guidelines for the organization of public lands for stock rais­ing. The Taylor Grazing Act sought "to stop injury to the public grazing lands by preventing overgrazing and soil deterioration; to provide for their orderly use, improvement, and development; [and] to stabilize the livestock industry dependent upon the public range" by leasing the public domain to stockraisers. Although much of the county's land was arid, broken, mountainous, it was perfect for graz­ing. Overgrazing the public domain had always been a concern to local stockraisers. The Reclamation Act of 1902 was based on the experience of the Mormons with irrigation. This law provided for the construction of federal irrigation projects in western states and territories with monies from the sale of public lands. According to irrigation histo­rian George Thomas, "The federal government supplies the capital for construction, and the costs are paid back, without interest, over an extended period of time."34 Construction and management of such projects came under the jurisdiction of the Reclamation Service, later called the Bureau of Reclamation. The Bureau of Reclamation was responsible for the investigation of irrigation resources, prepa­ration of plans, construction, operation, and maintenance of irriga­tion projects, including power development, and the administration of funds for such projects. J.R. Alexander of Salt Lake City was the district counsel for projects in Beaver County. In 1920 the Mineral Leasing Act changed the disposal of oil and gas, coal, and other min­erals to leasing. The Bureau of Mines was given responsibility for these programs. Politics Beaver County remained predominantly Democratic during the first four decades of the twentieth century, and in 1912 one of the local party stalwarts, John Franklin Tolton, was selected as the Democratic party nominee for governor of Utah. Tolton recounted his nomination and the election battle. When the 1912 State convention was called, my name became prominently mentioned for the Governorship. Realizing that such a nomination and expense of statewide campaign meant that ENTRANCE INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900-1920 203 • .; J" • >• , - „ -,• ;~^nmm»mim»inmn *M^.„,„,„,... .. ™ Beaver's Carnegie Library built in about 1915. (Utah State Historical Society) expenditure of considerable money, I was in no sense enthusiastic, but allowed the movement to proceed of its own volition. After a hard contest wherein several prominent Democrats were arrayed against me, the nomination was accorded me amidst much acclaim. In the campaign which followed, the newspapers, being all Republican, waged a war against me personally, being so biased politically that my speeches were allowed to pass unnoticed. Governor William Spry, who was my chief opponent, was well for­tified, having all of the State political machinery back of him through the influence of his appointments, and won out in the race, defeating me by a small margin, only about 5,000 votes. Residing as I did, more than two hundred miles from the more thickly populated sections of the state, many regarded my race as quite marvelous.35 Tolton's opponent, William Spry, won the election with 42,552 votes to 36,076 for Tolton. Among the reasons for Tolton's defeat was his campaign against an incumbent-Spry had defeated the popu­lar Mormon mining magnate Jesse W Knight in t h e 1908 election and, as Tolton observed, h a d the advantage of political a p p o i n t ­ments in place to assist with the campaign. Nevertheless, Tolton did 204 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY Murdock Academy Musicians in 1912. (Utah State Historical Society) better in the 1912 election than had Jesse Knight who lost the 1908 election by a vote of 52,913 to 43,266. William Spry, a resident of Tooele County, was a close associate of Reed Smoot-the LDS church apostle, Republican, and United States Senator from Utah. During his first term as governor, Spry created a state road commis­sion, obtained authorization to begin construction of the State Capitol building, and campaigned for tax reforms. During the 1912 election, Spry campaigned effectively for William Howard Taft, the Republican nominee for president. Taft won in Utah by 42,013 votes over Democrat Woodrow Wilson 36,579 votes and Progressive can­didate Theodore Roosevelt's 24,171. In the three-way presidential battle, Taft carried only Utah and Vermont, while the split vote between Republicans and Progressives sent the presidency to Woodrow Wilson. In addition to Spry and Tolton, there were two other candidates in the 1912 election: Nephi Morris, who ran on the Progressive ticket and received 23,590 votes, and Homer P. Burt, who, as the Socialist candidate, received 8,797 votes. The votes for the Progressive and Socialist candidates likely hurt Tolton and helped Spry win a second term, as did the lack of newspaper sup­port as recognized by Tolton.36 ENTRANCE INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900-1920 205 Life in Beaver County The largest decade of growth in population was between 1900 and 1910, when the population increased by 30.6 percent. Beaver County's population peaked in 1920, with a total of 5,136 residents. This represented an increase of 9 percent increase from the preced­ing year, and was 1.1 percent of the state's total population. By 1940 the population had again dropped, this time to 5,014. Lucy E.W. Burns described a typical farm at the turn of the cen­tury, that of her father, Hyrum Alonzo Walker. His farm was about three miles from west of town, besides our home in Minersville, which consisted of 1/4 block where we had a large barn and other out buildings. We kept a few chickens, pigs, cows, and horses, so there was always plenty of work for every one. We also had a vegetable garden, a small patch of alfalfa and some fruit trees. I remember a man who was admiring his beautiful gar­den one day who asked where his weeds were? My father replied that weeds didn't grow in his garden.37 Burl Ashworth was Beaver's ice supplier. Families would bring their wagons to Ashworth's ice house where he would dig a large block of ice out of the sawdust, and with a large cross cut saw he would cut off what he needed. Ashworth's house was near a pond near the city park. During February he would cut the ice at the pond, haul it to his ice house, and lay it with sawdust until his ice house was full. Most homes were heated by coal or wood burning stoves and were extremely cold during the winter months. One woman remem­bered the back of her nightgown being scorched from backing up against the fire to get warm and that the bread would be frozen in the morning and the water frozen.38 Fire heating created perpetual problems with fire control. On 9 July 1915, The Weekly Press reported a fire on Main Street in Beaver City at the New York Store that totally destroyed the structure. Shortly after the fire erupted, owner E. Papkin left the building after having tried to douse the blaze. As neighbors were confused about how to open and use the fire hydrants, the fire went on without inter­ruption until the building was completely lost. By the time the fire- 206 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY The Beaver Hospital. (Utah State Historical Society) man arrived, their primary attention was spent preventing neighbor­ing buildings from also burning.39 Diseases spread through whole communities quickly and created danger not unlike uncontrolled fires. In Greenville, in 1900, a case of smallpox caused neighbors to take precautions against contact with those outside their families. "That dread disease," an article in The Weekly Press announced, "has been traveling throughout the state and finally made its way to Beaver County." The same article quoted the state constitution, empowering the State Health Inspector to call quarantines and take extraordinary measures in the containment of communicable diseases.40 Smallpox was a feared disease, and when it struck, precautions were taken to quarantine the victims. In 1903 a small pox epidemic broke out in Minersville, Milford, and other isolated places in Beaver County. William J. Burns, the husband of Lucy Elizabeth Burns, was stricken with smallpox at Milford in April 1904. He came home from teaching school one day feverish and sick to his stomach. He tried to fight it by taking a long walk and eating lemons which he had an odd craving for. Within a few days he was extremely ill and covered with pox marks. After diagnosis by a doctor, it was clear that Burns could ENTRANCE INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900-1920 207 not remain in the house with his family nor complete his teaching assignment for the rest of the school year. His wife recalls: He took his fathers bedding which was stored in a large piano box out in the yard, which included some bed springs and feather bed. A tent was put up in the back yard and this is where he stayed until he got better. His food was taken out and set on a bench near the tent and he would have to get it there. He was very ill for several days so it was quite an effort for him to get up, but he did, so I wouldn't know that he was so bad. It was very painful, especially when the pox was trying to come through the callouses on the bot­toms of his feet and the palms of his hands. . . . We were quaran­tined and everyone was very frightened. People would walk by on the opposite side of the street. Even the country doctor, Fennemore, wouldn't go in to see my husband, but brought some ointment or something to rub on his face and body, handing it over the fence to him. He made the remark that he looked like a real plum pudding. It was true that he looked just awful. His hair standing up, his face blue and swollen with pox marks, which looked like oatmeal splattered all over it. I don't think that anyone would have recognized him, had they not known he was there.41 The quarantine lasted for one month. In 1905 an outbreak of scarlet fever was announced in the paper as "alarming." State health inspector Woodard arrived in Beaver in August 1905 to visit 250 homes, enumerating cases of scarlet fever. He encouraged families to cooperate with quarantines, and to exer­cise common sense.42 Most public gatherings were canceled during the outbreak.43 Baseball and dancing continued to be the hands-down favorite social activities in this rural county. David A. Tanner remembered dances held in t h e school hall. "The school halls was p a r t i t i o n e d. They laid the partion and two big doors, and they'd open t h em up, and there's where they'd dance. And they'd dance in the Williams' home up here. Up at the Williams home they could get down there and put on four or five different sets at a time in the big dining room. Johnson from Rush Lake a n d a m a n from Parowan used to come over here and Marge Stoddard used to play the organ. One of t h em would play the piccolo and one would play the violin . . . They'd go 208 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY Young ladies exercising in front of the Murdock Academy. (Utah State Historical Society) over there and sometimes they'd forget when daylight come. They was still dancing."44 After its construction in 1908, the Beaver Opera House became a popular location for dances, especially on Friday nights. Masquerade and costume dances were also popular, especially in Milford where they were held in the school house, Williams Hotel, and other locations. According to one observer of local culture, in a letter written to editor D.I. Frazer of The Weekly Press, changing dance and dress styles, including bathing suits, reflected an evolution that is "only nat­ural." Reacting to some expression of public outrage, she stated her belief that public condemnation is also natural because, on the inside, people secretly wished that they had the "courage to attempt such actions!"45 The first county fair was held 1905, the last week of June. Agricultural and mining exhibits, games, food booths and dances offered a variety of entertainments. Prizes were given for the best draft horses, dairy cows, hogs, home made butter, and "best sacked garden peas" among other agricultural produce.46 ENTRANCE INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900-1920 209 A crowd gathers in front of the Beaver Opera House. (Utah State Historical Society) The year 1914 m a r k e d the arrival of t h e "agitated film." The Beaver Opera House offered films including, When Rome Ruled, The Reign of Terror, and The Perils of Pauline.47 One of the largest and most popular celebrations held in the county was the Labor Day fes­tival featuring food, athletic events, music and dancing, and animal races.48 Chautauquas were held annually at the Opera House. These week-long festivals centered on theatrical performances, music, and orations.49 The Opera House, completed in 1908, was a material statement of Beaver County's assumption that it would be the center of Utah's cultural life for the lower half of the state. Supported by town lead­ers R.R. Tanner, G.N. Greenwood, D.I.Frazer, J.P. Barton, J.R. Murdock, A.J. Hardy, and W J. Robinson, the architectural design was created by Liljenberg and Maeser. This three-story building was con­structed for $20,000, with a dance pavilion on the first floor, an audi­t o r i um and stage on the second, and a third-floor balcony. Built of local p i n k tufa quarried stone, its style was Classical Revival with huge Roman arches, massive r o u n d columns, and rectangular piers flanking the dramatic entry steps leading to the front doors. At the 210 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY The Isis Theater and Progress Meat Market in Beaver. (Utah State Historical Society) top of each column is a monumental entabulature with a decorative frieze and ornate cornice. Important for years as a community center, the Beaver Opera House was the scene for vaudeville performers shows like Ralph Cloniger, Luke Cosgrave, Shelby Roach, and Walter Christensen. Eventually it was renovated into a motion picture theater and was sold to the National Guard in 1929 which used it until 1955. Roosevelt Hot Springs, located about twelve miles northeast of Milford was developed as a resort by P.B. McKeon family in 1910. The McKeons built a large swimming pool, bath houses, and raised sev­eral hundred chickens, some of which were cooked for special occa­sions and Sunday dinners for which the resort was well-known. Because there were no telephones at the springs, reservations would be taken at various businesses in Milford and relayed to the McKeons and their workers when they came to town for supplies. Some visi­tors suffering with rheumatism stayed for a week or ten days, taking baths daily in the hot natural spring waters. The resort operated from 1910 to 1912, however P.B. McKeon continued to live at the springs until his death in 1927.50 ENTRANCE INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900-1920 211 On 29 December 1902, the Beaver Masonic Lodge organized with Grand Master Ephraim Homer, Grand Secretary W.J. Moore, and A.B. Cline, W.S. Keesee, and W.S. Thompson. Fifteen men were inducted the first night. Originally meeting in the Thompson Building, the lodge eventually moved to the Low Building.51 Young men participated in the scouting program. Each week, The Weekly Press featured a column devoted to the scouting program, making appeals for support, leadership, reporting on projects and accom­plishments of the boys. While attending a ball at the Odd Fellows Hall, the family of Jas. A. Hutchings was robbed. The first to arrive home was Albert, who had returned home because of a bloody nose. As he stumbled through the house in the dark, he noticed the outline of a figure standing in the shadows of the room. Albert wrestled the man to the ground and ended up with a deep gash on his scalp from a knife wound.52 The juvenile court began meeting in Beaver City in 1908 with Judge Greenwood presiding over juvenile proceedings. Probation officer John Barton appeared with three young men who had report­edly stolen eggs from a barn and had thrown them at people walking down the street. The judge told the probation officer to visit their homes, watch their conduct, and return and report in a month. Liquor licenses were both a means of controlling alcohol con­sumption and a good source of revenue for local governments. Where John Ashworth had been granted an unconditional liquor license in 1860 for $10 a year, by 1909 the license cost $800 a year, paid in quarterly installments of $200. In order to retain the license, saloon proprietors had to make sure that there was " . . . no gambling at place of business, no liquor sold to habitual drunkards nor to minors, nor enough sold to any customer to make him drunk; no blinds, benches, or chairs to be allowed in the saloon, and the doors to be closed from 10 P.M. to 7 A.M. and all day Sunday."53 News of local and national events was printed throughout these years in The Beaver Press published first by Robert Shelton as man­ager and O.A. Whitaker as editor until 25 November 1904, and David I. Frazer and Sons, as publishers until 1916. Between 1916 and 1920, the paper was run by Karl S. Carlton. 212 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY The Bank of Milford. (Utah State Historical Society) Physically Milford changed little during the first decades of the twentieth century. Telephone service came to Milford in 1902, with Lottie Barton Bardsley as the town's first operator. A petition for incorporation circulated during 1903. One hundred and forty-one of Milford's 172 inhabitants signed the document received by the county commission in November. E.S. Sawyer became the first town president, with Arvin M. Stoddard, then seventy-eight years old, Angus Buchanan, J.L. Tanner, and James Forgie as trustees. One of the first orders of business was selecting a town marshal and estab­lishing ordinances for disturbing the peace. The first Sunday School union of the Methodist church was organized 7 July 1905 by Reverend D.E. Carter. Spanish American War A few men from Beaver County volunteered for the brief Spanish American War in 1898. John Frank Tolton recruited volunteers to serve under Theodore Roosevelt's command in the Rough Riders. In the spring of 1898, Orson P. Allred, Lorenzo Bohn, Wilford ENTRANCE INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900-1920 213 Beaver veterans of World War I in front of the newly dedicated Dough boy statue on Memorial Day 1927. (Merle Lessing) Cartwright, Robert B. Findlay, Stephen H. Fotheringham, Harry Harris, John Mathews, George Roosevelt, Joseph Robinson, Joseph Skinner, and Arthur Smith volunteered. Regardless of their willing­ness to serve, this group of locales arrived in Jacksonville, Florida, after the war ended. Nonetheless, they were honorably discharged and returned home in July 1898.54 World War I and the Flu Epidemic World War I was another matter. The United States entered World War I in April 1917, a conflict that had erupted in Europe with the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austria- Hungarian throne, and in his wife, Sophie, in Sarajevo in June 1914. Beaver residents shared the majority opinion that the United States should remain neutral and avoid involvement in the conflict if at all possible. However, when the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917, young men from the county served in the armed forces and families adjusted to the loss of manpower on their farms and local businesses. Beaver residents supported the United States com- 214 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY mitment to "fight the war to end all wars" a n d "make the world safe for democracy." Representative of this patriotism are the statements of John Franklin Tolton, a Beaver County Democrat who was elected to his fourth t e rm in the state house of representatives in November 1916. D u r i n g the 1917 he was selected as Speaker of the House of Representatives, and on the eve of war with Germany he reported: Before the close of the Legislature in March, while Germany was heaping indignities upon us, and we were hesitating about entering the war, I made some timely remarks, upon the floor of the House, about our duties in the premises, which quite electri­fied members and visitors, and led to a speedy conclusion of the debate. When we had fully entered into the arena of the World War, and organization of our forces as a State began, the responsibility of Chairman of the County Council of Defense fell upon me. I continued so to act until the termination of the War in November 1918. Every drive for money and man power was fully met, and that speedily, by my department, for which prompt service we were fittingly complimented.55 A Beaver C o u n t y Council of Defense was set up soon after entrance into the war. This group organized local efforts in prepara­tion. They included the following: J.F. Tolton, chair and finance; D. Frazer, secretary-treasurer, publicity; Russell E. Parsons, legal; Dr. Jos. T. McGregor, sanitation and medicine; Henry Frazer, food supply and conservation, industrial survey; William Hurst, labor; R.H. Strickland, vice-chair, military affairs; J.H. Barton, state protection; George Jefferson, transportation; H.T. Hanks, survey of man power; W. J. Burns, George Marshall, Mrs. Margaret Murdock, women's work. The Council of Defense set u p a committee on child welfare to i n s u r e t h a t children would not be neglected d u r i n g the war. The national slogan of such groups was: "Save a hundred thousand babies and give the children a square deal." The group had four basic goals: (1) to protect women during periods of maternity, children during infancy; (2) to encourage mothers to care for elder children usually left to fend for themselves; (3) to enforce child labor laws, compul­sive education laws; a n d (4) to provide recreation for all children. ENTRANCE INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900-1920 215 A welcome to members of the 145th Artillery Regiment of the Utah National Guard. (Utah State Historical Society) Members of this committee included representatives of the P.T.A., the school board, and local women's clubs. R.H. Strickland headed the county food administration commit­tee. He traveled throughout the county, held meetings, and super­vised the observance of food regulations. He distributed rationed food products, like sugar. Chesley Barton was the county fuel admin­istrator. His principal duty was monitoring coal traffic. Some people of Beaver County contributed to the war fund. The county also contributed foodstuffs to be distributed in supply sta­tions in Europe. Red Cross units engaged local women in prepara­tions for relief work. Classes in elementary nursing were held locally. There women made bandages of old cloth to be sent to European medical units. Beaver County women and children conducted cloth­ing drives to gather clothing, blankets and other supplies to be sent abroad Beaver County's young men started to leave for service in Europe during April 1917, and by the end of the war at least 256 Beaver County residents saw military service including 130 from Beaver, 82 from Milford, 28 from Minersville, 9 from Adamsville and 7 from Greenville. Five men lost their lives in military service, including 216 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY Downtown Beaver. (Utah State Historical Society) Joseph M. Martinez of Beaver who was killed in Germany in November 1918; James Gilbert Yardley, w h o died in a hospital in France after combat service in the Argonne Forest; William Wallace Ipson, a sniper with the Marines who became a casualty on the high seas off Brest, France; Rural King Dorrity, who died of influenza on 23 October 1918 a n d Leroy Q. Eyre of Minersville who died of unidentified causes. Two Beaver residents, Roland G. Nowers and Bert Swindlehurst, were w o u n d e d in combat and spent several months in government hospitals.56 All U t a h men i n d u c t e d into service left Utah to be t r a i n e d at Camp Lewis on American Lake in Washington State. Most of t h em were in the 362nd Infantry. The division landed in France on 22 July 1918. There they stayed first at Chaumont and other locations in rugged battle camps, hiking over hills and through marshes nearby. After their division disbanded, their commander, Major General Johnston, wrote Utah governor Simon Bamberger a letter praising their performance. The people of Utah have reason to be proud of the record made by their representatives in the Ninety first division. It has been a plea- ENTRANCE INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900-1920 217 sure to command men of this kind. They have demonstrated that no better soldiers exist than can be made of young American citi­zens. They will return to their civil pursuits, not only with the experience gained as soldiers, but will return better citizens because of their service during the war. They have learned how to com­mand and how to obey; how to bear with fortitude the unavoid­able inconveniences and even sufferings of the campaign. I congratulate you upon the return of such men to the citizenship of your state, and with equal sincerity I part with them with gen­uine regret.57 When the "doughboys" returned from Europe after the war, Beaver City had a pageant in the Beaver Opera House commemorat­ing their brave efforts. Organizers included the Boy Scouts, R.H. Strickland, Margaret Murdock, Laura Shepard, and Dr. Gibson. The program was based on a series of tableaus representing the "great" moments in American armed forces history.58 During and just after the war, many both in Europe and at home suffered with the Spanish Flu epidemic which was felt in every Beaver County town. Thirteen-year-old Florence Barnes remembered how in 1918 it seemed that virtually everyone was sick with high temper­atures and congested lungs. Treatments included mustard plasters and bed rest. Many died from the flu, including Florence's father. Another woman, Rosemary Davis's mother, remembered that when she was a little girl, "a wagon that would come by everyday and pick up the dead. They would just put them out the door. Everybody was afraid to go anywhere. They were afraid to buy groceries. . . . they would call the flu wagon and pick up the bodies that were left on the front steps."59 A volunteer crew drove through Beaver County towns to pick up the dead, according to Alton Smith. "I think that they got so scared that if they got that flue [sic], they thought they were going to die. I think that's what killed a lot of them, fear."60 Smith remem­bered, "They used to quarantine all the time when I was a kid. If you had measles or anything, they usually locked you in the house for three weeks. I don't care whether you'd had it or not." The family would post a sign on their front door warning of the quarantine. Groceries would be dropped off on the porch. With a world war concluded, and the threat of a catastrophic 218 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY influenza epidemic diminishing, Beaver County residents, as did their fellow citizens t h r o u g h o u t the country, looked forward to a r e t u r n to what newly elected President Warren G. Harding called "normalcy." Little d i d t h e y realize t h a t t h e next decades w o u l d b r i n g t h e worst e c o n o m i c crisis i n America's h i s t o r y a n d involvement in a n o t h er world war that would take Beaver County's sons a n d daughters back across t h e Atlantic to N o r t h Africa, the British Isles, a n d Europe, as well as to t h e islands of t h e Pacific. ENDNOTES 1. 1 A.B. Blainey, "A Trip into Beaver County," The Arrowhead (August 1911): 61. 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid. 4. The Weekly Press (Beaver, Utah), 5 February 1909. 5. Dale Morgan, "Historical Sketch of Beaver County," 28-29. 6. Arid G. Merkley, ed., Monuments to Courage: A History of Beaver County (Milford, UT: Beaver County Chapter of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1948), 161, 220. 7. The Weekly Press, 5 February 1909. 8. Ibid., 24 May 1907. 9. Ibid. 10. Ilene H. Kingsbury, "The Life and Times and Teaching Career of John Samuel Hanks," typescript, Utah State Historical Society, 9-10. 11. The Weekly Press, 8 July 1908. 12. Ibid., 3 April 1908. 13. Ibid. 14. Ibid., 14 October 1910. 15. Ibid. 16. The Beaver Press, 10 July 1931. 17. The Weekly Press, 2 April 1915. 18. The Beaver Press, 22 February 1946. 19. The Weekly Press, 21 August 1908. 20. The Beaver Press, 12 December 1948. 21. In 1958 Utah Power and Light bought Telluride Power. 22. Merkley, Monuments to Courage, 358. 23. Bill Woods, Charles Jamison, and Randall Banks, oral interview. ENTRANCE INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900-1920 219 24. Ibid. 25. Ibid. 26. The Weekly Press, 22 December 1905. 27. David A. Tanner, interviewed by Gladys Whittiker, 12 October 1974, Beaver, Utah. 28. Ibid. 29. "Beaver County Resources," Beaver County News, 1913, Clipping File, USHS. 30.Ibid. 31. Ibid. 32. Later this became the site of the Brooklawn Creamery owned after 1936 by investers from Salt Lake City. 33. See Charles S. Peterson, "Albert F. Potter's Wasatch Survey, 1902: A Beginning for Public Management of Natural Resources in Utah," Utah Historical Quarterly 39 (Summer 1971): 238-50. Thomas Alexander, "The Powell Irrigation Survey and the People of the West," Journal of the West 7 (January 1968): 48-53; and Thomas Alexander, "lohn Wesley Powell, the Irrigation Survey, and the Inauguration of the Second Phase of Irrigation Development in Utah," Utah Historical Quarterly 37 (Spring 1969): 190-206. 34. George Thomas, The Development of Institutions under Irrigation (New York: Macmillan Co., 1920), 33. 35. John Franklin Tolton, "From the Halls of Memory," chapter thirty-one, typescript at the Utah State Historical Society Library. 36. Allan Kent Powell, "Elections in the State of Utah," Utah History Encyclopedia (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1994), 189 and William L. Roper and Leonard J. Arrington, William Spry: Man of Firmness, Governor of Utah (Salt Lake City: Utah State Historical Society, 1971), 110. 37. Lucy E.W. Burns, interviewed by Jay Haymond, 27 February 1974, Beaver, Utah. 38. Florence Barnes, interviewed by Rosemary Davis, 25 February 1975, Milford, Utah, 10. 39. The Weekly Press, 9 July 1915. 40. Ibid., 7 April 1900. 41. Lucy Elizabeth Walker Burns, interviewed by Marian Sund, 22 February 1974 Utah State Historical Society. 42. The Weekly Press, 18 August 1905. 43. Ibid., 28 July 1905. 44. David A. Tanner interview. 220 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY 45. The Weekly Press, 16 July 1915. 46. Ibid., 30 June 1905. 47. Ibid., 20 November 1914. 48. Ibid., September 1909. 49. Ibid., 24 October 1919. 50. Minnie McKeon, Roosevelt Hot Springs, Milford, Utah. Typescript provided to the author by Gladys Whittaker of Milford. 51. Beaver Press, 7 November 1940. 52. The Weekly Press, 1 January 1909. 53. County Court Record, vol C , p. 96, cited in Dale L. Morgan" Historical Sketch of Beaver County," 28. 54. Merkley, Monuments to Courage, 190. 55. John Franklin Tolton, "From the Halls of Memory," chapter 32. 56. Merkley, Monuments to Courage, 161, 190-94, 201, 222, 333. 57. Noble Warrum, Utah in the World War (Salt Lake City: Arrow Press, 1924), 50. 58. The Weekly Press, 4 April 1919. 59. Florence Barnes, interviewed by Rosemary Davis, 25 February 1975, Milford, Utah. 60. Alton Smith, interviewed by Rosemary Davis, 30 September 1978, Milford, Utah, 10.