A History of Beaver County

A post war movement into better times, 1950 -1999-2

A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 337 toward the edges of town instead of the center. Downtown businesses closed because of this effect, as the town shifted to the exigencies of modern living. Other important historical highways-State Highway 21 extending westward from Beaver City to Minersville, Milford, and into Nevada; State Highway 257, leading northward from Milford to Delta; and State Highway 153, running from Beaver eastward through the Tushar Mountains to Junction in Piute County provided a network of roads for the transportation of Beaver's citizens to their homes, places of business, or public services. Airports Municipal airports located at Milford and Beaver are used pri­marily by aircraft from Salt Lake City and St. George as well as other locations from throughout the Intermountain West. The Milford Airport is the principal landing field in the county. The construction of two small cinder block T-hangars in 1948 and the resurfacing of the mile-long landing strip in 1956 were major improvements for the airport.104 Milford's airport had unusual traffic during the first week of February 1962-three helicopters and an air force C-47 made emer­gency landings there and waited for suitable flying weather before repair crews and a new engine could be transported in. Not a large airport or landing strip for regular airlines the airport nevertheless logged 690 landings during 1961. Two hundred and sixty three of those stopped in Milford for the night-lodging in local motels and patronizing restaurants and other recreation spots. Others stopped for a few hours so passengers could go into town for a meal.105 A severe windstorm with winds blowing at seventy miles an hour destroyed the hangers and three planes sitting on the landing field in Milford in August 1960. One Cessna 172, belonging to Don Mayer, had a smashed cowling and the radio was torn from the instrument panel as well as damage to the fuselage. The sudden winds lifted the roof off the hangar and carried it a distance before dropping it on Highway 257, scattering debris in every direction. The supporting beams crashed down on four airplanes stored within; the back wall constructed with cinder blocks was blown out altogether and strewn across the highway.106 The Milford airport reopened in June 1968 338 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY with a grand celebration including a visit of a helicopter rescue crew from Nellis Air Force Base-the same type of helicopter used during the Vietnam war. The new facility included four T-hangers, an office lounge, and replaced the less permanent cinder block hangars that were destroyed.107 The Lions Club served a chuck wagon breakfast and the American Legion Auxiliary sold snow cones and sandwiches during the event. Milford Important to community identity are the traditional annual events staged by city and county leaders. Milford's annual Lions Club Labor Day race meet provided a showcase for the best horses in the county from Milford, South Milford, Minersville, Beaver, Parowan, Cedar City, and Panguitch. During the afternoon long event, the "Sentimentalists," three lovely ladies from Delta, sang in between races. The annual Jaycee Labor Day dance held in St. Bridget's Recreation Hall from nine in the evening to one in the morning was another particular favorite social activity. The pony league champi­onship playoff baseball game and other sporting events made the Labor Day weekend a particular favorite of Milford's citizens.108 Beaver City held competing events at the Beaver Valley Roundup- wild horses rounded up in the rugged country west of Cove Fort were used for rodeo events as well as brahma steers, calf roping, and riding a "bucking car fitted with a saddle." Sponsored by the three Beaver LDS wards, the proceeds of the roundup were set aside to light the Beaver Ball Park.109 The Milford Post No. 16 of the American Legion planned a "Forty-Niners Celebration" for Friday, 26 May 1950. Businesses planned to close for the afternoon which would begin with a huge parade at 1:30 P.M. Parade marshall Bud James awarded prizes to the most elaborately decorated floats. After the parade, children were invited to the park lawn by the library where various races, games and sporting events would proceed long into the evening. The sea­son's premier baseball game, would be held at the Milford Fairgrounds and two dances were planned for adults and teenagers.110 Kaylee Fillmore was named' 49er queen, being judged for her poise, personality, beauty, and measurements.111 The grand prize went to the A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 339_ float built by the Lady Lions based on the theme-" sack from Huges Style shop." The Parowan Riding Club "Red Hill Wranglers" won sec­ond and the third place award went to the South Milford Community Club. The Milford 4-H race meet held each Labor Day was another display event for local talent.112 A new lighting system, the "White Way" began operating in November 1950. Mayor Delmar Kirk threw the switch from a truck platform in front of the Telluride Power Company offices in front of cheering crowds. The Legion Comic band played "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight," as the lights flooded the street and the crowds let out cheers of approval.113 The Lions Club played an important role in boosting Milford's potential for growth. "Milford used to be the liveliest town in Southern Utah-the hub around which the rest of this area revolved, and can again be Southern Utah's leading city if we all work together toward that end," they asserted enthusiastically at a gathering of businessmen and civic leaders in December 1950. The group addressed the question, How can we build our city? Gene Kirk said that the chief question was how to keep payroll money in town-Ways must be found," he said, "to make this the kind of city folks like to trade in." Roads in and out of town are key to that trade, he continued. Milford must bring tourists and pleasure drivers and "folks who are just curious to see what there is in Milford. And all of these visitors bring money with them and leave some of it here." Mayor Delmar Kirk identified the lack of certain services-no shoe repair shop, no tin shop or other businesses. This forced people to go elsewhere for vital services where they would shop as well. Kirk also thought Milford needed a new cafe where visitors and salesmen could enjoy a good meal.114 In 1951 the city voted on a bond issue of $15,000 for a local swimming pool and $5,000 for improvements to the water system.115 The bond election carried by a vote of six to one.116 Milford's children celebrated Independence Day 1951 with a full day of swimming, games in Library Park, a free show at the Firmage theater, and a dance at the Legion Open Air Pavillion. It was estimated that as many as 200 children swam that first day in the pool.117 The Milford Street oiling program was well underway in 1955- 340 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY Geothermal power plant at Roosevelt Hot Springs northeast of Milford. (Courtesy Gladys Whittaker) A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 341 a total of 47,000 gallons of special road oil was mixed with 4,000 yards of selected finished gravel, spread, and rolled onto the smooth-to hard-surfaced streets. This meant that more than 80 percent of local streets were resurfaced for a total cost of $6,000. State and county personnel assisted the town with the work, providing addi­tional equipment, expertise and labor.118 By 1957 streets throughout the town were paved, making Milford at that time one of the few rural Utah towns with a completely paved road system.119 That same summer Milford erected a new building at the rear of the Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company of cement blocks to house the central office equipment to operate a new dial system. Cable was erected in south Milford to increase facilities and expand services.120 The next summer Milford installed a television tower on a mountain near the Hickory Mine, site six miles west of town, and immediately started installing cable.121 John Grimshaw announced, "We plan to keep working until we have all three Utah TV channels functioning satisfactorily, but we feel that we can safely promise good reception in the very near future on channels 5 and 2." Jay Wright, executive vice president of KSL-TV and Radio, assured a committee of county businessmen in April 1957 that they "had excel­lent signals on all three channels."122 But as new buildings went up, reminders of the past disappeared. One last remnant of the mining boom days, the Palmer House on Main Street, was razed in 1957 to make room for a parking lot.123 Milford installed a new 126,000 gallon water storage tank suffi­cient for a town twice its size in 1955. Union Pacific donated the sur­plus tank to the city and Haven Construction of Salt Lake City moved it on special truck equipment across the Union Pacific switch tracks and main line up Center Street to its new location on the hill.124 The city purchased a new pump and painted the tank silver to match the other storage tanks.125 Milford's Main Street and residences in the lower areas of town had been flooded several times over the past decades-property damage always created severe problems for the town. In 1959 the United States Corps of Engineers surveyed the flood channels and recommended a flood control project. They pro­jected that the cost of diverting the natural flood channel would be "under $400,000." 342 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY Milford played a very active part in Utah's commemoration of the Bicentennial of the American Revolution in 1776. In commemo­ration of the 200th anniversary of the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition that passed through Beaver County in 1776, the Milford Historical Society spearheaded a project to built a monument and ramada in the Milford Historical Park. The community raised nearly $7,000 and received a matching grant from the Utah Bicentennial Commission for the project. A day-long celebration was held on 9 October 1976 that included a parade with the arrival of a group of riders retracing the original route, a community barbecue, a dedica­tory speech by Carlton Culmsee, and a performance by the Ballet Folklorico attended by over 500 people. The Korean War County National Guardsmen were called to active duty on 19 August 1950 as part of the activation of the Utah National Guard during the Korean War. The Korean War began in June 1950 when 90,000 North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel separating Communist North Korea from the Republic of South Korea. The United States condemned the aggressive action, sought and won United Nations support for a police action against the invading North Korean forces, and began to mobilize the military including National Guard units for action in Korea. The North Korean troops pushed quickly south down the Korean peninsula until South Korean and United Nations forces were able to establish the Pusan defensive line in the southeastern corner of the country. On 15 September 1950 American troops stationed in Japan under the command of Douglas McArthur made a successful landing at Inchon, retook Seoul, the capitol of South Korea, and crossed the 38th parallel into North Korea. By November 1950 U.N. troops had advanced through most of North Korea and were approaching the Chinese border when Chinese Communist forces attacked, pushing the U.N. forces back to near the 38th parallel. By the time the Communist China entered the conflict, Beaver County guardsmen were in Washington training for deployment in Korea. Following World War II the 222th Field Artillery Regiment was reorganized as the 213th Armed Field Artillery Battalion on 14 A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 343 Members of the Beaver National Guard Unit during service in Korea in 1951. (Courtesy LaVar Hollingshead) March 1947 with headquarters in Cedar City and units in Richfield, St. George, Fillmore, and Beaver. Among the men activated on 19 August 1950 were members of the Headquarters Battery in Cedar City and the Service Battery in Beaver. The Service Battery was under the command of Captain Grant Tolton and included more than fifty guardsmen from the county. Captain William W Firmage of Beaver was assigned to Headquarters Battery, a n d other county residents served in other units as enlistees or draftees in the army and other branches of the armed services. The 213th Battalion was at approximately 60 percent strength with it was activated, and at Fort Lewis, Washington, additional per­sonnel were assigned to bring the battalion to near full strength. The training in Washington was intense. It included familiarization fire of the small arms, firing of the 2.35 rocket launchers and grenade launchers. It included combat train­ing which emphasized the obstacle course, combat in villages, the infiltration course, and the transition firing range. Artillery fire was the main concentration of the training. Battery and Battalion prob- 344 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY lems took up most of the time. The Battalion artillery weapons consisted of the 105 mm self-propelled Howitzer mounted on M- 7 chassis. The Batteries increased their efficiency to fire and posi­tion the guns, and then learned to maneuver the Battery as part of the Battalion. To fire the guns it was necessary to go to the Yakima Artillery Firing Range which they did for two weeks in November. The total training time lasted for approximately four months to the end of December when rumors began to circulate that the Battalion was scheduled to go overseas.126 The rumors proved true and the battalion departed from Seattle on board the US MTS General M. C. Meigs on 26 January 1951 for t h e Far East. The ship s t o p p e d in San Francisco to take o n more t r o o p s and t h e n sailed u n d e r the Golden Gate Bridge b o u n d for Yokohama, Japan. The day after reaching Japan, the ship departed for Pusan, Korea, where it arrived on 16 February 1951. After two months of training near Pusan, the 213th was loaded on three land­ing ship tanks (LSTs) and departed for Inchon on 3 April 1951. After disembarking at Inchon, the battalion marched northeastward across t h e H a n River on the Seoul Bridge a n d on to p o s i t i o n s n o r t h of Kapyong which they reached on 22 April 1951. Late that afternoon the battalion fired their first rounds in the Korean conflict. Two days later the situation became extremely tense as Chinese Communist forces from the n o r t h pushed United Nation and South Korean units back and the 213th was in danger of being overrun by the enemy forces as it provided cover fire d u r i n g the withdrawal. One South Korean general gave credit to the 213th for repelling a Chinese Communist; he wrote "Without the fires of the 213th Armored Field Artillery Battalion the attack of the night before could not have been repulsed, that many Chinese had been killed by the 213th Armored field Artillery Battalion fire . . ,"127 A m o n t h later the battalion was still in the thick of battle and won distinction when a combat patrol killed nearly 200 communist troops and captured nearly 1,000 prisoners, winning for the battal­ion the Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation and the Silver Star for Captain Ray E. Cox who led the patrol.128 The citation for out­standing performance of duty and extraordinary heroism in action against the enemy by t h e Headquarters Battery and Battery A near 346 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY A few days later, the 213th Battalion moved north across the 38th Parallel into North Korea and took up defensive positions continu­ing to fire artillery rounds at the enemy as offensive actions ceased and diplomats met to negotiate an armistice which was finally signed in July 1953 bringing an end to the fighting. The 213th remained in action throughout 1951 when in the last months of the year most of the Utah National Guardsmen were rotated home.130 County guards­men served with distinction, and as the 50th anniversary of their acti­vation for the Korean conflict approaches, the National Guard remains an important institution within the county. The Vietnam Conflict County newspapers are surprisingly vague about the impact of the Vietnam war on the area. Mention is made when Gary Banks was wounded in action in Vietnam in January 1968, a poignant reminder that the country was at war. While on patrol with other members of his marine company, one of his fellow soldiers stepped on a mine that killed two men and wounded the others.131 The minutes of the county commission also are silent about the conflict that was ripping America's cities apart and causing such social disfunction through­out the country. Perhaps this was a statement about the power of tra­ditional ways of life, and the rhythm of the rural lifestyle, but perhaps also somehow related to the respect generated by local veterans for the government, reminding young people about their responsibility to country. An interesting study conducted by the Regional Economic Information System Bureau of Economic Analysis in May 1998 enu­merated the number of veterans residing in the county. In 1990 the county had 309 veterans between the ages of sixteen and sixty-four, 301 of whom were men and eight women. Of this group, 121 fought in Vietnam and survived. Obviously a significant number of local youths fought in the war, returned to their homes, and picked up their lives again. What social disruption was felt in larger cities, on college campuses, and other places was of little significance in Beaver County's towns where life continued to be focused on providing for one's family and earning a living, building a home, and forming rela­tionships. 132 Two Beaver County soldiers were killed in Vietnam: Kim A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 347 Bird of Milford and James Low of Beaver, a warrant officer and an army helicopter pilot. The MX Missile Project In 1979 the United States Air Force announced plans for a new intercontinental ballistic missile system that would be deployed on a circular railroad track so that more than 200 missiles could be moved into 4,600 shelters to be constructed along the track. The air force considered sites in Nevada and Utah, and western Beaver County became a top candidate for the project. At the end of 1980, the Beaver County News announced that MX was the county's top news story for the year. While government offi­cials weighted the strategic pros and cons of the various sites, county residents considered the impacts of the influx of between 12,000 and 105,000 construction workers, the economic boon it would be for the county, the impact the project would have on county land, water, and air, and what the future of the county would be as MX would undoubtedly become a major factor in American-Soviet relations and perhaps the beginning point of a future nuclear war.133 Construction was expected to be completed by 1994.134 In January 1980 the Milford City Council voted to encourage the air force to consider the area for one of the major bases. The council was not in favor of county land being used only for shelters which would provide little economic benefit, but urged that one of the major bases serving MX be built as close to Milford as possible.135 Utah governor Scott Matheson held a town meeting in the Milford High School auditorium on 23 February 1980 to discuss the project. The meeting indicated deeply divided opinions about MX. Wall Gregerson stated he believed that the "silent majority" in the county were not opposed to MX, b u t " . . . most object to the possible change in their way of life." Gregerson went on to express the con­cerns of many: "It could be catastrophic if Russia attacks. Russians cannot be trusted." He referred to their past actions and their pres­ence in Afghanistan, indicating the need to support this plan to defend the United States from Soviet aggression. Jay Hiatt lamented the fact that Milford's population was stag­nant and that young people had to leave the area to find employ- 348 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY ment. He concluded, "We'd like to see some growth. If MX is it, we'll accept it and overcome the problems." Vern Wood, speaking for the Wood and Eyre Cattle Company which ran cattle in Pine Valley, feared that MX would force them out of business because contrary to air forces promises that cattle would be permitted to graze around the clusters, it would not be possible. Furthermore, there was no extra water in the county to support the project and " . . . we'll loose one half of Beaver County to MX includ­ing antelope herds and recreation." Dr. D.A. Synond argued that only a small minority supported the projects which included the major newspaper' editor and those " . . . who . . . expected to make big bucks." He went on to predict that "the impact of MX would be inflationary beyond belief. The impact on environment and communities would be a horror." He suggested " .. . that instead of building more war making machines, we should help the world feed themselves and make the world beautiful."136 If local residents were ambivalent about MX, so was the rest of the nation. Concerns of cost, actual need, and long-range impacts were debated in Congress and among military leaders. When the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a statement that MX was not wanted in Utah, it became clear that the controversial project would have a difficult time ever becoming a reality. The MX project had been proposed by Jimmy Carter, but after the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 its status was unclear. Throughout 1981 air force planners moved forward with preliminary work on the project, making several major changes in the initial plans. However, Reagan never fully embraced the MX project and favored his own Strategic Defense Initiative which would be based in space, not in the isolated valleys of Utah and Nevada. By the end of 1981 there was little hope or concern that MX would ever become a reality.137 Medical and Health Beaver County's medical and health needs continued to be a pri­ority after World War II. In large measure, these needs were satisfied through the county health department-which includes the three A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 349 county commissioners, a doctor director, and a county public nurse-and a collaboration with a multi-county regional health pro­gram. The Southwestern Planning District (a five-county area) joins Beaver with Washington, Iron, Kane, and Garfield counties in pro­viding health care for inhabitants of the region. Beaver County had several hospital facilities and long-term care beds, primarily at Milford. Milford Valley Memorial Hospital has about fourteen gen­eral care beds and twenty long-term care. Beaver Valley Hospital at Beaver had a ten-bed capacity with no long-term beds. In 1950 medical care provided at the small Milford hospital was restricted by the number of available full-time nurses. According to Dr. Eugene H. Davie, two registered nurses had more patients than they could properly care for. Davie offered to train girls or young women as nurses. "They would obtain," he said, "practical experience in addition to good pay at the hospital, and would be offered regular nurses lecture classes in the evening . . . They would be given a cer­tificate, entitling them to work as a practical nurse anywhere in the country." The hospital was also short of supplies such as towels, sheets, bed pads, and other necessities, and Davie called for dona­tions. 138 The Milford Valley Memorial Hospital Association incorporated in 1953 with the expressed purpose to "operate, maintain, and extend or build a hospital in Milford, Utah for the purpose of promoting the health and physical welfare of the inhabitants of Milford and adja­cent area." The group also planned to build a new hospital or expand the existing structure. In an important way, the group's organization expressed a commitment to keep the hospital in Milford and present a united front against efforts to pull it to the east side of the county.139 Plans for a new hospital in Milford were announced by the Milford Valley Memorial Hospital Association in March 1960. A strip of land 245 feet wide located between Main and 100 West streets in the southeast end of the Milford fairgrounds was secured by the city council; a survey of soil conditions, slop, and other studies prelimi­nary to construction were begun in March as well, and Ashley T. Carpenter was hired as architect for the project. The proposed budget for the hospital construction was $350,000, including $175,000 from federal funds, another $192,500 from the county, and another 13 per- 350 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY cent of the total cost from private funds.140 Plans for the hospital were fine-tuned during the next several months, and a series of public hearings was held to generate support for a public bond to fund part of the project. Ideally, the hospital would service the west end of Beaver County.141 Milford's main businesses, clubs, and other organizations joined private individuals to raise funds for the hospital-a $160,000 bond issue, $5,000 from private donations, and smaller donations from various fund raising events. The Deer Hunters Ball, for one, raised $391.35. The Lions Club, the Lady Trainmen, Legion Auxiliary, Minersville Relief Society, ESA Sorority and the Seven Cleveretes 4-H Club all sponsored booths at a street dance sponsored by the hospital association.142 In December 1962, Milford received notice of approval of a fed­eral grant of $195,294 of Hill-Burton funds for construction of a ten-bed hospital and ten-bed nursing home in Milford.143 When completed, the Milford Valley Memorial hospital was comparable to that in Beaver, offering Xray and laboratory diagnostic services, car­diac care, and limited emergency and trauma services. The County Public Health Department provided immunizations, epidemiology, environmental health, cancer screening, WIC programs, HTN screening, and educational programs, well child assessments, school nursing services, STD program, and general health services. More than a thousand people visited the new hospital on its opening day- 6 June 1965. The Gray Ladies, Junior Red Cross Girls, and members of the Service Area Board of Trustees conducted tours of the facility and entertained guests throughout the day.144 Recognizing the tremendous benefit federal and state funds could provide for Beaver City if a new hospital were built there, the Beaver City Council backed efforts to plan construction of a new hospital for Beaver in October 1959, pledging to appropriate funds to be used for a "suitable" building.145 At a series of town meetings, local supporters of the hospital pro­ject met to discuss the implications of the county-supported hospital in Milford and the difficulty in securing federal funds for two hospi­tals in the county. Evan Nielsen, high school instructor, studied sta­tistics gathered from LDS church records, 1958 income tax returns, A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 351 The Frisco Charcoal Kilns. (Courtesy Gladys Whittaker) and a survey of local residents to determine how many families had hospital expenses the previous year. The conclusion, he suggested, was that substantial funds were being spent outside of town on med­ical service-money that should be spent in Beaver City instead.146 In 1959 the county commission helped resolve this competition by delineating the boundaries of a new Hospital Service Area, pro­viding the way to access federal funds for a hospital in Beaver City as well as Milford.147 Two areas in the county would therefore qualify for Hill-Burton federal funds.148 Many members of the Beaver Hospital Committee met with the Beaver County Commission in December 1959 to petition the board for an appropriation of $15,000 to begin the hospital projects. It was clear after this point that the commission would have to juggle the two competing interests in the distribution of available resources.149 In 1963 voters considered a bond issue to fund $149,000 for a hospital in Service Area No. 1, the area east of Minersville Reservoir. The money, designated for construction as well as for running the 352 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY hospital, was part of the total estimated cost of the facility of $253,850. Located on a site in Beaver City on the west corner of 1st North and 4th East, the building would include 745 square feet of administration space and 2,675 square feet of patient space-includ­ing ten beds and five two-bed rooms, or another 1,200 square feet, and another 625 for corridors and 210 for a day room.150 By April 1964 final construction plans for the Milford facility, designed by architects Carpenter and Stringham of Salt Lake City, were approved by Hill-Burton in San Francisco and accepted at the Beaver Hospital Board. Russel Mayer, chair of the board of Beaver County Service Area No. 2, said the building would be "the most modern structure Beaver County has ever known, with each room individually electrically heated, cooled by refrigeration, oxygen piped in each room, and inter-com telephone and communications extend­ing to each room, corridor and rest area." For an estimated cost of $400,000, the structure would include ten patient rooms and wards, administration offices, recreation rooms, dining rooms, waiting rooms, a nursery, operating room, isolation ward, kitchen, laundry, and storage rooms.151 Progress on the Beaver City hospital project was halted while the Utah Supreme Court considered a challenge to the bond issue which would fund hospital construction in Hospital Service Area No. 1. The plaintiff, Sherman Carter, sought a declaratory judgement that Beaver County Service Area No. 1 was in violation of the bill specifying legit­imate services provided by a service area-police protection, struc­tural fire protection, culinary or irrigation water retail service and conservation, among numerous other services. Many of these ser­vices, in theory, might duplicate services offered by the county itself.152 During April, Beaver City voters voted nine to one in support of the hospital plan. This was the third vote, showing their willingness to help pay for the project.153 The case, Carter vs. Beaver City, was heard by Judge Day in the county courthouse in May 1965. The court decided in favor of Beaver City and established a thirty-day time period in which protests could be filed against the decision. Construction began on the Beaver Hospital in July 1965.154 Carter A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 353 Brothers of Cedar City built the brick building with desert coral face brick and cast stone panels.155 In 1998 there were two hospitals and two medical clinics in Beaver City and Milford. The Beaver Valley hospital provides the fol­lowing services: x-ray, physical therapy, social services, dietary ser­vices, home health care, outpatient services, an intensive care unit, and ambulance service. The staff includes three x-ray technicians, three medical technologies, three physicians, six registered nurses, and one L.P.N. Education The largest problem facing the Beaver County Board of Education between 1950 and 1965 was decreasing student enroll­ment. Even though yearly declines were slight, they were steady. The enrollment was 1,333 in 1950, 1195 in 1952,156 and 1,134 in 1963. In 1952 the county decreased by sixty-two students-Milford High lost no students, Milford Elementary dropped nineteen students, Minersville gained seven students, and Beaver High lost forty-one students. The next year another sixty students left the system.157 These declines in student populations strained available support from the State Board of Education.158 The local school board had to deal with reductions in Distribution Units (state appropriations) and had no immediate way of reducing classroom costs. The unstable enrollment in the district caused perpetual school finance problems. According to Superintendent D.R. Pearce of the Beaver School District, "We in Beaver County are caught in the squeeze between many fixed costs and decreasing authority to pro­vide educational opportunity to our children." As a result, the district had to cut expenditures for supplies, building maintenance, texts, and implement a more modest program. "We can no longer operate as we have done in the past by simply doubling up the children in each class."159 A proposed three-mill property tax increase for schools was voted down in 1954, 777 to 297. Beaver, as well as seven other dis­tricts, all rural agricultural areas, voted against tax increases for school financing. In Beaver, Sanpete, and Millard counties the vote was about three to one in opposition to the idea.160 In the aftermath of the defeated tax increase for schools the 354 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY Beaver School Board met to consider a proposal for reducing the number of teachers in the district by four and drastic cuts in services. The Beaver County Educational Association, representing local teachers, met with the board and presented the following recom­mendations: (1) that teachers be given a decent raise and that the board cut programs if necessary; (2) that salary rates reflect educa­tion and experience; and (3) that the association pool contracts until a satisfactory agreement was reached.161 Two weeks after the meeting, teachers who were members of the the Beaver County Educational Association rejected the contracts that had been recently sent and returned nearly all of them.162 The next week the board met again to try and find another way to resolve the complicated financial situa­tion. 163 After another meeting of the teachers association, many of the teachers voted to accept the contracts, but eighteen of the forty-nine teachers indicated that they would not return the following year.164 A second problem was the ratio of students to teachers-in 1950 there were 1,333 students and forty-five teachers, or a ratio of nearly thirty students per teacher. By 1964-65, with 1,204 students and fifty-four teachers, the ratio had dropped drastically to twenty-two stu­dents per teacher-well below the nationally prescribed ratio of twenty-five students per teacher. In some classes, such as the language arts program classes, 90 to 100 students attended lectures by one instructor. In other classes students met with teachers on a one-on-one basis. The school board also struggled with issues about employment of teachers specially trained in chemistry, mathematics, and business, with fluctuating school populations. Under the "Special School" pro­gram of the State Board of Education, Beaver County was able to employ several additional instructors to maintain a satisfactory pro­gram in terms of state expectations regardless of student population. Teacher turnover in the secondary schools was relatively high throughout the 1960s. According to one report, every other year about 50 percent of the teaching faculty changed. For instance, dur­ing the 1962-63 school year there were six new teachers at Milford High and three at Beaver High School. This raised the expense of training new teachers, and added to the costs of recruitment, while the district lost the benefit of having an experienced staff of qualified A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 355 teachers.165 Improvements were made, and since the mid-1980s the teaching faculty has been very stable. Overall, 55.9 percent of Beaver County's educators were men. Also 55.9 percent of all teachers had bachelor's degrees, 23.7 percent had some additional training, and 20.3 percent had master's degrees or higher. As a group, these educators were relatively youthful-30.5 percent between the ages of 19-29, 28.9 percent between 30-39, 16.9 percent between 40-49, 20.3 percent between 50-59, and 3.4 over sixty. Salaries varied that same year (1970) between a typical begin­ning salary of $5,950 to $8,075 (typically reached after working for the school district for twelve years). A master's degree boosted one's salary an additional $600. In 1970, 297 students were enrolled in Beaver City's Belknap Elementary and 335 in Beaver High School. Milford Elementary had 183 students and their high school 192. Minersville Elementary had 98 students and bused its students to Beaver High School. The near­est two year-state college was Dixie College located to the south in St. George and four-year college in Cedar City-Southern Utah State College. Sevier Technical College in Richfield was another educa­tional option. Despite these kinds of strains, the district maintained a vigorous building program, reflecting the attitude that the county's children were a primary resource and ought to be educated in the most up-to- date facilities. A survey reported that buildings throughout the county were structurally sound with the exception of the elementary schools in Minersville and Milford. They recommended restoration and modernization plans for the Beaver schools but suggested that the Milford and Minersville schools be demolished because repairs would be too costly.166 A delegation of seventeen Milford residents attended a school board meeting in January 1956 to request a new elementary school for Milford. The group identified a number of problems with the older structure, including drab colored walls, worn out floors, poor lighting, and other significant structural problems. They proposed that a bond issue be passed in the county to finance the building and that an engineer be hired to conduct a survey of existing school buildings in the county.167 356 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY The 1956 school tax levy passed with a vote of 819 to 154, reflect­ing significant changed sentiment and an increased awareness of the difficulties facing the county school district.168 Beaver County voters approved a $550,000 bond issue for the construction of school build­ings including a new elementary school at Milford for $365,000 and a $175,000 smaller school at Minersville. Another $600,000 were needed to remodel other county schools. It was expected that some of the money would come from the state.169 The board hired archi­tect L. Robert Gardner of Cedar City to design both buildings and Allred & Mitchell of Altamont as general contractors for the Milford project and the Carter Brothers of Cedar City for the Minersville school.170 When completed, teachers, parents, and students were satisfied with their new facility and enthusiastically described it to the Beaver County News: "I didn't realize what an unattractive, unsafe, undesir­able building we had been using until I saw the old building empty, with no fixtures or shelves or equipment to hide the bare walls," one instructor remarked. "The new building, with modern design, fea­tures windows in both halls and exterior walls, providing an abun­dance of light, and adding to the cheerfulness of the general atmosphere . . . The kitchen, . . . is a dream kitchen, with three large ovens, ample cooking space on flat-topped stoves and large prepara­tion and serving counters."171 Class size ranged from twenty to thirty-nine students. Local schools were affected by State Board of Education policies and responses to changing school enrollments. In 1966 the state sug­gested it might close the Minersville school and force the consolida­tion of Milford-Beaver high schools. State policy was that elementary schools had to maintain a minimum of twenty-five students per grade and secondary schools seventy-five students per grade, and that the school was obligated to provide transportation for those students in outlying areas.172 In response to this suggestion, Beaver's Business and Professional Women's Club sponsored a meeting with the Beaver County Board of Education on Wednesday, 12 October 1966, to discuss the consol­idation issue. Parents of local students were urged to come and voice their concerns, discuss the new directive, and make their views A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 357 known.173 The reaction was overwhelmingly negative-it was clear Beaver County citizens did not want a consolidated high school and would fight it, saying there wasn't enough taxable valuation in the county to build a consolidated high school. Two hundred county res­idents attended the meeting, as did Leon Jennings of St. George, a member of the state board.174 Other rural central Utah communities reacted similarly to the threat of consolidation, and Beaver County joined them in their opposition with letters, meetings, and editorials in local newspapers, voicing their almost unanimous disapproval of the concept.175 One of the most innovative and popular programs at Beaver High School was the students' radio station KBCS, 660 kilocycles on the radio dial, "The Voice of Beaver High School," which began its twentieth year of service in 1969. Beaver's radio station was the first in Utah to be recognized for its professional standards, when, in 1949, A.R. Adams, English instructor at the high school, purchased some war surplus equipment to start up a station. By 1950, in a two-by-four foot partitioned off space in the basement, the station began broadcasts. According to one report, "Touring artists who have been here on lyceums say the station compares favorably in every respect with professional stations. Zane G. Adler, radio and journalism instructor says, 'This is one of the most practical departments in the school because it provides on the job training for students.'"176 The radio station helped create a sense of community in the county by broadcasting local sports events. A variety of programs ran routinely each day-newcasting: Carol Williams, Barbara Dalton, and Karma Joseph, the "Trio Time Gals" singing from 4:15-4:30; and, the "Dave Calvert Show" featuring a male quartet. One instructor emphasized the breadth of instruction students were getting through the activity: "One real benefit which seems to receive little attention is the value of the station in teaching English to the students. The practice they get in preparing for an interview and then getting the interview into shape for broadcast is very valu­able- especially since the student is often able to tape his work and hear his own voice and get to know the importance of proper usage of words and inflections."177 But local football and basketball games were the all-time favorite 358 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY The Philo T. Farnsworth statue on the westside of the Historic Beaver County Courthouse (Allan Kent Powell) radio programs on KBCS. In 1958 the Beaver Lions Club took over sponsorship of the telephone hookups so that away games could also be broadcasted locally. Beaver County students held their own in national standardized A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 359 tests and other evaluations. According to a study conducted by Bryce Draper, county curriculum director, Beaver County students tested above national norms in every subject. Based on the California Achievement Test Battery, scores for arithmetic, reading, reading vocabulary, and mechanics of English were relatively high. The weak­est subject was spelling. 178A 1972 evaluation found that "the instruc­tional program in the elementary schools of Beaver School District appears to be generally sound." As far as the secondary schools were concerned, the evaluation recommended a more varied program, but found that "the curriculum offering is very good when compared with schools of similar size." An additional recommendation sug­gested that "the schools of Beaver School District are in the heart of one of the most beautiful and 'science rich' areas of the state, the use of the local environment as an outdoor classroom would enhance the whole education offering and provide a vehicle for the development and practice of a multitude of values and skills."179 In 1998 the Beaver School District managed local public schools, including by that time three elementary schools in Beaver City, Milford and Minersville, and two high schools in Beaver City and Milford. Beaver County does not have a library system but provides financial support to local municipal libraries in Beaver, Minersville, and Milford. Religion and Fraternal Organizations For almost a century, the principal religious activity in the county centered on LDS church congregations. But in the 1950s a Community church was organized in Beaver City. The community center in the basement of the library building was used for church services of this interdenominational union, with members of the Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist and other churches join­ing for worship services at 7:00 P.M. Sunday evenings. Reverend Paul Davis conducted services in Beaver. He also gave services in Marysvale and Panguitch besides delivering a Community church radio broadcast every Sunday morning over radio station KSVC out of Richfield, Utah, at 11:30 A.M.180 Always a more diversified population than the east end of the county, Milford's Methodist congregation joined after the first wor- 360 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY ship service held in their new church b u i l d i n g in June 1962 for a work party to paint their church, clean u p the yard, and install a new roof.181 After a procession from their old church to their new one, led by Roland Culver as marshal, Reverend Glenn R. Phillips, bishop of the Rocky Mountain Area, delivered a sermon to the congregation. Ladies of the Women's Society for Christian Service prepared and served a d i n n e r to members of t h e church.182 The old Methodist church building on Main Street was t o rn down in 1964 after fifty-five years to make way for a five space trailer park to be operated by the Methodist church for permanent residents.183 The Milford LDS ward added a wing to their church building as well as remodeled the inte­rior- building a new entrance and installing a new hot water furnace r o om and heating system for the building, with an intercom system and new carpets throughout.184 Five of Milford's churches jointed together for Thanksgiving ser­vices on 24 November 1966-the First and Second LDS Wards, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, St. Bridget's Catholic Church, and the Community Methodist Church. Jesse Long spoke at the joint service which was held at 10:00 A.M. allowing families p l e n t y of time to return home to prepare their Thanksgiving meals.185 A Milford i n s t i t u t i o n , Father Valine, also known as the "Doughnut Priest," was b o r n in 1908 in the Azores off the western coast of Portugal and came to the United States with his family at the age of eight. O r d a i n e d a priest in 1929, he worked first among Portuguese parishes in California before he came to Utah in 1941. He spent six years in Logan and one year in Richfield before coming to Milford in 1948 to found St. Bridget's Catholic Church. From his base in Milford he began offering Mass in Panguitch, Beaver, Kanab, Richfield, and Grand Canyon, Bryce, a n d Zion National parks. According to Father Valine, "These little places had no churches and few Catholics, but I felt the need to establish a place for t h em so that the people would know the Church existed and was here to stay."186 In order to raise funds for the churches Father Valine undertook sev­eral enterprises including raising alfalfa for sale to local dairymen, catering meals for special occasions, selling St. Christopher medals, and, his most famous endeavor, making doughnuts for sale to tourists and local residents into his nineties. A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 361 C o n s t r u c t i o n began on a $30,000 Milford Masonic temple in May 1952. The Milford Masons of Albert Pike Lodge No. 14 h a d been housed in a frame structure built in 1903, also used as a skating rink, theater, dance pavilion, and Masonic hall. The new structure was a two story cinder block building, 32' by 66', w i t h a full basement, a banquet hall, a n d two rest rooms. An upper story included a rest room, lobby, p r e p a r a t i o n rooms, storage rooms, a n d a 32' by 42' lodge room. The basement had cement block walls, glass brick win­dows, and glass brick decoration. The Albert Pike Lodge No. 14 was first organized in April 1907 under a charter from the Grand Lodge of Utah. Henry Jefferson was t h e first "worshipful master," w i t h Francis Kopsa, senior warden; Samuel Edward Potts, junior warden; William Henry DeWolfe, trea­surer; Burnett A. Filmer, secretary; James August Ingols, senior dea­con; Herbert Nichols, junior deacon; Brandt Henry Engeike, senior steward; August Thiessen, j u n i o r steward; and Alexander Boyter. About 1915 the lodge purchased the old Opera House and met in the upper story. In 1941 they commissioned plans for a new building, but didn't begin construction because of the war.187 Ferdinand Erickson, grand master of the Grand Lodge of Utah, Free and Accepted Masons, assisted by other grand lodge leaders, offi­ciated at the laying of the cornerstone ceremony in May 1953. More that t h i r ty members of the Union Pacific Masonic club of California chartered a special UP car to attend the ceremonies.188 Planning Issues Over time Beaver County's master plans provide a sense of local values and goals. A particular attitude toward land use and develop­ment emerges which reflects tradition, available resources and social and cultural attitudes. In 1993 t h e county commission stated their planning objectives as follows: Land use planning is to ensure community stability. In an envi­ronment where private lands are increasingly subject to arbitrary federal and state control and where federal and state properties comprise an overwhelming majority of the County's land base, that goal can best be achieved by empowerment, by protected the property rights, integrity and independence of every citizen and by 362 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY making custom and culture an issue of local, rather than national consensus.189 Confronting new issues like solid waste disposal, federal and state land management plans, economic decline, the county commission recognized the need for aggressive planning and development, and most planning focused on the best utilization of Beaver County's pri­vate land, which in 1993 represented only 6.1 percent of the total land in the county. Of a total 1,660,137 acres, 1,249,120 are controlled by the BLM, 138,489 by the forest service, or a total of 1,387,589 federal acres, or 83.6 percent. The state controls another 157,787 acres or 9.5 percent, or a total 93.1 percent with the federal government. Recreation was the principal multiple use of the BLM and forest ser­vice lands. In the western p a r t of t h e county, BLM lands provide opportunities for off-road vehicle use, rockhounding, hiking, biking, and other recreation activities. The state park system, in particular Minersville State Park and Reservoir, also provides a good site for fishing and boating. The local attitude toward the BLM and other federal land man­agement agencies might be typified by a movement that emerged d u r i n g t h e 1980s k n o w n as t h e Sagebrush Rebellion. In 1979 the Nevada legislature called for state control of BLM lands. Within the year Utah followed this lead. Clearly, ranchers and farmers alike t h r o u g h o u t rural Utah favored the idea of b r i n g i n g the public domain under localized control. The idea of privatization of federal assets was popular in the rural west but failed to seize national sup­p o r t . Opinion about the BLM's presence and power in the county varies dramatically and depends primarily on the way one earns a liv­ing. It is sufficient to say t h a t the federal presence has a dramatic impact on this county's economic base. The county's master plan summarizes the complexity of issues that affect county life. "With challenges posed to the County from Federal and State land manage­ment p r o g r a m s , few long t e rm employment o p p o r t u n i t i e s , and expansive distances between necessary services, the residents cannot absolve themselves of their civic responsibility."190 The county's basic planning agenda was first clearly laid out in 1970 after extensive studies of virtually every aspect of the county's A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 363 business. It included goals that would impact the economy, social life, development, and the natural environment: To provide a system of streets, roads and highways for the movement of people and goods throughout the County, and con­necting to other areas, which will assist in the development of the economy, improve safety, convenience and pleasure for people, and preserve and enhance scenic and recreational values. To develop sound and profitable commercial and industrial enterprises, both existing and new, which will provide local resi­dents and visitors with goods and services of high quality at rea­sonable prices, and in pleasant and efficient surroundings. Consistent with human environmental values, to promote economic growth sufficient to provide full employment for pre­sent residents of the area, former residents who wish to return, and young people of the area as they come into the labor force, and to attract new residents to the County. To establish full cooperation among all municipalities and the County in providing recreational facilities and services. To develop recognition in all local residents that tourism is a beneficial economic and good-will industry which should be fos­tered and expanded. To develop the existing and potential agricultural assets of the County to the maximum. To preserve, protect and utilize the forest areas of the County for their highest and best use for the present and the future. To protect, enhance, and wisely use the natural resources of the County for present and future organizations, recognizing the inter-relationships between man and nature and the necessity for decisions based on long-range values over short-range interests. To protect, preserve and enhance human values and human lives through the establishment of a healthful environment and good health for all citizens, and to promote an environment con­ducive to both mental and physical well-being. To use to full advantage the facilities available to provide edu­cational opportunities to all those desiring to continue developing their potential abilities; to help each person to become a con­tributing member of society. To establish a social and economic environment in which all adults who are mentally and physically capable and who are not 364 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY prohibited from doing so by care of dependent children, can earn their own livings during the whole year and are so motivated as to want to do so. To have every family live in a safe, decent, and sanitary dwelling. To provide a balanced program of recreational activities for all age groups within the community. To create within the Community, understanding of the law, respect for the law, obedience to the law, revision of the law where needed for justice or clarity, and enforcement of the law fairly and uniformly.191 Beaver County joined with the Five County Association of Governments for regional planning and development. This group was first organized in 1957 as the Five County Organization, with the purpose of securing cooperation of the member counties to promote industry development and tourism in the area. The Five County Association of Governments was established in 1972 to "join together in a voluntary organization.... for the purpose of meeting at regular intervals to discuss and study area wide problems of common inter­est and concern, and to develop action recommendations for ratifi­cation and implementation by member governments in the area served by the region."192 The Southwest Utah Planning District included Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane, and Washington counties. Also it was a part of the Color County Travel Region, which again planned for local tourism. The county is conscious of the impact of the envi­ronment on the local economy. One travel brochure proclaims: "If it involves the outdoors, you'll probably find it in Beaver County, Utah." Easy access to nearby mountains, forest lands, and deserts cre­ated a natural destination for travelers from across the country. Planning for recreation and tourism provided an opportunity for regional planning. Each county shared the benefit of tourists moving through adjoining canyons. In addition, public agencies that organize agricultural, stock raising, and other economic industries also bene­fit from regional cooperation. Partnerships with federal and state agencies facilitated the devel­opment of new programs anticipating change or planning for future development. In 1998, for instance, under the state Local A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 365 Government Comprehensive Planning Project, Beaver County received $20,000 for a review of plan consistency and update to address the county's rapid industrial growth. The county's tiered community growth approach included growth boundaries. Within the county, a council of governments was created to facilitate the plan effort and to establish formal agreements between the cities and county about resource allocation, infrastructure, and growth bound­aries. Beaver and Milford cities were prepared to adopt growth boundary amendments to their general plans. In addition, the county was working toward establishing different levels of service criteria and goals.193 Through the same program, Beaver County received funds to convert all land parcel and land-use maps to a GIS-based system. The Circle 4 Venture Regardless of shifting fortunes, national markets for agricultural or mineral products, the influx of newcomers, or other demographic changes, the people of Beaver County found new ways of providing support for their families, making a living, and building the commu­nity. Throughout the county's history, these efforts were marked by tension between competing forces-insiders vs. outsiders, local vs. federal interests and agendas, economic benefit vs. the preservation of a traditional efforts. When the "Circle 4" proposed to locate a hog farming operation ten miles south of Milford, it seemed to promise economic benefits, creating new jobs, bringing needed revenue into the county, and revi­talizing local agricultural efforts. Many local businessmen saw the connection between their own work and this new operation. "Circle 4" was a joint venture of four of North Carolina's largest pork pro­ducers- Smithfield Foods, Smithfield, Virginia; Murphy Family Farms, Rose Hill, North Carolina; Carroll's Foods, Virginia; and Prestige Farms, Clinton, North Carolina. The Milford "Circle 4" complex housed 30,000 sows and a total daily population ranging 250,000 to 280,000 hogs. As many as 5,000 hogs were shipped weekly for slaughter in California, or a total pop­ulation of about 600,000 per year. The complex also included a feed mill, pens and other facilities. The company planned in 1998 to 366 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY expand into three more complexes along a twenty-five mile corridor, increasing their daily census to 120,000 sows and 800,000 hogs or 1.3 million hogs at a given time, or 2 million hogs per year. Within a short period of time, the project made Beaver County the West's largest hog producing area. By the time "Circle 4" reached its long-term goal, Utah would rank eighth in the nation in hog pro­duction. The company anticipated creating 750 permanent jobs.194 Already an important source of income to local residents, in 1998 the annual payroll was $7.5 million.195 When "Circle 4" first came to Beaver County, it seemed certain to offer economic prosperity, security, and unexpected benefits. It did bring much needed revenue into the county, but it also brought new challenges for local government and private citizens pitting neighbor against neighbor, locals vs. outside investors, federal vs. county and local government. According to Mike Carter, writing for the Associated Press, Allen Mayer and his family raised alfalfa in fields south of Milford for three generations before "Circle 4" came to the county. Now each morning they are acutely aware of the gallons of hog waste fermenting in sewage lagoons nearby. The Mayers joined with fifty other Milford farm families in opposition to the company, which they described as "employing the same political tactics and environmentally question­able mass-production techniques that caused North Carolina in August to slap a moratorium on corporate hog farming, encompass­ing operations of all four hog producers (Smithfield Foods, Murphy Family Farms, Carroll's Foods and Prestige Farms)." "It's like the devil came to Milford," said Joey Leko, owner of the Green Diamond Ranch near the Mayer farm. "This has split this community right down the middle, so's one half won't even talk to the other."196 Still the economic benefit to Milford was tangible and spread throughout the area-in 1994, when construction began on the com­plex, mining and the railroad, long a principal employer of the town, were in decline. In more than sixteen years, the city had not issued a single building permit. In 1998, however, more than sixty buildings were being built. "Circle 4" employed more county men and women than any other business, with 300 jobs and an annual payroll in excess of $6 million. A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 367 Milford's mayor Mary Wiseman described the hog farm as "a godsend,... this town was dying." Patty Cherry, longtime county res­ident and waitress at the Hong Kong Cafe, said three of her daugh­ters and her sons-in-law were employed by the company. A fourth daughter, who had moved out of the county, was moving back to begin work at "Circle 4." According to Cherry, "My family is together because of that farm, it seems to me that's a fair trade for a little smell."197 Those concerned about the environmental impact find more than just the odor objectionable. Originally the company promised to cover sewage lagoons, but in 1998 the eighty open-air lagoons held between 6 million to 27 million gallons of waste.198 In addition to the complex problem of dealing with such an enormous amount of waste, Utah's dry, cool climate created conditions that failed to con­trol the odor, but instead slowed down the process of bacterial decomposition. Others worried that the operation would deplete or contaminate the underground water supply and were alarmed at the company's "wholesale purchase of water rights."199 In 1997 an acci­dent at the farm resulted in a spill of 80,000 gallons of hog waste into a well.200 "Circle 4" lawyer Warren Peterson drafted in 1994 the Utah Agricultural Protection Act which prevented lawsuits in agribusiness centering on such issues as odors, creating a complicated legal situa­tion that limited local efforts to combat huge corporate interests. State government supported the county in its effort to accom­modate the new business in the mid-1990s, considering the prospects good for creating new jobs for the county. The Utah Division of Business and Economic Development organized an informal group of professionals to meet growth-related challenges presented by the new enterprise. Members included employees of the department itself, other state and federal agencies, and local officials. This com­mittee joined for political efforts between counties to manage and distribute resources generated from the plant in an efficient way. Les Prall, as group leader, identified resources and public programs that could better manage each new development.201 "Circle 4" was the best new customer for local businesses and generator of income which circulated through the economy and ben- 368 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY efitted many. According to one report, two county commissioners had significant business dealing with the companies, as did many businesses in the county. It made good sense to do so. Nevertheless, it was a mixed blessing-and the tensions between conflicting issues and constituencies created the equivalent of a moral dilemma for the county, perhaps the most important question residents faced at the end of the twentieth century: how to bring money into the county, create more jobs, preserve the natural and historical environment, and manage new growth-in short how to maintain sustainable development. Community Identification Beaver County is a place based on a network of associations, long-term relationships formed in churches, in schools, in civic organiza­tions, that created a web of friendships, a sense of connectedness that was larger than family. At the center of Beaver County's towns was the activity of its churches-LDS wards continued to bring the largest number of county men and women together for both worship and social activities-ball games, dances, theatricals, and Sunday schools created common ground and relationships that played out in the sec­ular world as well. Congregations of Methodists, Congregationalists, and other denominations played an important role in creating a more diversified population. But perhaps the most central institution defin­ing county-wide relationships and creating a sense of community that defied sectarian boundaries was the high schools. Terance White in an oral interview suggested that social life was tied inextricably to high school athletic events. Here relationships were established which continued and created the base of commu­nity life. Here also was a place, a common ground, where the people of the county could come together, cheer their team on, and find a source of identification and pride.202 WTiite grew up in Beaver and spent the last several years at the University of Utah and said that for someone who grew up in Beaver, the pull back home is fierce. And, according to White's experience, those who grew up in Beaver had a stronger sense of connectedness to the county than newcomers. Those who were new to the area had to carve out a new niche for themselves, separate from the traditional lines of networks long A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 369 A horse race on 24 luly 1979 during the Annual Beaver Lions Club Race Meet. (Courtesy J.D. Osborn) established and perpetuated through time. For those longtime resi­dents, newcomers presented the threat of change-unpredictable and perhaps uncontrollable. The debate over the demolition of the old Beaver High School illustrated the tension between those who favored moving full steam toward the modern world and those for w h om the high school was the symbol of tradition, an icon of community life. The Beaver High School b u i l d i n g expressed the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie school. The building spread out on the site with low, horizontal wings on b o t h sides of a central mass. A pat­tern of windows moved across the front elevation, emphasizing the horizontality of the mass. The prominent central entrance broke up the sweeping lines of the facade and fragmented it with steps and jogs t h a t replaced the pilasters typical of the prairie style school. Symmetrically arranged, side entrances on side walls allowed stu­dents to enter from one of three sides. Prominent grand staircases on b o t h sides of t h e entrance foyer led students to upper level class­rooms. 370 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY A wagon from Beaver County is in the lead during the 1997 crossing of the Mormon Trail. (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Important as a monument of past generations, the Beaver High School was demolished to make way for a new building, perhaps a fitting metaphor for the movement from the past to meet the mod­ern world on its own terms. Cultural events helped alleviate the tension created by change- however subtle and slow moving. Community-wide activities like the local rodeos, labor day races and 24th of July celebrations helped cre­ate bonds and maintain relationships among residents of the county. In this way the Beaver Civic Arts program combined local his­tory with fun activities for youth. "It's kind of unique, we've been told," BCA president Gloria Murdock told the Deseret News of the theater effort. "It's a totally volunteer organization."203 During the 1991 summer, the group produced five plays that were presented in the community's civic center. The community's junior high students produced Skinned Alive, Headin For a Weddin, and various musical programs. Many of the plays were written, directed, and produced by the students themselves. This devotion to the arts typified Beaver's efforts at creating community institutions that were cross-genera­tional. Said Murdock, "It has a lot to do with community pride. I think a lot of the adults become involved so their children can have the A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 371 opportunity. It's amazing how sophisticated the young people have become with the staging and balancing. We have great support too, not only in presenting but in attending."204 The county's agricultural heritage is recognized in part through the Utah Century Farms and Ranches program which identifies 100- year-old farms that are still in business. This program sponsored by the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, the Utah Farm Bureau, the Utah State University Extension Service, the Utah State Fair Board, and Brigham Young University honored three Beaver County towns, including Ronald E. Roberts's farm, Morgan/Carter Farm and Bruce Brown's farm in Beaver. The county's architectural heritage was given national recogni­tion with the listing of many of Beaver's nineteenth-century build­ings on the National Register of Historic Places after a comprehensive survey of Beaver was completed by the Utah State Historical Society in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Conclusion Communities evolve and carry on attitudes, practices, traditions, and beliefs in which individuals can grow or wither. Henry Glassie writes, "Community is the product not of tradition but of personal responsibility, yours to build or destroy."205 Daniel Kemmis argues, "If there are not habituated patterns of work, play, grieving, and cele­bration designed to enable people to live well in a place, then those people will have at best a limited capacity for being public with one another. Conversely, where such inhabitary practices are being nur­tured, the foundation for public life is also being created or main­tained." 206 The many men and women of Beaver County who choose to live as citizens with these responsibilities are the elements of hope and sustenance in this county. For a community to be healthy, the choices we make as individuals aren't enough. Caring about the county as a whole, whether it be the shared space of our city parks or the roads that connect individuals like threads in a crazy quilt across lines of fields, creates the particular pattern that represents this county-the efforts of men and women over time who have cared enough about 372 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY ilPPP -as?'- V 0 The new Beaver High School. (Courtesy Richard Albrecht) each other and their place to contribute their best to making it a bet­ter place. One of the most important themes that run through this history is the role volunteers have played in projects of economic and politi­cal nature that have strengthened this county and helped it meet the challenges that nature, the economy, and the government have cre­ated for it. This grassroots democracy is a never-ending process, and the day it ends, genuine community life ends with it. Chambers of commerce, Lions Clubs and American Legions, local churches, and other organizations spent countless hours making their communities more safe, more beautiful, and better places to raise families. There is a lot of theory floating around these days about "community" and its continued possibility in American cul­ture. Some say that we've gone too far as a society in the direction of specialization or control at the top, often at the expense of those at the bottom. Yet this history of Beaver county suggests that when indi­viduals work as members of a community, it is possible to generate A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 373 new patterns of engagement, broadly shared values and approaches to new problems, and that this work is best begun in small places. It also suggests that a healthy community is well served by, a n d may even d e p e n d on, t h e elements of stability, cohesion, change, and diversity. Today in some ways Beaver C o u n t y is like a crazy quilt, with pieces, traditions, or patterns preserved from the past-vivid memo­ries of what it took to get to this point in time. Yet distinct traditions, differentiated neighborhoods that overlap and crisscross one another in new ways, have taught new lessons. The county has always known how to come together in a crisis-the people have their own brand of public rituals. They meet together in the county courthouse or in homegrown associations. They meet because they care enough to talk to one another and listen, to take positions a n d argue, a n d out of respect and love for the preservation of their common life together to agree to live by their resolutions. In this way a common language has been spoken and preserved. This language, best understood from the inside, has enabled the county to preserve as well forms of principle and history, to stand f i rm in the face of large government, and to defend themselves against the stresses and shifts of a changing economy. ENDNOTES 1. "Beaver County Population Drops," The Beaver County News, 19 May 1960. 2. "UP & L Plans to Spend 2 1/2 Million Improving Telluride Power System," The Beaver County News, 15 May 1958. 3. "Telephones on Increase Faster than Population," The Milford News, 6 December 1951. 4. "Building Boom Hits Milford," The Milford News, 14 August 1952. 5. "Beaver's Public Library," The Beaver Press, 19 lanuary 1967. 6. In 1960 this figure was 3.48 persons; in 1970 it dropped to 3.18 per­sons; and in 1980 it dropped again to 3.06. 7. The national median age is thirty-two. 8. Utah Code 17-4-1. 9. "Background for Planning, Public Facilities and Services," Mountain Area Planners, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1970. 374 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY 10. Beaver County Commission minutes, 6 April 1964, Beaver County Courthouse. 11. Ibid, 5 April 1965. 12. Counties with a total taxable value of more than $100 million are authorized to impose a maximum tax rate on .0032 per dollar (0.32 percent) of taxable value, while counties with a total tax value of less than $100 mil­lion are subject to an overall limit of .0036 per dollar (0.36 per dollar (0.36 percent) of taxable value. The limits do not include property levies for (1) outstanding judgment debts, (2) special improvement districts, (3) extended services in county service areas, (4) county library disaster recov­ery expenses, (5) interest and bond sinking fund expenses, (6) local health departments, (7) public transit districts, (8) municipal-type services in unincorporated areas, (9) paramedic or ambulance facilities, and (10) other special exceptions listed by statue. 13. "Beaver County, Utah: Economic, Population and Housing Study," 78: Department of Agriculture, $707,846; Department of Commerce, $28,378; Department of Defense, $101,000; Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, $716,213; Department of Housing and Urban Development, $51,000; Department of Interior, $188,165; Department of Labor, $23,783; Post Office Department, $134,780; Department of Transportation, $2,991,502; Treasury Department, $171,608; Civil Service Commission, $77,181; General Services Administration, $23,813; Office of Economic Opportunity, $30,752; Railroad Retirement Board, $183,002; Selective Service System, $3,564; Small Business Administration, $281,325; and Veterans Administration, $142,949 for a total of $5,856,861. 14. "It's Time to Start Stopping," The Beaver Press, 11 August 1961. 15. "We Lost," The Beaver Press, 8 September 1961. 16. The clerk is responsible for: (1) the issuing of all marriage licenses in the county, (2) the execution of all real estate transactions approved by the commission, (3) the maintenance of a list of all persons holding notary pub­lic commissions, (4) the administration of oaths to county officials, and (5) the compilation of a master jury used by the courts to obtain a jury pool. 17. "County Development Committee Reorganizes," The Beaver Press, 26 September 1963. 18. "Beaver County, Okehed for ARA Financing," The Beaver Press, 6 February 1964. 19. "Press Time," The Beaver Press, 13 lune 1963. 20. "Project for Beaver and Iron Counties Approved," The Beaver Press, 18 March 1965. 21. "Trees to be Removed from Milford Curbs," The Beaver County News, 1 March 1962. A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 375 22. "Work Proceeds at Minersville Reservoir on State Park Project," The Beaver Press, 6 May 1965. 23. See "State Park Scheduled for Minersville Reservoir," and "Minersville Reservoir Park Project Underway," The Beaver Press, 28 February 1963 and 21 November 1963. 24. "The Minersville Watershed Committee," The Beaver Press, 30 November 1967. 25. "Flood Waters Trapped; Minersville Spared Disaster," The Beaver County News, 8 August 1968. 26. Dell Hollingshead to the County History Committee, 28 lanuary 1999 27. "City Park to Boast Chamber of Commerce Information Booth," The Beaver Press, 4 April 1963. 28. "Work on Factory Building Proceeding on Schedule," and, "Armory Dedication Set for Saturday May 18 at 7:30," The Beaver Press, 16 May 1963. 29. "Forest Service to Hire 30 Local Men," The Beaver County News, 1 November 1962. 30. "UP 8c L to Absorb Telluride," The Beaver Press, 31 lanuary 1963. 31. "U P 8c L Completes Plant at Beaver," The Beaver County News, 26 May 1966. 32. "History of Beaver Lions Club Television," in Beaver Lions Club 1944-1994 50th Anniversary Charter Night, copy at the Beaver County Travel Council Office 33. "Utah! County Economic Facts-1974, Beaver County," Utah Industrial Development Information System, Bureau of Economic and Business Research, University of Utah. 34. "Utah Economic and Business Review," 39 (April-May 1979) 3,4, Bureau of Economic and Business Research, University of Utah. 35. "Profile of the Beaver/Milford Labor Market Area," Bureau of Economic and Business Research, University of Utah, 1983. 36. "Building Construction in County Shows Increase," The Beaver County News, 28 April 1960. 37. "Profile of the Beaver/Milford Labor Market Area," 16. 38. Ibid, 19. 39. Ibid, 20. 40. Ibid, 26. 41. "Oil Fever Hits Milford," The Milford News, 1 lune 1950. 376 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY 42. "'Wildcat' Near Here Down 3,200 Feet; Has Minor Gas-Oil Showing at 2,100-Foot Depth," The Milford News, 6 luly 1950. 43. "Oil Well 'Dry'; El Capitan Company to Drill West of Milford-Delta Road," The Milford News, 10 August 1950. 44. "Metal Producers Mill Starts Work Next Monday," The Milford News, 1 lune 1950. 45. "Local Mill to Start Shipping of Concentrates," The Milford News, 15 lune 1950. 46. "Harrington Mine Reopens This Week; 25 Men to Be Employed at Peak," The Milford News, 25 lanuary 1951. 47. "Work Resumed at Harrington Mine; Favorable Ore Bodies Contacted on Two Levels," The Milford News, 28 lune 1951. 48. "Harrington Mines Gets Defense Minerals Administration Contract for Deep Level Development Work," The Milford News, 27 September 1951. 49. "Tungsten Mill to Begin Operation in Early luly," The Beaver Press, 19 lune 1953. 50. "Rich Uranium Strike At North Creek May Initiate 'Boom'," The Beaver Press, 9 October 1953. 51. "Uranium Claims sold by Original Discovers," The Beaver Press, 13 December 1953. 52. "Uranium Prospecting Takes Spotlight in Beaver Area," The Beaver Press, 11 lune 1954. 53. "Uranium Companies Make New Strike in North Creek Area," The Beaver Press, 14 luly 1954. 54. "Prospecting Hits New High During luly," The Beaver Press, 13 August 1954. 55. "Hopes for Uranium Producing Mine Spurs Beaver Prospecting," The Beaver Press, 25 June 1954. 56. Information provided by Dell Hollingshead 57. "Activation Looms for Sulphur Deposits in Beaver County," The Beaver Press, 29 October 1954. 58. "Work Starts on Beaver U-Mill," The Milford News, 9 June 1955. By 1957, the Indian Creek Canyon uranium mine was shipping ore regularly to Salt Lake City. See, "Beaver County Uranium Mine Shipping Ore to Salt Lake: Production to be Increased After Exploration and Development is Completed," The Beaver County News, 20 June 1957. 59. "Atom Tests to Be Monitored in Beaver County," The Milford News, 10 February 1955. 60. "Atom Test Blast Felt in Milford," The Milford News, 25 February 1955. A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 377 61. "Mining Gets Boost in West Beaver County," The Beaver County News, 12 July 1962. 62. "Majestic Mill Reopens to work Cerro Verde Copper," The Milford News, 11 September 1962. 63. "Oil company Sues County on Zone Ordinance," The Beaver County News, 21 April 1966. 64. "American Mining Puts Leech Plant in Operation," The Beaver County News, 11 January 1968. 65. John McCormick, "The Once and Future Barn," Newsweek, 9 July 1984, 12. 66. Dr. Caron E. Nelson, Mountain Area Planners, University of Utah School of Business, 1967. 67. Ward J. Roylance, Utah's Geography and Counties (Salt Lake City: n.p., 1967), 48. 68. "Beaver County, Utah: Economic, Population and Housing Study," 69. 69. "Milford Valley Grows into Big-Time Diversified," The Milford News, 30 October 1952. 70. "State Engineer Closes South Milford to Further Well Drilling," The Milford News, 27 November 1952. 71. "Milford Still Has Problem Maintaining Water Pressure," The Beaver County News, 23 June 1960. 72. "Work Started on Flood Control Dam in Big Wash Near Milford," The Beaver Press, 25 August 1961. 73. "'Comingling' of Sewer Water Makes Milford Health Hazard," The Beaver County News, 20 September 1962. 74. "Work on Swimming Pool is Progressing; Crew Stymied While Awaiting Blueprints," The Milford Times, 23 February 1950. 75. "Beaver's $40,000 Swimming Pool to be Opened Saturday," The Beaver Press, 30 July 1954. 76. "Nearly 100-Year-Old Building Being Razed," The Beaver Press, 8 October 1954. 77. "City Sets Bond Election for Electric System Improvements," The Beaver Press, 9 March 1956. 78. "Beaver Valley Publicized in National Magazines," The Beaver Press, "Special Hunting Supplement," October 1969. 79. "Visit Scenic Beaver County, Utah," pamphlet, Beaver County Travel Council, 1996. 80. "Lions, Local Merchants Lure Tourists with New Highway Sign," The Beaver County News, 23 January 1964. 378 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY 81. "Lions Encourage New Industry," The Beaver County News, 6 January 1966. 82. "City Park Has 4,000 Visitors This Summer," The Beaver Press, 3 October 1963. 83. Deseret News, 23 November 1973. 84. "Beaver County, Utah: Economic, Population and Housing Study," Prepared by the Department of Economics School of Business and Technology, Southern Utah State College, luly 1970, 55. 85. Ibid. 86. "UP Trains 9, 10 will Stop Running Friday Night," The Beaver County News, 2 April 1964. 87. "UP Tries Again to Abandon Trains 5 8c 6," The Beaver County News, 25 January 1968. 88. "UP Officials Meet with City Dads," The Beaver County News, 21 March 1968. 89. "New Federal Defense Highway Talks Set for Friday at Beaver," The Beaver County News, 6 November 1958. 90. "Freeway Route Change Urged for Beaver Area," The Beaver Press, 4 December 1959. 91. "Beaver Citizen Petition Opposes Planned Federal Highway Route," The Beaver County News, 13 November 1958. 92. "How Many Cars Come Thru Beaver in a Day?" The Beaver County Press, 31 October 1963. 93. "From the Lions Magazine," The Beaver County News, 2 May 1968. 94. "Interchange for Beaver," The Beaver Press, 20 July 1967. 95. "Commission Meeting, Ribbon Cutting Ceremony to Open Beaver Section of Interstate Highway on Tuesday," The Beaver County News, 13 October 1960. 96. "Ribbon Snip Opens Highway 15 Section to Interstate Automobile Traffic," The Beaver County News, 20 October 1961. 97. "Highway Construction Schedule Clarified," The Beaver Press, 5 December 1963. 98. "Thousands of Utahns to Greet Nevadans as Final Link of All- Paved Route to Coast is Opened," The Beaver Press, 10 July 1959. 99. "Ribbon Snip Opens Highway to Coast," The Beaver Press, 17 July 1959. 100. "Cove Fort Road to be Pushed at Richfield Meeting," The Beaver County News, 22 February 1962. A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 379 101. "Contract Let for Work on Delta Highway," The Beaver County News, 29 November 1962. 102. "Beaver is Hub of South Utah Road Work," The Beaver Press, 12 June 1959. 103. "County to Build New Access Road in Beaver Mountains," The Beaver Press, 15 June 1956. 104. "Airport Landing Strip Gets New Surface of Heavier Mulch," The Beaver Press, 21 September 1956. 105. "Milford Airport was Busy Spot This Week," The Beaver County Press, 1 February 1962. 106. "Freak Wind Causes Havoc at Local Airport," The Beaver County Press, 25 August 1960. 107. "Airport Will Be Open June 23," The Beaver County News, 13 June 1968. 108. "Milford Races Are Labor Day Attraction," The Beaver County News, 29 August 1957. 109. "Friday, Saturday Are 'Big Days' For Beaver," The Beaver County News, 29 August 1957. 110. "Double-Dance to Feature Annual Forty-Niner Celebration; Parade, Boxing and Games are Highlights," The Milford News, 18 May 1950. 111. "Mayor Kizer Garners Racing Crown From Mayor Gottfredson at American Legion 49er Celebration," The Beaver County News, 19 July 1958. 112. "Milford Labor Day Celebration Will Feature Horse Races, Softball, Dance," The Milford News, 1 September 1955. 113. "New White Way Lights in Use; Xmas Season Officially Opened," The Milford News, 23 November 1950. 114. "Lions Club to Sponsor 'Build Milford' Program," The Milford News, 14 December 1950. 115. "City to Issue Bonds for Swim Pool and Water Improvements," The Milford News, 1 February 1951. 116. "Bond Election for Swimming Pool, "Water Improvements, Carries 6 to 1," The Milford News, 29 March 1951. 117. "Milford Swim Pool Opened for Fourth; 200 Kids Enjoy Plunge," The Milford News, 5 July 1951. 118. "Street Paving Program Nears Completion," The Milford News, 12 May 1955. 119. "All Streets in City of Milford are now Paved," The Beaver County News, 27 June 1957. 120. "Building Under Way for Dial Phones," The Milford News, 2 June 1955. 380 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY 121. "Televisions Installation for Milford to Start this Week," The Beaver Press, 10 August 1956. 122. "Public TV Gets Boost with Milford Power Installation," The Beaver County News, 4 April 1957. 123. "Milford's Last Landmark Being Razed," The Beaver County News, 25 April 1957. 124. "Milford Flood Control Project Gets Army Engineers Approval," The Beaver Press, 19 June 1959. 125. "New Water Tank Doubles Milford Storage Capacity," The Milford News, 28 July 1955. 126. Richard Campbell Roberts, "A History of the Utah National Guard," Ph.D. dissertation, University of Utah, 1973, 485-86. 127. Ibid., 488. 128. Ibid, 489. 129. Quoted in "213th Field Artillery Utah National Guard-Korean War," Supplement, Richfield Reaper, 15 August 1990. 130. Roberts, "The Utah National Guard," 492 131. "Gary Banks Shot by Cong Sniper in Vietnam," The Beaver County News, 11 January 1968. 132. "Veterans," Bureau Economic Information System Bureau of Economic Analysis, May 1998, http://govinfo.library.orst.edu/cgi-bin/ usaco-list?31-001 .ute. 133. The Beaver County News, 1 January 1981 134. Ibid, 11 January 1980. 135. Ibid 11 January 1980. 136. Ibid 28 February 1980. 137. Ibid, 10 December 1981. 138. "Drastic Shortage of Nurses Hampers Operation of Milford Hospital," The Milford News, 21 September 1950. 139. "Beaver County Hospital 'Belongs' to Milford Civic Organizations," The Beaver County News, 4 December 1958. 140. "Hospital Board Notes Progress in Building Program," Beaver County News, 31 March 1969. 141. "Hospital Group Explains Program at Public Meeting," The Beaver County News, 11 August 1960. 142. "Hospital Nearing Completion; Ail-Out Drive for Needed Funds is Under Way by Civic Organizations," The Beaver County News, 5 November 1964. A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 381 143. "Federal Grant to Help Build 10 Bed Hospital, 10 Bed Home for Senior Citizens," The Beaver County News, 13 December 1962. 144. "Milford Hospital Open House," The Beaver Press, 17 June 1965. 145. "City Council Backs Plans for Beaver Hospital," The Beaver Press, 9 October 1959. 146. "'Beaver's Supporting a Hospital-But it's Not in Beaver," The Beaver County News, 2 October 1959. 147. "County Commissioners Approve Modified Hospital Service Area," The Beaver Press, 11 September 1959. 148. "Two Hospital Areas Okeyed by Commissioners," The Beaver Press, 16 October 1959. 149. "County Commission Delays Action on Funds for Hospital," The Beaver Press, 11 December 1959. 150. "Press Time," The Beaver Press, 21 March 1963. 151. "Hospital to be Built Here," The Beaver County News, 30 April 1964. 152. "Supreme Court Kills Hospital Act," The Beaver Press, 4 March 1965. 153. "Election Shows Nine to One Want Hospital," The Beaver Press, 22 April 1965. 154. "Construction Starts on Beaver Hospital," The Beaver Press, 1 July 1965. 155. "Construction Starts on New Hospital," The Beaver County News, 18 June 1964. 156. "Enrollment Drops in Beaver County Schools," The Milford News, 17 January 1952. 157. "School Enrollment Decreases Sixty Throughout County," The Beaver Press, 25 September 1953. 158. 'Enrollment Drops in Beaver County Schools," The Milford News, 17 January 1952. 159. "Officials Issue Data on Special School Election," The Beaver Press, 16 April 1954. 160. "Voters Refuse Tax Increase for Additional School Funds," Beaver Press, 30 April 1954. 161. "Board Proposes Reductions In School Services, Teachers," The Beaver Press, 7 May 1954. 162. "Beaver Teachers Refuse Contracts for Next Year," The Beaver Press, 13 May 1954. 382 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY 163. "Board of Education Calls Special Meeting on Teachers' Salaries," The Beaver Press, 31 May 1954. 164. "Teachers Accept Revised Salary Schedule of Board," The Beaver Press, 23 May 1954. 165. "County Schools Getting Better All the Time," The Beaver County News, 24 September 1964. 166. "Report Completed on Beaver County Schools," The Beaver Press, 20 April 1956. 167. "Milford Delegation Asks School Board for New Building," The Beaver Press, 6 January 1956. 168. "Voters Approve School Levy Increase by 5 to 1 Majority," The Beaver Press, 4 May 1956. 169. "Voters Okeh School Bonds," The Beaver Press, 21 December 1956. 170. "Contract Let for Milford School," The Beaver Press, 17 April 1958 and "Contract Let for Minersville School Building," The Beaver County News, 20 November 1958. 171. "Teachers, Students 'Thrilled' With New School Building," The Beaver County News, 7 January 1960. 172. "State May Close Minersville School; Force Consolidation of Milford-Beaver Highs," Beaver County News, 8 September 1966. 173. "Meeting in Beaver Will Discuss County School Consolidation," Beaver County News, 6 October 1966. 174. "School Patrons Turn Thumbs Down on Consolidation," Beaver County News, 13 October 1966. 175. "Consolidating Schools will Cut Out Heart of Community," The Beaver County News, 27 October 1966. 176. "Radio Station KBCS Marks 20th Anniversary," The Beaver County News, 2 October 1969. 177. Ibid. 178. "Beaver County Students Better than National Scholarship," The Beaver Press, 12 May 1961. 179. Utah State Board of Education, Beaver County School District Evaluation, 1972, 1-2, copy at the Utah State Historical Society. 180. "Why a Community Church in Beaver?" The Beaver Press, 11 September 1959. 181. "Methodists Hold First Services in New Church in Milford," The Beaver County News, 21 June 1962. 182. "Sunday Consecration Service Will Open New Methodist Church," The Beaver County News, 11 October 1962. A POST WAR MOVEMENT INTO BETTER TIMES 1950-1999 383 183. "Main Street Landmark Razed," The Beaver County News, 2 July 1964. 184. "LDS Church Starts New Addition to Milford Chapel," The Beaver County News, 17 November 1966. 185. "Joint Services Scheduled by Five Milford Churches on Thanksgiving," The Beaver County News, 17 November 1966. 186. Quoted in Donna Davis, "Man of many missions," Extension, May 1988,7 187. "Construction Starts on New $30,000 Milford Masonic Temple," The Milford News, 1 May 1952. 188. "Grand Master to Dedicate Milford Masonic Temple," The Beaver Press, 15 May 1953. 189. "Beaver County General Plan," April 1993. 190. Ibid. 191. "Planning Goals and Policies," Beaver County Master Plan Studies, 1970. 192. "Five County Association of Governments," Statement of Purpose. 193. "Local Government Planning Project," 21 October 1998, Doug Carriger, Beaver County. 194. Mick Carter, Associated Press, "Giant, Smelly Hog Farm Divides Tiny Farming Community," Source News And Reports, 10 November 1997. 195. "Circle 4's History," The Spectrum, 30 November 1997. 196. Mick Carter, "Giant, Smelly Hog Farm." 197. Ibid. 198. Solid waste settled in the primary ponds where bacteria broke the sewage down before it drained into a second lagoon in liquid form for evap­oration. Usually hogs create two to three times as much sewage as human beings, and Circle 4's hogs created the equivalent of a population of 1.8 mil­lion people. Considering Utah's 2 million population this is a tremendous amount of waste. 199. Mick Carter, "Giant, Smelly Hog Farm." 200. Ibid. 201. "Utah Economic Development News," Utah Economic Development News, April 1996. 202. Terance White, interviewed by Martha S. Bradley, 29 September 1998, Salt Lake City, Utah. 203. Deseret News, 21 June, 1991. 204. Ibid. 384 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY 205. Henry Glassie, Passing the Time in Ballymenone, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982), 6. 206. Daniel Kemmis, Community and the Politics of Place, (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990), 32.