A History of Kane County

Kane county and the depression years, 1920-1940

CHAPTER 9 B. KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 'eginning with the farming recession of the 1920s and acceler­ating with the Depression of the 1930s, rural Utah along with the rest of the state and much of the nation slipped into dramatic economic decline. These were decades of significant change, generally reflected by out-migration from the region. Many people moved to other areas of the state or out of the state altogether. Population growth slowed and in some areas even declined. One study suggests that between 1920 and 1930, the number of Utahns who lived in other states increased by 50,000 individuals.1 Kane County, however, maintained its population better than some other areas. In fact, during the 1920s it experienced an increase of 181 people, reaching a total of 2,235 by 1930. By 1940 another slight gain in population was recorded-this time to 2,561 county inhabitants.2 The growth was due in part to the resourcefulness of the resi­dents. The agrarian lifestyle of most residents was less dependent upon national employment and economic trends and problems, and most residents were able to grow their own basic food. Since mining, industry, and tourism had never been important sources of revenue, 194 KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 195 the downturn of the cash economy did not impact Kane County as much as it did most other regions of the country. Still, county resi­dents did suffer. Livestock values, which had dropped dramatically in the years after World War I, stayed low until the 1940s.3 County Life in the 1920s The Kanab Library, first organized in 1914, was expanded in 1920 under Mayor David D. Rust. The library board requested that local tax rates be raised by one mill to help fund improvements and the purchase of new books; the town council responded with a unani­mous vote in favor. The board still had to do private fund-raising, and most library work was done on a volunteer basis. In 1920 the board also made an unsuccessful bid to have the library made a county institution. The library was housed in a number of different locations dur­ing its first years. Three years after it opened in the Jepson Building, it was moved to the new Kanab High School building. Despite the assis­tance of many of the high school teachers, a number of books were lost or stolen, so the board decided to move the library again. A cramped room above the Opera House housed the library for two years until it was moved to the Kane County Courthouse, where it remained for the next nineteen years. In 1920 Willis Little became chair of the Kane County Commission; in 1922 Israel H. Heaton and G. Duncan McDonald were elected to serve the county. Through the years, the Kane County Commission minutes speak to the fine line that existed between church and state. Kane County was not overtly run as a theological state, but it was the case that the leaderships of the county, towns, and local Mormon churches were often almost one and the same. The same families dominated both the secular and religious arenas. Also, church groups and activities are mentioned casually in the minutes, illustrating how deeply the Mormon church and its institutions ran in county affairs. For instance, in February 1921, the Kanab Relief Society sewed quilts for the jail, the county furnishing $24.82 for sup­plies. During April 1921 plans were made for the celebration of the lay­ing of the cornerstone of the new courthouse. The planning com- 196 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY A horse-drawn float in Orderville during the 1920s. (Courtesy Deanne Glover) KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 197 mittee included LDS church officials, representatives of the Kanab Commercial Club, and the Kanab town board. While the courthouse was under construction, the commissioners rented a room for meet­ings in the library for five dollars per month.4 The county purchased the furnishings and hardware from ZCMI, the Mormon church-owned department store. The commission minutes describe the way poverty relief was handled in the pre-Depression era. For example, one entry read: "Bishop Richard S. McAllister, was appointed as a commissioner of the Poor for the purpose of caring for the Atkin family. He was authorized to expend the sum of $25.00 to secure food for their temporary relief and he was further authorized to arrange for their transportation to Washington County, Utah which is the home of the family, at the expense of the County of Kane, and was instructed to see to it that the expense of such transportation was as small as possible."5 This passage is interesting because it illustrates the county's attitude toward welfare; clearly the poor were considered a responsibility of the county, if only to remove them from its boundaries. Also, the casual reference to "Bishop" McAllister, as if that were another sort of first name, shows the familiarity between county government and the Mormon church that existed in the county. The A. Clair Ford Post was organized in Kanab in 1922, honor­ing veterans of World War I from the county. The Legion sponsored boxing matches and races as well as fireworks at holiday times. Kane County voters have generally supported the Republican party; in fact, the county has been considered perhaps the most Republican county in the United States. In the November 1922 elec­tion Kane County voters supported Republican Ernest Bamberger (444 votes) against Democrat William H. King (166 votes) for United States Senator. They supported the winning candidate in the House election, Republican Don B. Colton receiving 475 votes to Milton H. Welling's 134. They also supported other Republicans: Charles R. Mabey, Israel H. Heaton, and Duncan McDonald were elected to the county commission; Delos R. McAllister was elected county clerk and recorder, Walter E. Hamblin county sheriff, John F. Brown county 198 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY The Kanab High School Pep Club 1935-1936. (Courtesy Deanne Glover) attorney, Joseph G. Spencer county surveyor, and William S. Swapp county assessor.6 For United States Senate in the 1926 election, Kane County over­whelmingly supported Mormon church apostle and Republican incumbent Reed Smoot with 264 votes to 90 cast for Ashby Snow. Again supporting Don B. Colton for Congress, the county also voted Republican in most local contests. Charles R. Pugh and Charles S. Anderson were elected to the county commission that year. Other county officers included D. Mayrell Tietjen, county clerk; Lloyd Chamberlain, sheriff; and William S. Swapp, assessor.7 In 1927, the county's budget included $900 for salaries for the county commissioners, $900 for miscellaneous expenses, and $4,257 for the county road fund. These figures were based on a total county income of $9,207.08 collected from licensing fees, property taxes, and other sources. A principal topic of discussion recorded in the min­utes of the commission was the distribution of resources. Funds were distributed for general purposes, district school use, county road con­struction and repair, relief to widows, a fund for the needy, the Kanab Library, stocking nearby streams with fish, and general maintenance of the county infrastructure.8 By 1928 Kanab High School had graduated a total of ninety-eight students; current enrollment that year was eighty-seven, and the total KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 199 population of students in Kanab schools was 286. Helen B. Chamberlain headed a committee which attempted to raise funds to begin a kindergarten in 1928. The teacher, Mary Holt, was paid by the school board, and students had to pay a ten-dollar fee for an eight-month period; however, classes were only held for four months. After this attempt, private kindergartens were held at the LDS ward hall in Kanab, the tithing office, or in the volunteer teachers' homes. In the 1928 statewide election, the majority of Kane County res­idents again voted for the Republican party candidates from Herbert Hoover on down, although in Utah many Democrats were elected, including incumbent governor George H. Dern and Senator William H. King. Republicans Charles Anderson and G.D. Macdonald were elected to the county commission.9 The commission minutes provide an idea of the nature of the local issues that demanded the commissioners' attention. The 7 July 1930 entry read in part: "After long consideration of the Board in regards to the license's on pavilions or open air dance halls, they decided to issue a license. . . . The license fee should be $7.50 per nights dancing for dancing only. That said dances shall be closed at 12 o'clock P.M. each night."10 The county leaders generally tried to support Mormon church standards. The next year they decided there would be "no Sunday night dances," that they would charge a "clean and respectable business fee of $5.00 per night in advance," that there would be no more than two dances per week, and that the commis­sioners could call special dances.11 County Life in the 1930s G.D. Macdonald was reelected to the commission along with Neaf Hamblin in 1930. Other county officers included D.M. Tietjen, clerk; Lloyd Chamberlain, sheriff; Willard Mackelprang, county attor­ney; and William M. Cox, surveyor.12 In 1933, because of the eco­nomic difficulties of the Depression, the commissioners cut their salaries-commissioners were paid $25.00 per month; the county assessor was paid $50.00 monthly, the county sheriff $75.00, the county attorney $62.50, and the county clerk $85.00.13 In the years before the Depression fully developed there were those in Kane County who extolled the progress they had made in 200 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY meeting the challenges of the twentieth century. The Kane County Standard described Kanab as a "Modern City," in an article boosting the area's attractions on 5 June 1931. It read in part: Kanab is taking on new life the last week. Tourist traffic is increasing daily and everyone is busy. The garages are full of cars and custom at the stores is increasing. At one time last Saturday night Center street was so crowded with cars in front of the stores and hotel that there was scarcely room to pass. In spite of the fact that we are all crying "depression and hard times," Kanab people drive good cars, have good homes, wear good clothes and eat good food. We also live in one of the most picturesque and progressive little communitites in the country. We have a good water supply, a splendid electric light and power system, excellent telephone ser­vice and good amusements. When one looks back to five years ago and compares conditions then and now, he can see that Kanab has progressed a great deal. The writer attributed the progress largely to the construction of U.S. Highway 89 through Kanab, saying it had probably "done more to give the town an atmosphere of progress than any other one thing. However," he maintained, "local people have done a great deal to improve conditions here. Today a tourist can buy as good a variety of vegetables, fruits, meats and groceries at the stores, groceries, meat markets and bakery in Kanab as elsewhere." He continued enthusias­tically in the language of a good booster. If a group of joy seekers wish to spend a day or night in Kanab they can find entertainment and amusement at the Talkie at the Star Theatre, or a dance in the open air at Hillcrest or they can spend an afternoon at our Free Public Library or if it is Sunday they can attend a good LDS service in our comfortable ward chapel. This summer, a swimming pool n o r t h of town, and a t e n n i s court on the ward "square" will add to our means of public entertainment. The men and boys at the garages and service stations expect to give their cus­tomers excellent service and if one needs a shave, haircut, wave or re­set, they can get t h em at our barber shops and beauty parlor, or they can even get their shoes fixed while they w a i t . . . . Let's adopt and live up to the slogan, "Kanab, the Best for Accommodations, Eats, Service, Entertainment and Hospitality."14 KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 201 *» * %** - V am * r f'i* ••„. jr.* ,: ^ cr-- 7*7 Bringing in a load of winter wood. Mt. Carmel about 1930. (Courtesy Deanne Glover) Kanab sported an opera house, and t h e town's first theater was operated by Ray B. Young. The building also housed a barber shop o p e r a t e d by Young. The Star Theater was destroyed by fire o n 2 October 1931 by a fire started by a child playing with matches near the film projector. In 1934 Elmer Jackson built another theater as part of the Huish theater chain. "Large crowds of people flocked to t he new Kanab Theatre every night since it has b e e n open," t h e Kane County Standard reported, "and everyone expresses himself as being pleased with the productions. Not only have the Kanab people been a t t e n d i n g the talkies b u t people from nearly all t h e s u r r o u n d i ng towns have been there. We are pleased to note that Mr. Jackson has employed home people to help h im r u n t h e show."15 The Kane County Standard was the successor to the Kane County News, which had been started in 1911 by Charles Townsend. The News had been printed in Panguitch, as was the Standard, which was established in 1929 under the editorship of Rose Hamblin, who was also instrumental in the establishment and growth of the Kanab library. Although edited in Kanab and circulated locally, the paper 202 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY was published by the News Publishing Company in Panguitch. The Standard was a quality weekly newspaper, chronicling local news items along with national news and wire service columns and fea­tures. 16 Until 1929 electricity was furnished to the county by an electrical plant managed by city government and located in Kanab behind the LDS ward meetinghouse. During the Depression, several local resi­dents found it impossible to pay their electrical bills or their taxes, and even the town found it difficult to come up with revenue to pay installments for electric power. The North American Electric Gas and Coke Company, a New York business with holdings in Portland, Oregon, and in Canada, proposed in 1930 to purchase the power plant and provide Kanab with an alternate electrical source.17 That deal was rejected; however, in 1932, the city council and mayor Carlos W. Judd decided to sell the plant to Dixie Power (later known as Southern Utah Power Company). After 1932 Kane County was sup­plied electrical power by the Southern Utah Power Company. The Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph company began installing a new line to Kanab in August 1929 to improve outside communication with the county. The company also announced plans to update service throughout Kanab, including placing telephone poles in four of the streets and running additional lines to homes along fences to avoid obstructing traffic. The company had begun service in Garfield County a month earlier and planned to bring it to Kanab as soon after as possible. The exchange would be located in the home of Mrs. Janey M. Johnson.18 The telephone line was completed in October 1929, greatly facil­itating communication with areas outside the county as well as inter­nally. The Kane County Standard announced the names of those parties who had the first forty-five phone lines in its 18 October 1929 edition. Among them were businesses, service enterprises, and pri­vate individuals. They included the Highway Hotel, the Highway Garage, the Palmer-Esplin Garage, the Kane County Courthouse, the Kanab Equitable Store, the Jepson Cafe, the Utah Service Station, Dr. U.H. Norris, the Kanab LDS Stake office and Kanab High School. A telephone directory was published by December that gave the names, numbers and addresses of those with phones. The Kanab newspaper KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 203 reported that the phonebook was a "neat little booklet measuring nine by six inches and the names of Panguitch, Junction and Kanab are included, as well as the U.S. Forest Service stations on Buckskin mountain."19 In 1937 a new line was installed from Kanab across the border to Fredonia, Moccasin, Pipe Spring, and the Kaibab Indian School in Arizona.20 During the New Deal years, frequent mention was made in the commission minutes of federal programs that employed and bene­fited the county as well as efforts of local organizations to provide relief to the needy and to improve local facilities. For example, in June 1933, the Kanab Lions Club built a wading pool at the court­house for children. The Lions Club also staged an annual rodeo over Labor Day weekend. A better record of New Deal activities in the county is provided by the Kane County Standard, which recorded the process of bringing federal funds into the county to employ local men and women, improve local facilities, build new facilities, and help county residents survive the Depression. In the 1934 election, William S. Swapp and Easton Blackburn were elected to the county commission. Other county officers included D.M. Tietjen as clerk, Z.J. Ford as sheriff, Hattie J. Swapp as recorder, D.L. Pugh as attorney, and Robert Chamberlain as assessor. In 1936 E.J. Ford and Arthur Glover joined the commission. Even with the conditions of the Depression era pressing on the struggling farmers and ranchers of the county, the commission attended to other business, including the construction and maintenance of roads, "policing dances at Three Lakes," expressing a particular concern about cigarette smoking among the county's youth, and weed con­trol. 21 Mail came to Kane County from Cedar City, although it was often interrupted during the winter months because of bad weather.22 In March 1930, representatives of Salina, Richfield, Gunnison, Marysvale, Circleville, Panguitch and other towns along U.S. Highway 89 met with the Kanab Lions Club to discuss the matter of their present mail route along the highway. The decision was made to continue to have the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad bring the mail to Marysvale, so that it would arrive there the same day it left 204 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY Salt Lake City.23 It would then be routed to the various communities by motor vehicles. Kane County's mail service was important in connecting the iso­lated county to the world outside. Through the decades mail was car­ried by a number of hardy men through county towns. Julius Dalley, Kanab's postmaster from 1920 to 1934, recalled that in the 1920s a Mr. Hanks had the mail contract and that "Norman Sargeant and Theodore Chidister delivered the mail regularly by means of trucks for almost the entire time of his contract. Occasionally Walter Daniels was the carrier." In 1926 Harold I. Bowman of Kanab received the mail contract and carried the mail for the next four years. Frank Gowans of Kanab began working at the beginning of July 1926 and served until 30 June 1930, the end of the contract, carrying the mail from Kanab to Panguitch. Charles Whipple and Moyle Sergeant also helped. Barton Brothers were the next contractors and delivered the mail by truck from Marysvale. The completion of Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel in 1931 opened another truck mail route, which was served by Wilson Lunt of Cedar City in 1931-32. With the washing out of the Coal Hill Bridge mail had to be put over the wash on a cable. Burton Banks came to Kanab in 1932 as a mail contractor. Frank Robertson and Robert Burch were two men who worked under Banks. Charles Cooper, a one-armed man, delivered mail by horse along the sandy road and down Kanab Canyon. After the Colorado River Bridge was completed in 1929, pas­senger buses carried mail from Arizona cities across the river.24 The fact that Kane County failed to attract a railroad line limited its ability to grow economically and exchange with the world outside. Over the years, discussion did occasionally arise about the benefits and possible plans for bringing railroads into the area. In 1932, for instance, the Denver Pacific Railroad Company applied to the United States Interstate Commerce Commission for permission to build a railroad from Denver to San Pedro Harbor, California, a total dis­tance of 815 miles. By building the line through Kane County and other areas identified for the route, the line would pass through a sig­nificant amount of territory that had no railroad within a distance of one hundred miles on either side. O.C. Bowman of Kanab received a letter from Coleman Crenshaw, president of the Denver Pacific KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 205 A celebration in Mt. Carmel. (Courtesy Deanne Glover) Railroad Company in Salt Lake City, establishing his i n t e n t i o n to build the railroad directly through Kanab. Crenshaw wrote that his letter was an inquiry about Kanab's natural resources, how many car­loads Kanab stockmen presently used for the transportation of their livestock from other railroad hubs, and how far local cattlemen had to ship their stock to railroad hubs for shipment to market. Bowman read the letter to the Associated Civic Clubs of Southern Utah meet­ing in Beaver on 15 October 1932. He reported that Crenshaw's letter also asked for an estimate of the distance from Kanab to Moab and from Kanab down the Kanab gulch to the Colorado river. Inquiry was also made as to the coal, minerals, and oil in the area. If the people in this vicinity are interested in the contemplated railroad, . . . [he] asks for them to send a man to represent Kanab's interests at a hearing which will come up in the near future at Los Angeles, California.25 Nothing came of the project in the long run, however. The local enterprises reveal a moderately varied economy with a variety typical of a rural county. Local construction businesses each 206 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY specialized variously in buildings, highway and street construction, and carpentering and wood-flooring installation. Four sawmills and planing mills were located in the area, as was one newspaper. Three local trucking businesses transported goods both locally and outside the area. A telephone company and an electrical power plant pro­vided services for locals. A variety of stores were located in Kane County towns-general merchandise and grocery stores, a confec­tionary store, a clothing store, a drug store, a hardware and farm implement store, and various restaurants and gas stations. A study of Kane County produced by the Utah State Planning Board in 1935 identified change in the county between 1900 and 1935. The population of Kane County increased from 1,811 in 1900 to 2,235 in 1930. Kanab had a population of 710 in 1900 and 1,195 in 1930. Caucasians born in the United States represented 97.9 per­cent of the total population in 1930 and 77 percent of the total pop­ulation received at least part of their income from a farm. In 1900 all individuals on the census stated some identification with a farm; in 1930, 1,722 described themselves as non-farmers. In 1930 the greatest number of workers worked in agriculture, 364 of the total. The next highest category was thirty-four people who worked in garages or in greasing stations. Thirty-one residents were professionals or worked in semi-professional capacities; twenty worked in the building trades, eighteen in wholesale and retail. In 1930, 135 individuals were unem­ployed; most of this group were common laborers. The total number of farms was 54 percent greater in 1935 than in 1910. The number of individuals who owned their farms was 23 percent higher. The assessed value of farmlands increased between 1910 and 1930 by 183 percent but then decreased by 1935 by 31 per­cent during the Depression. In 1930 there were 200 farms in the county; in 1935 there were 255. The value and production of crops declined steadily after 1919. The number of sheep on local farms in 1910 was 106,534; this had decreased to 80,346 in 1935. The total number of cattle also decreased over the same time period-from 13,157 in 1910 to 7,725 in 1935. The principal farm product was hay and forage, although some farmers planted corn, potatoes, and wheat. The assessed value of real estate increased between 1910 and 1930 but then decreased 17 percent between 1930 and 1935. KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 207 Kane County's population increased by 322 between 1930 and 1940 to a total population of 2,557. Town populations fluctuated- Kanab went from 1,195 to 1,396 residents; Mt. Carmel increased in population from 133 to 184, Orderville from 439 to 449, Glendale from 289 to 297, and Alton from 193 to 240.26 Kanab Although life in Kane County was impacted by national pro­grams of the New Deal, the everyday exigencies, including a local outbreak of scarlet fever in 1931, also impacted people. Communicable diseases were terrifying to those in rural towns. The Kane County Standard reported precautions taken in Kanab during the quarantine established in 1931, including measures that seem excessive at the present time, such as the report that "the librarian at the Free Public Library has been forced to burn books this winter that have been sent back to the library from quarantined homes."27 The library closed down altogether in January 1934 because of lack of funds. Kane County schools closed early in April 1931 because of a lack of funds, and parents had to teach their children at home if they wanted them to have more schooling.28 The school board worked on finding new ways of funding salaries and stretching available resources. Local teachers offered to work for reduced salaries, and, by the end of the summer, the board had come up with a stringent bud­get that would allow the district to run schools for an eight-months term during the 1932-33 school year.29 Dr. George Aiken purchased land in the northwest part of Kanab to build a hospital in 1934. By June 1935 the Kane County Standard reported that work by local contractor Albert Anderson on the twenty-nine-room structure was proceeding "nicely." Charles Plumb designed the hospital, which was in the "ranch house style." Next door, a residence was also being built to house Dr. Aiken and his fam-ily. The hospital included two wards, four bathrooms, two doctor's offices, a dentist office and laboratory, an operating room and deliv­ery room, a nursery, and a waiting room on the first floor. A full base­ment housed an x-ray room, sterilization room, two nurses' rooms, a janitor's apartment, and a mechanical plant. The new hospital was 208 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY raoTSis.'&&5, The Hotel Highway in September 1921. (Utah State Historical Society) ready for opening in February 1936 and was described as attractive, modern, and up-to-date in every way.30 Within the week every room in the hospital was occupied. Mr. and Mrs. H. Maxwell of Glendale were the parents of the first baby born in the new hospital. It was delivered free of charge and nicknamed "Freeborn" by Dr. Aiken.31 The library finally gained its own home through the devoted efforts of a number of individuals. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) agreed to furnish labor for the project, but Kanab City was required to locate and purchase a building site. Land near the high school was purchased, the city council purchased the Johnson sawmill located in the Kaibab Forest, and a WPA crew cut the timber for the library itself as well as a surplus to sell to provide funds for doors, windows, and other necessary building components. The city council also built a brick kiln in the northeast section of Kanab to produce bricks for the building. Mark E. Pope was hired to manage the project. The building cost $8,000 to build. When the library was relocated to its new home there were 6,000 books and KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 209 between 2,000 and 3,000 magazines in the collection. The library's collection was s u p p l e m e n t e d by d o n a t i o n s from various sources including Kanab schools, the Missoula Public Library, the St. George Public Library, Sears Roebuck and Company, and the Brigham Macdonald Memorial. The Ladies Literary League has also been a major contributor to the library through the years. A proposed airport to be built at the Chamberlain farm south­east of Kanab was also approved by the local Civil Works Administration (CWA) committee and sent to the state committee for approval. It was proposed that the costs for this project be shared by the state and the town of Kanab (which would purchase the prop­e r t y ) , a n d that the labor would be paid for by the CWA to the amount of $1,570.32 The Kanab LDS Ward was divided i n t o two wards-the Kanab North Ward and Kanab South Ward-in 1936. According to an ear­lier history, the idea had been discussed for quite some time: For twenty-five years during both the administrations of Stake President William W. Seegmiller and Heber J. Meeks (1910-1934) there had been talk of dividing the Kanab Ward. No action was taken because of the reluctance of the people to divide, the diffi­culty of dividing the wards equally, the problem of finding officers for two complete organizations, and the lack of pressure from the General Authorities. However, during President Charles C. Heaton's incumbancy (1934-1945) the ward had grown to over twelve hundred members and a division seemed imperative. The matter was carefully considered and the proposed plans were pre­sented to the Presiding Authorities, who approved. After a great deal of preliminary detail was completed, the division was made final July 12, 1936. . . . The dividing line was Center Street on Highway 89.33 Alton In 1929 the local church building was further improved by the c o n s t r u c t i o n of a chapel area and a furnace room. A recreational facility that brought large crowds out for its opening was the Twin- Pines Open Air Dance Pavilion, which was built by Dan Heaton, Frank Hurd, and William Swapp about a half mile up the road from the town in the late 1920s. The main dance floor was located around 210 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY Orderville in the 1930s. (Courtesy Deanne Glover) two tall pine trees, creating a green bower for musicians. When it originally opened, locals partied for three full days, camping nearby, being thrilled by airplane stunts overhead, and enjoying rodeo events, horse races, boxing and wrestling matches, and more traditional activities such as dances and musicals. Alton gained a flood-control system in 1933. During the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, Alton received municipal power from the Garkane Electric Power Company. The town's population peaked at 350 in the 1930s. Orderville In 1922-23 the town's first high school was completed. Harry R. Wilson and William J. Monroe, Jr., designed the building, which was built by Albert Anderson of Toquerville for $30,000. A mechanical school was also built for $8,000. The modern facility had reinforced-concrete footings, cut-stone foundation walls, and superstructure walls of native brick made on site by Elijah T. Holgate. Lumber was cut by Edward Crofts from a forest some seventeen miles to the north. The first local garage and service station was built in 1925 by KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 211 the Heaton brothers. In 1937 the Valley Theatre opened its doors to motion picture audiences. Mt. Carmel The LDS church purchased the Mt. Carmel rock building of the mid-1870s, rebuilt the original rock section, and added two match­ing rock wings in the back, giving the building its present T-shaped floor plan. The schoolhouse was remodeled in 1923-24. The rear contained a stage and two classrooms. A new hip roof and belfry uni­fied and improved the exterior appearance. The landmark served as a church until 1963 when members were included in the Orderville LDS Ward. With the advent of the automobile, service areas soon were developed at the junctions of major traffic routes. Thus by the early 1920s, Mt. Carmel Junction, two miles south on U.S. Highway 89 at Utah State Road 9, began to grow and draw attention away from the town proper. Here two gasoline stations served motorists' needs. Motels, a restaurant, and a golf course also catered to travelers. Eventually homesteads were built along the road between the junc­tion and the town. Mt. Carmel's size has always been limited by its available resources. In 1930, for example, the total population was 133. Irrigation efforts were key to the development of the small town. Local men built a dam on the Virgin River about two miles north of town and directed water onto the Mt. Carmel fields. Dams were usu­ally constructed with brush, trees, rocks, and dirt. Occasionally, after a severe rainstorm, the dams would break and flood the fields. Weeks of laborious repair required the cooperation of all local farmers impacted by this type of disaster. Glendale In 1922 J. Edward Crofts moved his sawmill from the Glendale area to Cedar Mountain and installed a steam engine to power it; eventually he converted it to diesel. His sons-Arlos, Josiah, Alfred, John, and Leo-joined in the business, which thrived until the 1950s when it merged with the Pearson and Crofts mill located near Bryce Canyon. Crofts was honored by Utah State Agricultural College in 212 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY 1954 with a conservation award which recognized his outstanding leadership in national resource management. On 29 March 1935 Glendale was incorporated, with David A. Smith as the town's first mayor. Other mayors have included Charles C. Anderson, Merle J. Spencer, James L. Esplin, Howard Spencer, and Charles Wilbur Brinkerhoff. The town's first postmaster was Warren Foote in the late 1880s; others have included John S. Carpenter, Elizabeth Hopkins Carpenter, Lois Harris Spencer, Rachel Jolley, Ella Anderson, David A. Smith, John Levanger, Alvin Black, Sarah Black and Ive Maxwell. Transportation and Roads During the first decades of the twentieth century, Zion Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and the Grand Canyon all became national parks, and the state of Utah built roads to make the region more accessible. The sandy stretch between Kanab and Long Valley was paved in 1922, and in 1930 the Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel was built, connecting Kane County's towns with the rest of southwestern Utah and U.S. Highway 91, which was built in the 1920s. In the late 1920s, funding to complete the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway, called "Utah's most spectacular and most publicized road project," came from the federal government to. help provide access to Zion and other national parks of the region. One of the most incred­ible engineering feats in the history of road building, the twenty-five-mile road, located in Kane and Washington Counties, moves from the canyon floor to Pine Creek Canyon and the four-mile roadway spirals upward to a tunnel paralleling the face of the vertical cliffs for 5,615 feet. Construction within the park cost $2,000,000; from the park to Mt. Carmel it cost the state and the federal government another $500,000 for the road. The Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel was an important engineering feat. It was no longer necessary for travelers between St. George and Kanab to take the long roundabout route through northern Arizona. After two years of work, the Nevada Contracting Company shut down its camp in early 1930, according to the Kane County Standard, "thus making the end of their job of building the major part of what is perhaps the most spectacular highway in the world."34 The Zion- KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 213 Lee's Ferry on the Colorado River near the mouth of the Paria River pro­vided access between Kane County and northern Arizona. This photograph was taken 19 March 1935. (Utah State Historical Society) Mt. Carmel tunnel road was officially dedicated on 2 July 1930 by Governor George H. Dern and later served as a vital link between U.S. Highways 89 and 91 after Highway 89 connected Kane County towns to Bryce Canyon and other northern areas with a direct north-south highway through the county.35 In 1929 Arizona had announced plans to improve the roads to the new Colorado River bridge at Marble Canyon. It would spend $20,000 during 1929 surveying and laying out a route from Flagstaff to the state line south of Kanab and put $88,000 into the construc­t i o n of the road itself. Two possible routes were discussed for the road-one joining the Grand Canyon road in the Kaibab Forest at Jacob's Lake and the other skirting the r im of the Kaibab Plateau on the edge of House Rock Valley.36 The National Park Service reported t h a t inquiries about road c o n d i t i o n s leading to the bridge had increased dramatically since its completion, and that approximately fifty cars passed over it each day.37 In December 1929, Arizona offi- 214 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY cials announced that they would improve the road between Flagstaff and the Navajo Bridge and on through Fredonia to the Utah state line.38 In 1930 the state of Utah committed to spend $100,000 on road improvements and construction in Kane County for grading and structures on the road from Kanab 4.5 miles south to the Utah- Arizona line, construction of about three miles of road in the Three Lakes section extending from six to nine miles north of Kanab (a dangerous stretch through a tortuous canyon), and the graveling of both sections.39 In February 1930 the Kane County Standard reported that the road crew was "anxiously waiting for the construction of the road through Kanab and Three Lakes Canyon to start." The county commissioners had approved the right of way and had begun the process of condemning properties in the way of construction, mak­ing every attempt to "purchase the necessary right of ways and in every way have also tried to be fair with the property owners, and at the same time do justice to their offices."40 The Kane County Standard reported in an article entitled "More Than a Million for Roads" in its 28 November 1930 issue that contracts were under negotiation for more than a million dollars worth of highway construction for the region, including $200,000 for the road in Arizona between Jacob Lake and the Navajo Bridge.41 The people of Kane County recognized the importance of U.S. Highway 89 when it was completed in the area in the early 1930s and the improvements in the region's roads to the county's future well being, opening trade, recreation potential, and communication and cultural exchange with other Utah counties and with Arizona.42 The Kane County Standard reviewed proposed area road construction and improvement projects for the summer of 1931 in its 24 April issue. Funding sources included the state of Utah, the National Forest Service, the National Park Service, and Kane County; they would col­lectively spend $1,646,237 on the projects. In addition, another $95,000 was to be spent on general maintenance of roads. This included grading graveled surfaces, building bridges and culverts, and spending $12,000 on various improvements. The road from Toquerville to La Verkin junction, a fourteen-mile stretch from the eastern boundary of Zion National Park on the Zion-Mt. Carmel KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 215 Tunnel road to the Mt. Carmel junction, and the twelve-mile road from Three Lakes north of Kanab to the Utah-Arizona line would be improved for $105,000. J.C. Compton contracted to complete these jobs. The largest of the new road construction jobs in the region was a new road in Zion Canyon which would be constructed for $250,000. Ten miles of road would be constructed from Hatch to the junction of the Bryce Canyon road for $60,000. Another contract was for the Mt. Carmel dugway (three miles of heavy construction for $125,000), a job that started at the junction of the Zion-Mt. Carmel Road, going south up the canyon toward Kanab to the summit of the sandy plateau. Six miles of road from the sandy plateau to Three Lakes would cost $75,000; three short road sections in Kanab Canyon cost $80,000, and thirteen miles of road from Jacob Lake to Pleasant Valley in the Kaibab Forest area for $60,000 were also planned. The House Rock Valley road from Jacob's Lake to Pleasant Valley was to be constructed for $300,000.43 The Kane County Standard reported the progress of each project through the summer, as all affected the local economy, even if all were not in Kane County.44 Natural Resources and Public Lands Besides the road construction during these decades, the town and county governments continued to maintain and improve their existing infrastructures, particularly in the search for additional sources of water. The Kane County Water Conservancy District was the primary agency involved with water-resource development in the county. Kane County extracted water from a number of reservoir sites, including Alton, Alton Lakes, Cave Lake, Duck Lake, Kanab Sink, Johnson Creek, Little Meadow, Long Valley, the Paria River, and Shirts Creek. A study conducted in 1935 provides a picture of how much land was irrigated, and the canals that fed fields with water from nearby streams, reservoirs, and other sources. In the county there were forty-six miles of irrigation canals. The total number of farms in 1930 was 200; of those, 167 were irrigated. The total area of those farms was 94,968 acres.45 In September 1937, the Elbow Dam project was planned to tap a water source that was anticipated to bring agricultural expansion to 216 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY Kanab farmers. The water would be conveyed to land in and around Kanab through Kanab Creek and a system of canals, and it would irrigate thousands of acres of land for cultivation.46 A single coal mining business was located and operating in the county near Alton. During the 1930s efforts were made to locate coal deposits in the hope of developing further mining industries in the county. The Kane County Standard reported one such effort in July 1931 that was conducted by the government and supervised locally by Ray Lightner and Don A. Lightner of St. George. The coal field was located near the eastern boundary of Zion National Park fifteen miles northwest of Orderville, and 24,000 acres were involved in the lease.47 Considerable interest was aroused by the coal field, which was leased by a group of men from Richfield and southern California. The vein of coal was up to twelve feet thick and continued for miles to the east and west. The group leased 2,600 acres from the government and considerable acreage from private farmers. To access the vein they constructed a four-mile road from Esplin's ranch to the Cedar-Long Valley road in Dry Valley near Navajo Lake.48 The Kanab Lions Club met on 11 February 1934 to discuss with Benjamin Cameron of Panguitch a plan to develop a coal mine on Cedar Mountain. Apparently, the coal in this district was considered ideal for stoves and fireplaces because it was relatively smokeless.49 It was anticipated that coal mining could produce a stable economic resource for the county from the abundant natural deposits. "Kane county will have a permanent pay roll, when the coal mines in the north-west part of this county are opened up," one writer enthusias­tically predicted in 1939. "A road which takes off at the Clear Creek road, east of tunnels on the Zion-Mt. Carmel highway, leading to these coal beds is now in the course of construction," the newspaper reported. It was predicted by Kane County Clerk D.M. Tietjen that the road would take about two months to complete.50 The mining did not develop to the large extent hoped, however. In 1929 permission had been requested from the Federal Land Office in Salt Lake City by a number of Salt Lake City investors to prospect for oil and gas on 56,320 acres of public land in Garfield and Kane counties. All the applications were denied.51 Ranchers endeavored to continue the lifestyle they knew and KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 217 loved during the difficult times. About this time, the lifestyle of cat­tleman William T. Dobson of Kanab was portrayed in a story called "Sinister," which appeared in serial form in the Westerner magazine. Dobson was born four miles north of the Arizona-Utah border. The nearest railroad station was in Nephi to the north; Kanab was farther from a station than was any other town in the state. The diversity of ways Dobson worked to support his family typifies those of other Kane County residents. As a boy he worked in both cattle and sheep camps-he was familiar with roundups, shearing corrals, and work­ing in sawmills. When World War I began, he had a large family and had become a forest ranger in the Kaibab National Forest. "This life," he reportedly said, "was so fascinating he always felt ashamed to take pay for it. It was like being paid to go a vacation to the wonderland of America."52 He later tried his hand at fruit growing and attempted to start a newspaper in Kanab. He eventually moved to Salt Lake City. Local cattlemen had participated in a range protest in Salt Lake City in August 1930 in conjunction with the convention of the Utah Cattle and Horse Growers Association. They focused on proposed plans for making House Rock Valley and the Sandhills into a buffalo and antelope preserve. This range in southern Utah and northern Arizona had long been used as grazing ground for thousands of cat­tle and sheep. The area cattlemen felt it had become time to draw a line against further parts of the area being made into national parks or reserves. They referred to the fact that a large area of good grazing land in northern Arizona had already been taken away from the stockmen when the Kaibab Indian Reservation had been created at Moccasin and when Pipe Spring National Monument was estab­lished. They also resented the creation of the deer preserve in the Kaibab National Forest and maintained, "If much more land is taken away and made into game preserves,... it will be impossible for [us] to remain in the business."53 Managing local resources was an increasingly pressing concern during the farming depression years of the 1920s and 1930s. The use of the water of the Colorado River provided another test of different attitudes toward utilization of resources during the first decades of the twentieth century. Although Mormon settlement had been located along the irrigable banks of the Virgin, Paria, and Kanab 218 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY Rivers, there was no acreage along the Colorado River suitable for major agricultural uses. In 1922, the seven states of the Colorado River basin, in the effort to find a more equitable way of using this important resource, developed a formal agreement, the Colorado River Compact, which created a division of the river's water between the upper basin states of Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico and the lower basin states of Arizona, Nevada, and California, the dividing point being Lees Ferry. This agreement established claims to the water and allowed for future negotiations between states willing to form alliances for special projects. For instance, the Hoover Dam, completed in 1936, created an enormous source of hydroelectric power, the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, and economic ben­efit to nearby cities, particularly Las Vegas. In 1930, the Kaibab Investigative Committee, including repre­sentatives from nine national associations, spent ten days in June on location in the national forest. The found that the forest rangeland had been seriously depleted by domestic grazing animals and deer; in fact, the forest was only producing about 10 percent of the forage that it had once produced. Overgrazing was leading to the disap­pearance of aspen trees and cliffrose bushes. Conifer reproduction was almost impossible because few seedings were escaping the notice of hungry deer. The study emphasized the importance of taking a planning approach in the future in dealing with the management of game and other forest policies to ensure growth rather than deterio­ration. 54 National Parks-Bryce Canyon The automobile more than any other technological advancement impacted Kane County and made Zion National Park much more accessible. Visitor totals into Zion reflected that change-between 1919 and 1920 the number increased from 1,914 to 3,692; by 1930 park visitation had reached 55,000. In 1930 Zion National Park was expanded to include land in Kane County-an area made accessible by the Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel and road. Prior to this time the park boundary had ended at the Washington-Kane County line. Kane County also houses a sizable portion of Bryce Canyon National Park and benefits from the location of the park in the KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 219 region. The economic impact in this case is not as great as it is from Zion National Park, however, as the portion of Bryce Canyon National Park in Kane County is only accessible by motor vehicle from within the park through Garfield County. Such scenic attrac­tions of the park as Yovimpa Point, Rainbow Point, and Ponderosa Canyon are located in Kane County, which benefits from general tourist visitation to the area; many who visit one of the great national parks of the region continue on to visit the others. Bryce Canyon gained increasing attention and consideration as either a state park or national monument beginning in the 1910s-a process that had accelerated by the early 1920s. In 1916 Reuben C. Syrett homesteaded near the entrance of what would eventually become Bryce Canyon National Park. By 1920 Ruby and Minnie Syrett had built tourist facilities in the canyon. In 1919 the Utah State Legislature asked Congress to consider making Bryce Canyon a national monument, and this was accomplished by declaration of President Warren G. Harding in 1923. The monument initially was under jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service, and increased national attention focused on the area. By 1924 Congress passed a bill to establish the canyon as a Utah National Park after all private and state holdings in the area were eliminated. In the process of fulfilling the conditions, Utah officials worked to change the proposed name of the park to Bryce Canyon, and on 25 February 1928 Congress formally authorized Bryce Canyon National Park, almost doubling its size from the earlier authorization, including land in Kane County, which could now boast of having a national park within its boundaries.55 Soon, after the expansion of Zion National Park, Kane could claim portions of two national parks. E.T. Scoyen, superintendent of Utah's national parks, spoke to the Lions Club of Kanab in January 1931 about the important tradition of protecting the wilderness and the public domain for future gener­ations. Scoyen said that the interest in national parks had accelerated in the years after World War I. National parks visitation in the coun­try had increased from an average of 450,000 a year to 2,800,000 per year. He articulated the government's attitude toward federal involve­ment in the protection of the country's public areas: 220 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY The National Park is a peculiar type of government reserva­tion. It is also the one distinct contribution of the people of the United States to land administration. The principle of wilderness preservation for the benefit and enjoyment of the people is an American principle. After originating this idealistic idea we went to work with characteristic American energy and developed to a point where it has attracted the interest of other nations. I said the fundamental park policy is peculiar. By this I merely mean that we have gone beyond accepted policies of land conser­vation previously in use. Conservation of our forests and other resources is a factor which we can trace back almost to the dawn of civilization.56 Scoyen continued by articulating the value of a national park to an area. First, he said, beyond the obvious value of living near a place that is wild and beautiful, is an economic value to the area. "If there were not some actual cash value involved, groups and organizations in all parts of the country would not be trying so desperately to have a park operating in their vicinity," he maintained. A national park also promotes travel in general to an area. He mentioned that as he had traveled around the county he had often heard the criticism that this economic value benefits outsiders rather than those living in the county itself, saying: "I have frequently heard it said that this park business and tourists is something outside, it is not operated for the benefit of local people, and that its ever expanding operation will greatly cripple, if not eventually destroy the livestock industry in this section." Although conceding this might be true, his response was that a national park was an integral part of the entire social and eco­nomic life of a county as well as the rest of the region and should not be limited by its impact to a few at the expense of the many. The area would benefit, according to Scoyen, by roads that would be built and funded by the government through the county and by service busi­nesses that could start u p and supply tourists through the area. In this he b o t h anticipated criticism of national preserves and a response that has continued between citizens on both sides of the issue u p to the present day. In January 1931 Superintendent Scoyen spoke with an old-time resident of one of the towns bordering Zion National Park. The old KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 221 man stood in front of his family home. Scoyen asked how old the home was, and the man said it was almost fifty years old and that it was still as tight as it was when first built. Scoyen responded, "Well! Times have changed since that was built!" "Yes," the old-timer responded, "but they have changed more in the last five years than they did in the first forty-five."57 The Depression and the New Deal For people in all of Utah's counties, the Great Depression was a time of fear and anxiety. Kane County had already felt the effects of the declining market in agricultural goods after 1919 with the drop in demand for farm products after the end of World War I. Farm prices and production dropped dramatically during the decade of the 1920s. Farmers continued to plant their fields and were able to feed their families, but there were few markets for their surplus produce. Most did have enough to eat, however; they had garden plots and generally a number of chickens.58 To get a piece of candy at the store, children could bring an egg to trade for it. Most women made their family's clothes, and many never threw anything away, finding uses for everything. According to one Kanab resident growing up during the era, the lives of children were little different during the farming depression years of the 1920s and 1930s: Being young in the 1920s was not all hard work even though it was during the depression. After the work was done the neighbor­hood children would gather for a nightly game of kick the can, or join the many races that were always being held. During the colder months they would gather at someone's house and play cards or go to the school where dances were being held for everyone. The dances even allowed the first and second graders to come and encouraged them to participate.59 The majority of Kane County voters had voted for Republican presidents Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover, and they were overwhelmingly Republican in their voting preferences and conservative in their outlook, proclaiming the ideas of free enter­prise and little government regulation. Even during the Depression the majority of county voters consistently favored the Republican 222 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY presidential candidate, although most Utahns and other Americans voted to elect Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt four consecutive times, beginning in 1932. Nevertheless, after Roosevelt was elected president, county residents looked to his New Deal programs for fed­eral assistance. Roosevelt was convinced that it was the government's obligation to help end the Depression. He called upon the United States Congress to enact laws that would create programs that would involve the government more with the lives of the people. The group of programs created in this effort to reverse the economic decline were called the New Deal. Programs under Roosevelt's New Deal had three main purposes: provide relief for the needy, create jobs and encourage business expansion, and reform business and governmen­tal practices to arrest the Depression's development. New Deal legis­lation created numerous agencies, called "alphabet agencies" after their abbreviations, that provided the organizational network neces­sary to frame programs and put them into action. Perhaps the most pressing need in Kane County as elsewhere was immediate relief for the hungry and homeless and unemployed workers and their families. Kane County benefited from a variety of New Deal programs. The federal government directed the disburse­ment of funds, the efforts of agencies, and the establishment of pro­grams toward development and recovery for the county. The number of people receiving aid under the Public Welfare Program in Kane County generally increased between 1930 and 1940. In 1936, for example, the average number of cases was sixty-seven; the next year, the number increased to ninety-five, and in 1938 it went to 117. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) assigned fifty-one workers to the county to various projects in 1935, 104 in 1936, fifty-one in 1937, and eighty-seven in 1938. The Welfare and Works Program spent $131,543.77 in Kane County between 1932 and 1938. About 54.3 per­cent of the funds for this program came from the federal govern­ment, 34.3 percent from the state, and 11.4 percent from the county.60 The Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) helped local farmers learn methods of increasing the fertility of depleted fields, conserving their lands, and reestablishing their purchasing power. The state AAA committee included a representative from Kane KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 223 County-James A. Brown from Kanab. Several agencies served the needs of local farmers. The Farm Security Administration (FSA) office that oversaw the projects proceeding in Kane County was located in St. George. The local supervisor was Willis Dunkley and the home management supervisor was Eleanor Smith. The purpose of the organization was to further rural rehabilitation. Among other programs, the FSA provided long-term loans to qualified farm ten­ants to help them purchase farms. The Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation purchased, exchanged, processed, transported, handled, stored, and distributed surplus agricultural commodities on a non-commercial basis, redi­recting farm surpluses to the poor and the needy. Kane County's rep­resentative in the agency was Florian W. Johnson of Kanab. Long-time residents recall the program and in particular what some considered the senselessness of such an approach, feeling like it was getting money for nothing, although at the time locals accepted the aid. Calvin Johnson remembered a time when the government paid cattlemen ten dollars a head to destroy their substandard cattle.61 Although many didn't understand it, the program was designed to help increase prices while eliminating diseased or malnourished ani­mals. Ranchers were allowed to use the meat unless it was diseased. Because much of the county's grazing land was public land that was managed by the federal government, cooperation between those in the cattle industry and governmental agencies was important. In August 1934 the U.S. Forest Service conducted a study of grazing conditions in the Kaibab National Forest. Because it had been a year of drought, the deer population was at risk. A series of public meet­ings was held that was attended by local cattlemen and representa­tives from the state governments of Arizona and Utah and the Forest Service.62 An advisory committee of the Cattle Emergency Relief group of Kane County met in the county courthouse in Kanab on 1 August 1934 to organize the government's purchase and shipment of cattle out of the county; some 250 head of cattle had already been shipped out of Alton and another 136 calves had been condemned.63 Other farm relief efforts continued for several years. In 1937, for example, $2,500 in "rural rehabilitation" funds was granted to area livestock owners for families in "urgent need of subsistence and with- 224 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY out feed for their range sheep, milk cows, pigs, or chickens."64 The government also contributed to immediate relief efforts by extend­ing the food stamp plan in 1940 to benefit those in certain rural counties of Utah, including Kane. This program was described by the local newspaper as a "means of distributing over-abundant crops through neighborhood markets to the 6,700 families receiving public assistance in the twelve counties."65 Among the most popular and effective government programs was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), established to help put unemployed young men to work, generally in a rural setting, to work on public range, national forest, and national park conservation and improvement projects. Some twenty CCC camps were created at public land areas in Utah, including one in Zion National Park. The Zion Park camp spent some time in erosion-control work along the Virgin River. The insular nature of rural Mormon Utahns was chal­lenged by the program which was aiding them, creating mixed feel­ings among many. Old-timers remember when the CCC workers came into town, as the workers would sometimes come into Kanab for Saturday night dances. They were well regulated by their super­visors, but most were still quite different in culture and outlook from local men and came primarily from cities throughout the country. The CCC men competed against local teams in intramural baseball games. The girls in one family who lived in Alton were told by their parents that they couldn't date the CCC workers when they came into town-they could only date Utah boys. As they remembered it, most of the CCC men were Italians from New York City. Some would come to the Mormon church in Kanab on Sunday for worship ser­vices and occasionally families would invite them to dinner. Mormon prejudice was deep-rooted, however. One time, the girls reportedly were driving from their ranch to Alton and had a flat tire. A truck-load of CCC men drove by and stopped to change the tire. While they were working, a neighbor drove by, jerked his car to a stop, and start­ing yelling at the CCC workers to leave the young women alone.66 During the 1930s, CCC workers created hiking trails, camping grounds, and numerous other improvements to Zion National Park. Locals increasingly began to recognize the importance that the region's national parks played in their economy. The CCC Duck KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 225 Creek Recreation Camp was officially dedicated on 25 June 1933. Governor Henry H. Blood came to the celebration to deliver the keynote address. Representatives of four southern Utah counties par­ticipated in the program, in which W.R. Palmer related a story of the naming of Navajo Lake, a male chorus from Kanab sang several num­bers, the Parowan band played during a late night dance, and com­munity singing was also featured. Duck Creek was heralded by the local newspaper, which wrote that it was an "ideal place to establish a recreation camp, the air being cool and refreshing, the scenery enchanting and there is good fishing along Duck Creek. There is no doubt but that this camp will become a popular retreat as soon as it is know to all who wish to spend a few days or weeks camping in a shady and quiet place among the pines and aspens."67 Crews from CCC camps in the area worked on projects in Fredonia, Zion National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, and Bryce Canyon National Park. The CCC men only received five dol­lars of personal spending money each month (the remaining twenty-five dollars being sent to their families at home), but collectively this was a great deal of money during the period and helped bolster busi­nesses in the area long before tourism picked up. Both CCC and WPA projects greatly benefited the area and its towns, including help­ing build the county courthouse and new school buildings. These projects also had the benefit of putting some local people to work and had the incidental effect of teaching many people trades they might not have learned otherwise. Some became rock masons, car­penters, and builders from working on CCC and WPA projects.68 The beautiful rock work done by CCC workers in Zion National Park cre­ated a number of professional masons. They were proud of their work in addition to being able to survive through the difficult years of the Depression. The U.S. Forest Service also played a role in the area's economic recovery during the New Deal years by administering grazing pro­grams, protecting watersheds for domestic agricultural and industrial purposes, and developing recreational opportunities for visitors in the national forests. Kane County came under the direction of the Forest Service district headquartered in Panguitch, Utah. About twenty-nine men from Kanab were hired to work with the Forest 226 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY Service on range improvement funded under the Public Works Act. Some protest was organized in Arizona about hiring Utah men for projects that were mainly located in other states, particularly refer­ring to the Arizona area of the Arizona Strip. The Kanab Lions Club solicited help from Utah's senators in negotiating a reinterpretation of the provisions of the PWA so that the residents of Kanab could work on the Kaibab National Forest.69 They justified their request on the grounds that Kanab residents had grazed stock in the area for sev­eral years, and that the Forest Service had been careful in the past to employ men from both Utah and Arizona on a relatively equal basis. The high school struggled during the Depression years to pay salaries and expenses. During the 1932-33 school year students came to school only half a day. In p a r t funded by t h e WPA, t h e school building underwent significant remodeling in 1934 when the exterior walls were rebuilt and a new roof added. Other improvements included the surfacing of sidewalks, rebuilding a retaining wall, and creating terraced seats above the athletic track. In 1934 the school t e rm was extended from eight to nine months for the first time since before the Depression.70 County officials made the decisions as to who needed relief. In the opinion of the Kane County Standard, "Kane county needs more relief t h a n it is getting, and we should use every effort to see that we get our just dues."71 Like many throughout the state and nation who proclaimed the merits of self-sufficiency and limited government, when government programs were made available, county residents did not want to be left out. In 1934, however, Kane County actually was receiving less relief t h a n any other county in the state according to statistics compiled by the state relief committee: only 6.13 percent of the population was receiving aid (this in contrast, for example, to Beaver County with 30.60 percent, Duchesne County with 53.50 per­cent, and Iron County with 37.40 percent). At the time, there were only three projects that were employing men needing relief-the lay­ing of a n ew pipe line, b u i l d i n g shops for vocational t r a i n i n g at Kanab High School and Valley High School, and repairing the grounds of the courthouse.7 2 In August 1934 a Federal Emergency Relief A d m i n i s t r a t i o n (FERA)-funded road project was surveyed from Panguitch to Glendale. In October 1934 two other FERA pro- KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 227 Braiding the May Pole in Kanab on 1 May 1929. (Courtesy Deanne Glover) jects began in Kane County-a project for grading, improving, and repairing Kanab town streets and the Kanab cemetery, and another project involving maintenance of the Kanab public library.73 Kanab Mayor Edwin J. Ford had applied for a $15,000 WPA appropriation for library expansion. At that time, the library included 5,000 books and thousands of magazines, and it was estimated that circulation in 1933 was as high as 13,000 items per year. During May 1934 Kanab officials passed an ordinance to improve and repair the existing waterworks system.74 In 1935, Kanab revamped much of its water system with funding from the Public Works Administration, adding larger mains and a new large cistern high on the side of a cliff north of town, and re-laying pipe.75 The Lions Club worked on a transportation project during 1937 to pro­vide three blocks of "full width, hard surfaced highway through the main business section." The group planned to help surface the road and build curbs and gutters for three blocks of streets in Kanab.76 Many local men and women worked on WPA projects; for example, Genieve Millett Cutler Bluejacket remembered working on a WPA project lining Kanab's ditches with rock.77 At one meeting held at the Kane County Courthouse on 13 228 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY September 1934, Lowry Nelson of the Agricultural College at Logan spoke about the FERA program and how to access funds. Nelson described FERA as a relief program, not a work program, and said that individuals employed on such projects needed to be eligible for relief before they could be assigned to a project. "The only purpose of the projects is to allow the people receiving relief to work for what they get, and they are allowed only sufficient to satisfy their mini­mum subsistence requirements, as determined by the investigation of the case worker," he said. Kane County's FERA committee esti­mated that one hundred families in the county were added to the county's relief list by June 1934. The Kane County Standard suggested in July 1934 that "few of the men employed in Kane at the present time are working on permanent jobs."78 In 1934, fifty-seven men from Kane County worked on Civil Works Administration (CWA) projects, and forty others worked on the federal project on campgrounds underway in Zion Canyon that year. The state CWA committee approved the following projects for the county: repairing streets and sidewalks in Kanab, $915; repairing streets and sidewalks at Orderville, $525; repairing streets and side­walks at Glendale, $225; repairing streets and sidewalks at Alton, $195; repairing and improving school grounds and buildings at Kanab, $1,455; repairing roads and bridges at Kanab, $2,550; repair­ing school grounds and buildings at Orderville, $787; repairing and improving school grounds and buildings at Glendale, $225. Women's projects included hiring two county nurses-one from Long Valley and one from Kanab-one social worker from Alton, and one library worker from Kanab, with total salaries and wages of $738. After the salary for a librarian was approved by the state CWA committee, Kanab's public library was able to reopen, after having been closed for three weeks. The library was to be opened for four hours five days a week, and for two additional hours each day the librarian would classify, organize, and repair books.79 The women's county committee of the CWA at Kanab organized efforts to register women in need of work through the county relief agent. Although registration was no guarantee of employment, when work did become available these were the first women to be consid­ered. The committee also reviewed proposals sent to the state com- KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 229 mittee regarding the county's women and also sought ways to bring work from other towns to local women. The CWA specifically called for women who could do clerical work, nursing, library work, work in connection with securing relief, work in connection with voca­tional or adult education, janitorial work, and social work.80 Kanab's committee-which included Nabbie S. Mace, Rose H. Hamblin, and Elsie Hamblin-worked in close cooperation with the local Mormon Relief Society. The Kane County Reemployment Service, managed by R.B. Young, endeavored to place workers with private employers. "We invite all employers to use the reemployment office as the agency through which he may best secure qualified workers," Young announced. "Merchants, farmers, stockraisers, housecleaners, anyone wanting to hire any kind of help may secure through the reemploy­ment office workers of any kind for short-time or long-time jobs. We also want," he continued, "to impress the civic organizations that are stressing such programs as remodeling, clean-up campaigns, munic­ipal construction and repair work with the fact that the Reemployment office is now ready and eager to refer workers to the projects which result from local organized effort."81 In October 1935 the Kane County Board of Education received a grant from the federal government for $24,600 for construction of two new school buildings in the county. The first of the two struc­tures would be a four-room building to house the industrial shop and home-economics classes at Valley High School; the second was for a six-room school building for Orderville elementary classes. The Talboe Company of Provo received the contract to build the two buildings.82 Kane County schools received $6,000 in WPA funds in May 1936 to improve school grounds and buildings, with the single specifica­tion that no more than $2,100 be used on any single project. Many local men were employed on the projects. From the total appropria­tion, $1,800 was used to build a retaining wall and stadium at the Kanab High School. The stadium would eventually seat 1,400 peo­ple. 83 During 1937, WPA projects included construction of a new county jail, a race track, and fairgrounds, as well as work on the pub­lic library.84 230 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY When the new arena, racetrack and grandstand were finally com­pleted in 1937, Kanab staged a three-day race and rodeo. Each day, six races were held on the new circular track. The Standard reported on 3 December 1937, "To h o l d the interest of t h e crowd between races wild, bucking horses and mangy cattle were t u r n e d loose in the arena with riders clinging to 'bucking strap' or saddle leather in order to stay. Rope tricks were performed by experts in the art and pranks were played between the acting cowboys and pick-up men as they went about their performing." Tourism Brothers Whitney, Gronway, and Chauncey Parry played roles in shaping the county's t o u r i s t economy d u r i n g these decades. The Parry brothers capitalized on area developments and began the new business of busing tourists to Zion and Bryce canyons. In March 1931 Chauncey Parry began preparations to open up a hotel-the Parry Lodge-on his property in Kanab. Remodeling soon was underway, adapting the historic house into an "up-to-date" hotel and building m o d e r n t w o - r o om cabins equipped with good beds and r u n n i ng water on the lot to the north.85 In 1935 the Kane County Standard enthusiastically maintained that the county was "coming into her own, via scenery." The article continued: "Year by year since tourists have been attracted to south­ern Utah by the scenic wonders and natural beauties, home folks have realized that many of our most unique, and interesting places, and scenic spots have been missed almost without exception by the tourist as they pass along the highway at high speed." For this reason, the editor continued, each m o n t h he was going to devote a column to describing the county's u n i q u e a t t r a c t i o n s . For example, he reported, Last year over 2,000 people were at the Kane county celebra­tion at Aspen grove on Cedar mountain July 24. This year at the Home Coming we want to see more there. The balmy mountain air, the enchanting scenery and clear, cool, water, make this place an ideal outdoor recreation center. Beautiful Navajo Lake which is only a short distance from the grove is equipped with an open air theater, camp grou ids with tables, benches, stoves and sanitary KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 231 rest rooms. Swings and teeters have been erected to delight the children and a large space has been cleared which affords ample room for out door sports such as base ball, races, and games of var­ious kinds.86 Also m e n t i o n e d was t h e Caves Lakes area in Kanab Canyon, which was a site of Anasazi Basketmaker ruins. Kanab was featured in t h e September 1937 issue of what the Kanab newspaper called "See N o r t h e r n Arizona Magazine" as a tourist mecca of southern Utah. The article said in part, Kanab is known for its sunshine and wonderful temperature. The elevation is 4925 and with the protection of the mountains, makes it one of the delightful spots all seasons of the year. In win­ter, the sun is warm and bright and in summer the cool breezes from the canyon make it one of the most pleasant places in the country.87 The article m e n t i o n e d that Kanab offered several o p t i o n s in lodging, two large department stores and four grocery stores, a bak­ery, d r u g store, a n d "three of the best places in the state to eat." It elaborately praised Kanab as a beautiful rural town welcoming tourists to the region. Kanab is the home town of the sheep and cattle man. Well painted homes and well kept lots bespeak the thrift and industry of its people. The home accommodation for the tourist population is no less beautiful and attractive. The native sand stone is to be found worked into paths, curbs, fences and homes of the commu­nity and public buildings. One cannot enter Kanab without being attracted by the long strip of green lawn on the slope of the hill in front of the main building at the school campus. Kanab is a heaven of rest. Each night the camps are crowded with pleasure-seeking travelers stopping for a space to rest in quiet contentment. The courtesy of the people, the cleanliness of the accommodations, the green of the gardens, and the cool of the breeze make Kanab an ideal spot for a rest from traveling.88 Salt Lake City's KSL radio station featured Kanab in a broadcast d u r i n g February 1938 which outlined the town's history and pre­sented a colorful description of some of its first inhabitants and the 232 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY many scenic attractions and opportunities for recreation in nearby canyonland areas. Among other allurements, the broadcast men­tioned the county's proximity to three national parks-Grand Canyon, Zion, and Bryce Canyon-the Zion-Mt. Carmel highway, Navajo Lake, and caves and cliff dwellings near Kanab.89 An informal survey conducted by F.D.B. Gay of Provo of cars passing through Kane County along U.S. Highway 89 noted the var­ious state license plates of cars traveling through Kanab on 19 July 1939. Gay counted a total of 137 cars from thirty-eight states between 9:00 A.M. and 4:30 P.M. California travelers and those from Arizona were by far the most common-twenty-seven and fourteen, respec­tively- but even the District of Columbia and Hawaii were repre­sented. Cars from as far away as Massachusetts, New Jersey, Alabama, Arkansas, and Wisconsin also were seen.90 Movie Industry The earliest motion picture made in Kane County was filmed in 1922; it was a silent western film called Deadwood Gulch starring Tom Mix. The Parry brothers attempted to capitalize on the great potential the area had for the movie industry by preparing a portfolio of scenic photographs of Kane County that they sent to major Hollywood stu­dios, promoting the area as a location for western movies. Locals also started businesses that provided lodging and supplies to movie crews. Their efforts were successful; eventually more than 200 films were made entirely or in part in Kane County, bringing thousands of dol­lars into the local economy.91 The Kane County Standard regularly reported on movies being filmed locally and movie stars who were spotted eating at local restaurants. On 27 August 1937, for example, the paper read, "A troupe of moving picture stars from Hollywood, California" have been in town "making films for the talkie 'Badman of the Brimstone.' It is reported that they will be in this vicinity for about ten days. They have employed quite a crew of local men to assist them with their equipment and other work. Several horses have also been hired as well as trucks."92 Some of the scenes were filmed at Zion Narrows and others at the Joel Johnson ranch. The crew was staying at the Parry Lodge in Kanab. KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 233 Typically, a film company would come into town with trucks filled with equipment, trailers for the stars' comfort on site, and movie crews. But almost every movie filmed locally also employed a number of locals for extras, to drive trucks and haul sets, and for a variety of other purposes. In one case, according to the local news­paper, "Every evening a large crowd of employees gather at the cabins at the west entrance to the Parry lodge grounds, where a large pay roll is distributed. Business houses, hotels and auto camps are all doing thriving businesses. The company [the Columbia Film Company] is certainly spending a great deal of money here in making the films for their production."93 Kanab has been the setting for more than one hundred westerns, some filmed right in town. Kanab even was known as "Utah's Little Hollywood." Early films included The Green Grass of Wyoming and Bad Day at Black Rock, among numerous others. Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Barbara Stanwick, Gary Cooper, and John Wayne were among the movie stars who stayed at Parry Lodge while they filmed locally. Dennis Judd's mother told a story about waitressing at Parry's Lodge and serving Clark Gable; she brushed up against his arm and reportedly wouldn't wash her arm for a week.94 The Kane County Standard kept residents informed about local movie developments. For example, it announced in 1934 that the "advance men of the talkie of one of Zane Grey's novels will build a house at Johnson which will be used in the reel to be made here in the near future. It is reported that several local cowboys will be used. I.O. Brown was visited recently with the object of obtaining vines and shrubbery for some of the scenes."95 Joel McCrea made a series of movies in Kanab including Union Pacific, Boots and Saddles, and Bugles in the Afternoon. One year he starred in a movie that needed an Indian attack three hundred strong. The movie makers invited all the local Native Americans to participate but still came up short, so several white men from Kanab dressed up for the roles in long black wigs and painted skin. According to the story, they were required to ride their horses bare­back, and the plan was for thirty of these riders to fall off their horses when the firing commenced. The Indians lined up along the ridge ready for the attack, including the thirty Indians who would fall 234 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY according to the script, mixed in with all the others on horseback. The t h i r t y had been offered an extra dollar for falling off their m o u n t s , b u t before the filming they h a d talked about the extra money they would receive for their daring. The director called "Action," and the three h u n d r e d Indians attacked the wagon train. Then all t h r e e h u n d r e d reportedly fell off their horses. The scene obviously needed to be refilmed.96 Much of the action that accompanied the movie industry cen­tered around the Parry Lodge. The three Parry brothers actively pur­sued business from the movie industry, even traveling to Hollywood to promote Kanab as a location for filming westerns. Leah Hannah Button remembered working at Parry's Lodge when Lloyd Bridges was on location. Once when she served him, he put his a rm around her a n d put a t ip in her pocket.97 Genieve Bluejacket worked as a waitress during the same time; she remembered being in a scene of The Green Grass of Wyoming and often waited on movie stars at the restaurant at Parry's Lodge.98 Theo McAllister got work as a carpenter b u i l d i n g movie sets.99 David Swapp met b o t h John Wayne and Barbara Stanwyck, w h om he considered overly bossy. He preferred being around the roadies and extras.100 Jackie Rife remembered how the movies connected Kane County to the world outside. Isolated beforehand, some residents were star­tled by h ow different their lives were from those of the outsiders.101 The movie business helped the local economy weather the Depression, providing an excellent source of revenue for many Kane County residents. The Kane County Standard painted a typical scene as a movie company came into town in 1938 and locals sprang into action: This week Kanab is again astir. A large movie company is again located in Kanab with headquarters at the Parry Lodge. Large trucks full of equipment lined the street from the court house to the post office and many cars and busses obstructed the streets east of the Parry Lodge Monday evening. Many local men have been employed to work for the company. The films are being taken for a serial "Wild Bill Hicock." Scenes have been filmed in Johnson canyon, at the "Y" junction in Long Valley, at the Tavern on the Utah-Arizona line and other places. A dam was constructed at the KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 235 "Y" by local men early this week, which will be used as a scene in the production.102 Also in 1938, a western entitled The Kanab Kid, starring Gertrude Messenger and Bob Steele, was filmed in Kane C o u n t y by Metro- Goldwyn-Meyer. Area resident Jean Crawford portrayed the part of a little girl, a n d Kanab locals Chauncey and Whitney Parry also acted in the film. The p r o d u c t i o n crew included twenty-seven men and women and several large trucks full of equipment. The movie was filmed near Cave Lakes and in Johnson Canyon. Between fifty and one hundred local residents were hired to play the roles of cowboys and other "western characters." Local cattle herds were featured in the film as well.103 In December 1938 Hollywood director Denver Dixon organized an independent film company with fifteen Kanab residents to estab­lish a studio and frontier town "Main Street" set on a more perma­nent basis. Israel Heaton's farm south of t h e Kanab cemetery was chosen for the site. Crews began construction almost immediately, anticipating the filming of The Mormon Conquest, which was sched­uled to commence in the near future.104 The company was to be called the Security National Picture Corporation, headed by Dixon as pres­ident and Guy Chamberlain of Kanab as vice-president.105 The setting of the "western town" was carefully selected and was described as being "picturesque in every way. The beautiful vermilion cliffs a short distance to the n o r t h and east of the studio, which are broken with gaps a n d large boulders in places, t h e lower rolling hills a n d open country to the south furnish variety enough for scenes in several pro­ductions." 106 The company staged an opening dance on the new set on 20 January 1939, bringing people from all the surrounding towns together to celebrate. For a 1939 film based on Walter O. E d m o n d ' s p o p u l a r novel Drums Along the Mohawk, published in 1936, t h e paper reported, "Many men from Kanab and Long Valley recently signed up to do construction work on Cedar m o u n t a i n for the Twentieth Century Fox company, which will begin filming a $2,000,000 picture in July. It is reported that a stockade, fort, cabins and varied scenes will be built at Sidney Valley, Duck Creek, Navajo Lake." Henry Fonda and 236 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY Claudette Colbert co-starred, and the picture employed a reported 2,000 people, many from local towns as well as from Garfield, Iron, and Washington Counties. According to one observer, "The camp which is really a modern tent city, affords practically all the conve­niences of h o m e . . . . Quarters for the stars are super-deluxe, tent cab­ins and have hot and cold running water, private baths, and a modern, sanitary sewage system. Community bath houses have been constructed for use by extra help and are, also, connected with the sewage system, which includes septic tank and sub-surface drainage."107 In addition, a kitchen serving between 150 and 400 peo­ple each meal, complete with refrigeration and sterilization facilities, was constructed on the site. To entertain the crew and extras, "recre­ation features" were provided in the camp. "A huge recreation tent, provided with benches, screen and projecting machines for moving pictures has been constructed. Several full length features have been shown for entertainment and other features have been presented. A stage has been built and is equipped with foot lights and curtains for legitimate performances," it was reported. Audiences sat on flattened logs arranged in a huge circle around a bonfire in front of the stage.108 Many doubtless hoped general better times were coming to the county with the Great Depression finally ending. The expenditure of funds for local internal improvements had been an obvious benefit to the county, particularly during the Depression years. It improved the infrastructure, provided jobs to local residents, and gave new hope to county residents. It was made possible through various gov­ernment agencies, particularly those of the federal government, and was visionary in its potential impact on the county. ENDNOTES 1. Richard D. Poll, Thomas G. Alexander, Eugene E. Campbell, and David E. Miller, eds., Utah's History (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1978), 690. 2. Allan Kent Powell, ed., Utah History Encyclopedia, 432-33. 3. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1957 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1960), 289-90, 297-98. KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 237 4. Kane County Commission, Minutes, 18 April 1921, 21 February 1922. 5. Ibid., 18 April 1922. 6. Ibid., 13 November 1922. 7. Ibid., 3 November 1926. 8. Ibid., 18 July 1927. 9. Ibid., 10 November 1928. 10. Ibid., 7 July 1930. 11. Ibid., 4 May 1931. 12. Ibid., 14 November 1930. 13. Ibid., 10 April 1933. 14. Kane County Standard, 5 June 1931. 15. "New Kanab Talkie Has Large Crowds," Kane County Standard, 19 October 1934. 16. Elsie Chamberlain Carroll, History of Kane County, 223. 17. "Shall Kanab Sell Electric Light Plant," Kane County Standard, 28 March 1930. 18. "Development Work Inaugurated to Improve Kane County Service," Kane County Standard, 9 August 1929. 19. "Telephone Directory Gives Street and No. Of Patrons," Kane County Standard, 13 December 1929. 20. "Telephone Co. Building New Line," Kane County Standard, 16 April 1937. 21. Kane County Commission, Minutes, 12 November 1934, 9 November 1936. 22. "Mail Route to be Maintained," Kane County Standard, 3 October 1930. 23. "Large Meeting Held At Kanab," Kane County Standard, 14 March 1930. 24. Robinson, History of Kane County, 129. 25. "Railroad Officials Drawing Tentative Plans for Extension of Denver-Pacific to Kanab," Kane County Standard, 21 October 1932. 26. United States Bureau of the Census, Reports for 1930 and 1940, var­ious pages. 27. "Observe the Quarantine," Kane County Standard, 13 March 1931. 28. "Public Library at Kanab is Closed for Lack of Funds," Kane County Standard, 12 January 1934. 29. See "Teachers Ask to Accept Notes," Kane County Standard, 19 238 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY February 1932, and "Full School Term Assured," Kane County Standard, 19 August 1932. 30. "New Hospital Will Be a Big Asset to Kane County People," Kane County Standard, 21 June 1935; "New Kanab Hospital Ready for Opening," Kane County Standard, 21 February 1936. 31. "Many Patients at Kanab Hospital," Kane County Standard, 13 March 1936. 32. "Kane County Aided by CWA Projects," Kane County Standard, 19 January 1934. 33. Robinson, History of Kane County, 204. 34. "Contract Work Completed," Kane County Standard, 14 February 1930. 35. "Road Dedication to be Held in Tunnel," Kane County Standard, 23 May 1930. 36. "Arizona to Improve Road to the New Colorado Bridge," Kane County Standard, 26 July 1929. 37. "Lee's Ferry Bridge Attracts Travel," Kane County Standard, 20 September 1929. 38. "Arizona To Build Road to Utah State Line," Kane County Standard, 6 December 1929. 39. "Kanab Road to Cost State Over $100,000," Kane County Standard, 14 March 1930. 40. "Road Work Now Open For Bids," Kane County Standard, 28 February 1930. 41. "More Than a Million For Roads," Kane County Standard, 28 November 1930. 42. "Highway 89 Opens Up Southern Utah," Kane County Standard, 16 March 1934. 43. "Nearly $2,000,000 for Southern Utah Roads," Kane County Standard, 24 April 1931. 44. See, for example, "Highway 89 Being Re-Capped and Oiled," Kane County Standard, 24 July 1931. 45. Kane County Basic Data of Economic Activities and Resources, Utah State Planning Board, 27. 46. "Elbow Dam Project is Nearing Commencement," Kane County Standard, 17 September 1937. 47. "Development Work Started on Coal Mine," Kane County Standard, 17 July 1931. 48. "Kane Coal Beds Being Developed," Kane County Standard, 21 August 1931. KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 239 49. See Kane County Standard, 15 February 1935. 50. "Cannal Coal Road Being Constructed," Kane County Standard, 14 July 1939. 51. "22 Ask for Oil Seeking Rights," Kane County Standard, 11 October 1929. 52. "Native Son of Kanab Gains Recognition," Kane County Standard, 2 August 1929. 53. "Cattlemen Enter Range Protest," Kane County Standard, 18 August 1930. 54. "Kaibab Forest Investigative Committee Report Findings," Kane County Standard, 3 luly 1931. 55. See Angus M. Woodbury, "A History of Southern Utah and Its National Parks," 207-8; and Linda King Newell and Vivian Linford Talbot, A History of Garfield County (Salt Lake City: Utah Historical Society and Garfield County Commission, 1998), 260-68. 56. "National Parks and Their Relation to Developments of Southern Utah," Kane County Standard, 2 January 1931. 57. Ibid. 58. Calvin Johnson, interview with Martha Bradley, 13 July 1995, Kanab, Utah, transcript in possession of author. 59. Verla Lewis, interview with Angie Lewis, 15 February 1992, Kanab, Utah. 60. Kane County Basic Data of Economic Activities and Resources, Utah State Planning Board, 1967, 6. 61. Johnson, interview. 62. "Kaibab Forest Grazing Study is Promised," Kane County Standard, 3 August 1934. 63. "Advisory Committee Meet on Cattle Relief," Kane County Standard, 3 August 1934. 64. "$2,500 to be Issued in Grants to Relieve Livestock Owners," Kane County Standard, 19 February 1937. 65. "Stamp Plan Will Be Set Up Here," Kane County Standard, 20 December 1940. 66. June Cox Hepworth, "The Oak Grove Farm: History of William M. Cox and His Family," 10, Utah State Historical Society. 67. "Governor to Speak At Two-Day Fiesta," Kane County Standard, 23 June 1933. 68. Johnson, interview. 240 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY 69. "Kanabers May Yet Have Chance to Work on Kaibab," Kane County Standard, 23 March 1934. 70. "Kane County Schools to Have Nine Month Term," Kane County Standard, 9 March 1934. 71. "Kane County is in Need of More Relief," Kane County Standard, 14 September 1934. 72. Utah State Planning Board, "Basic Data of Economic Activities and Resources," 1934. 73. "Kanab Gets Two New FERA Projects," Kane County Standard, 19 October 1934. 74. See Kane County Standard, 10 May 1935, 24 May 1935. 75. See Kane County Standard, 12 July 1935. 76. "Kanab is Assured Improved Highway," Kane County Standard, 19 November 1937. 77. Genieve Millet Cutler Bluejacket, interview with Buddy Millett, 5 May 1993, Kanab, Utah. 78. "FERA Estimates Kane County Needy," Kane County Standard, 13 July 1934. 79. "Kanab Free Public Library Now Open," Kane County Standard, 28 January 1934. 80. "Women's County CWA Committee Begins Work," Kane County Standard, 29 December 1933. 81. "Use Local National Reemployment Office," Kane County Standard, 13 July 1934. 82. Kane County Standard, 18 October 1935, 13 December 1935. 83. "Kane County Schools to Get $6,000 WPA Funds," Kane County Standard, 22 May 1936. 84. "Kane County Derives Much Good From Government Relief Funds," Kane County Standard, 2 luly 1937. 85. "Kanab to Have a New Hotel," Kane County Standard, 27 March 1931. 86. "Kane County is Coming into Her Own, Via Scenery," Kane County Standard, 21 June 1935. 87. "Kanab As Tourist Headquarters Boosted in Arizona Scenic Magazine," Kane County Standard, 10 September 1937. 88.Ibid. 89. "Kanabers Enjoy Radio Program," Kane County Standard, 18 February 1938. KANE COUNTY AND THE DEPRESSION YEARS, 1920-1940 241 90. "Tourist Count Shows Many Traveling '89' Through Nation's Scenic Area," Kane County Standard, 4 August 1939. 91. See Robinson, History of Kane County, 99-108, 177-83. 92. "Movie Scenes Are Taken Near Kanab," Kane County Standard, 27 August 1937. The film Bad Man of Brimstone was shown to "large and appreciative" Kane County audiences 9, 10, and 11 January 1938 according to the 14 January 1938 issue of the Kane County Standard. 93. "Movie Company Employs Many," Kane County Standard, 9 June 1939. 94. Dennis Judd, interview with Martha Bradley, 10 July 1995, Kanab, Utah. 95. "House to Be Used in Talkie Will be Built at Johnson, Utah," Kane County Standard, 10 August 1934. 96. Judd, interview. 97. Leah Hannah Button, interview with Jeremy Button, 5 May 1992, Kanab, Utah. 98. Bluejacket, interview. 99. Theo McAllister, interview with Rob Smith, 13 May 1993, Kanab, Utah. 100. David Swapp, interview with Jeremy Free, 6 May 1993, Kanab, Utah. 101. Jackie Rife, interview. 102. "Moving Picture Co. Taking Scenes Here," Kane County Standard, 3 June 1938. 103. "'Kanab Kid' Title of New Scenario," Kane County Standard, 30 September 1938. 104. "Movie Company Organized Here," Kane County Standard, 9 December 1938. 105. "Local Men Start New Industry in Kane County," Kane County Standard, 23 December 1938. 106. "Gathering Data For New Movie Film," Kane County Standard, 20 January 1939. 107. "Movie Group Expects to Complete Outdoor Shots for Picture This Week," Kane County Standard, 28 July 1939. 108. Ibid.