A History of Kane County

World War II and later developments, 1940-1960-1

CHAPTER 1 0 I WORLD WAR II AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS, 1940-1960 .t has always been true in Kane County's history that using the resources of the land has been seen as the means of economic sur­vival. Particularly after World War II, however, the natural scenic beauties and wonders of the area were increasingly touted in order to draw visitors to the area. Tourism increasingly yielded significant rev­enues for local businesses, and locals have increasingly attempted to provide goods and services to tourists drawn to the region by its nat­ural scenic wonders. By the end of the first half of the twentieth century, trends in Kane County's economy had been firmly established: a declining emphasis on cattle raising and agriculture because of declining prices and increased competition in the national marketplace, a new inter­est in developing mining and oil exploration, and an emphasis on encouraging tourism to bring business to the area. The September 1940 issue of National Geographic magazine featured Kane County in fifty-eight pages of photographs and text that brought the area's beauty's to the attention of the world. The building of Hoover Dam in the 1930s was of significance to 242 WORLD WAR II AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS, 1940-1960 243 Kane County because it stimulated interest in the Grand Canyon and, more particularly, in river travel. River running became yet another tourist activity in the 1940s after Haldane "Buzz" Holmstrom's solo journey down the Grand Canyon. Soon recreational river runners were exploring and enjoying all the region's rivers, including the Colorado River at lovely Glen Canyon on Kane County's eastern border. The Kanab Lions Club helped promote the county's attractions, publishing in 1941 a pamphlet complete with maps, descriptions of favored sites, and general information. It began, Each summer 100,000 tourists from every state in the Union make Kanab, Utah, their headquarters while visiting the Parks in Scenic Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. A typical western Mormon town of 1500 people, Kanab is located four miles north of the Arizona line at the foot of Vermillion Cliffs on U.S. 89. At an elevation of 5,000 feet, it lies in the Heart of the Canyon Country, only 90 minutes drive from the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon or Zion Park. It is the center of a large livestock and range district, where sights and the romance of the Old West still lives.1 Some New Deal programs continued until early 1942 and the o u t b r e a k of World War II. The Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) funded eleven projects that benefited farmers and ranchers during 1941 under the direction of the Kane County range examiner, although not all were popular since some mandated restrictions in numbers of animals grazed or limited grazing areas in order to help restore the severely overgrazed land. During that grow­ing season, grazing was not allowed on 12,493 acres of rangeland, 527 pounds of seed were planted on 176 acres of depleted rangeland, and 400 acres of sagebrush terrain was cleared and planted with vegeta­tion more desirable to local stock raisers. To prevent erosion and help control potential floods, three spreader dams were built which put riprap on eroding gullies and contoured twelve acres of rangeland. These projects also were designed to help provide water for livestock. In addition, fences were built to facilitate handling of stock on the range-1,102 rods of net fence, 540 rods of barbed wire, and four­teen rods of wooden-pole fence were built in the county in 1941.2 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service attempted to serve some inter- 244 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY ests of local cattlemen, trapping and killing "predators" and removing them from rangeland. In 1941, the agency reported trapping a total of 1,044 coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, and bear in the region. Wolves had long been eliminated from the area. According to Edward Rasmussen, assistant district agent, coyotes posed the biggest prob­lem to ranchers.3 World War II World War II finally pulled America out of the Depression, although many of the New Deal programs had helped. Many of the world's difficulties that created the backdrop for the war were con­nected to the economic depression that had spread across much of the world. Poor economic conditions helped give rise to German and Japanese militarism. The German people rallied to Hitler's call to arms because they believed he could make better lives for them. The Japanese justified their movement into Manchuria with the predic­tion that it would improve economic conditions in Japan. War certainly impacted the lives of those who served and their families. Responding to a request from local unions to utilize court­house rooms for public meetings, the Kane County Commission voted in December 1940 to "let Union meetings be held in court rooms providing that no smoking be allowed in the building either in the rooms or halls."4 Many residents remembered initially being afraid of Japanese attack. Civil defense preparations, air raid drills, and blackouts were practiced. Christmas lighting was forbidden outdoors during the war years, and local civilian defense groups were organized in each town. Of course, families whose sons and daughters served in the war felt a personal loss and concern. Lester Y. Johnson reported that during the war the government restricted the number of LDS missionaries allowed draft deferments.5 The county experienced a reduction in tourism after the bomb­ing of Pearl Harbor; out of a total of thirteen gas stations in the county, only eight remained open during the first year of the war. Shortages of rubber and the subsequent rationing of tires for motor vehicles were national programs that impacted the ability of tourists to travel the distances required to come to the area's national parks. WORLD WAR II AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS, 1940-1960 245 During this slump, the Parry Lodge in Kanab closed its dining room and only rented cabins.6 The Kanab hospital generally remained open during the war, serving Kane County residents and patients from northern Arizona. In 1941, Dr. G.R. Aiken, perhaps tired from running the hospital on his own, solicited help from community organizations. A group of representatives from the Kanab Lions Club, county commission, city council, and Kanab LDS Stake met to discuss alternative ways of run­ning the hospital as either a community or county project. The hos­pital was strained because of limited funds in 1942, closing for a time; it reportedly had to dismiss most of its staff to stay open.7 The county purchased the hospital from Aiken in March 1943 for $15,000. This price included the grounds, the buildings, and the equipment. The War Manpower Board's procurement and assignment ser­vice informed Dr. Aiken at the hospital that doctors would not be taken into the armed services if they were still needed in local com­munities. The attempt was made, however, to train high school stu­dents as nurses' aides to help the hospital increase its efficiency.8 Ironically, however, Aiken himself enlisted and left for the Puget Sound Naval Yard in February 1943 as a lieutenant commander in the Navy Medical Corps.9 Although Dr. Aiken had decided to discontinue practicing in Kanab, other doctors were considering coming to Kanab and working at the hospital. Marvel Moffit was appointed public health nurse for the county to provide additional health services in 1944.10 Jackie Rife was seven years old when World War II began. The patriotism that marked the war years was unparalleled in her expe­rience. All the people sacrificed; for example, they would wear their shoes only when they needed to, and they even saved the tinfoil from gum wrappers.11 People pulled together, raising large victory gardens. "I remember, I had to weed them," Rife said. She also remembered the war-related telegrams that came to area families. Her father went to the induction center three times, but she reported that officials wouldn't let him enlist because of health problems. It was a difficult time. Patriotism began in school with the Pledge of Allegiance, and prayer was routine. Calvin Johnson remembered how few men were 246 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY around; the town was just "naked," he said. The community joined together for dances and other activities to keep up their morale. Part of t h e war effort was seen as making a special effort to improve conditions in towns and cities. Dr. George R. Aiken, Kanab's mayor in 1942, issued a proclamation which read in part: Whereas, throughout the state a special effort is being put forth for a general clean-up, paint-up, fix-up and beautification endeavor in the name of the cleaner communities within the state to aid the war effort, and Whereas, in protection of health and happiness of citizenry and detraction from the possible beauty and inviting appearance of the community, it is desired that the citizens of Kanab remove any debris and rubbish, which has accumulated during the winter months, and Whereas, in compliance with what is conceded to be the wishes of practically all citizens and in furtherance of an estab­lished custom, in cooperation with local and State Board of Health; and that weather conditions are seemingly favorable to a successful removal and disposal of such debris, tin cans and rubbish, as well as to a general repairing and beautification campaign . . . Aiken designated the week of 27 April to 2 May a special clean­up p e r i o d for Kanab City, "to instill in the minds of everyone the spirit of the necessity of a clean, healthful, beautiful and attractive community."12 A local newspaper article h i n t e d at t e n s i o n that existed just b e n e a t h the surface d u r i n g the war years. The article, headlined "Former Kanab Citizen Under FBI Investigation," said, "Dr. William H. Taylor left Kanab about Sept. 4, 1943. O n September 10, a few days later a special agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation was here looking up his record. It seems Dr. Taylor is wanted for subver­sive activities. His sympathies were with the Nazis."13 It is not known if the allegations were true, but conservative rural Utah could shelter such people without t h em raising undue suspicion for many of their beliefs. Still, patriotism appealed to most; nativism and bigotry might occasionally surface, but they did so usually under the guise of patri­otism. In a r a t h e r e x t r a o r d i n a r y but telling editorial in the Kane County Standard dated 27 March 1941, editor B u r n h am Ford WORLD WAR II AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS, 1940-1960 247 expressed his outrage as well as his racial and political biases. Referring to the establishment of relocation camps for Japanese- Americans from the West Coast, it read in part: It was expressed in last week's issue of the Standard that Kane county definitely did not want any of the yellow Japs migrated, set­tled or employed in its communities. This question is right now of such strategic importance to the future standard and wellbeing of our county, our communities and our homes that a great many of our progressive citizens have asked publication of such an article, expressing our views as a people, to uphold our standards of living and protect our heritage, our county, our homes and our loved ones from being over run and paluted [sic] by the migration, pen­etration, infiltration of the yellow Japs into our country. With great respect we honor the heritage our fathers and our forefathers gave unto us, by the grace of God. Never, have the records shown that Kane county has ever had a Japanese resident. The people of Kane County are, and always have been, high in morale [sic] standards, clean morally and spiritually, always devoted to the care and wellbeing of their homes and families, with ever a ready hand to help their neighbor and fellowmen. These qualities and standards are not a thing of chance, they are inher­ited qualities that have been handed down from generation to gen­eration. And these qualities we intend to protect. If you don't think that heritage counts, did you ever stop to think that the only reason you don't kiss cows and worship snakes is because your mother and father were not Hindu and that you were not born on the banks of the Bramin River. And the only rea­son that you are not a rattle snake is because your parents were not rattle snakes. If your ancestors had been rattle snakes you too would have been a rattle snake, and nothing but the hand of God could ever change you.14 While one can perhaps hope this was an exaggerated viewpoint, even more inflammatory sections could also be found in the editor­ial, which does show a p r o v i n c i a l i sm and lack of cultural under­standing. This attitude actually became public policy during the war years. Kane C o u n t y Sheriff George Swapp pledged his s u p p o r t in April 1942 to cooperate with the highway patrol to stop "Japs" at Kane 248 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY County borders, with the exception of those Japanese-Americans who had "government permits to farther destinations," who then would be escorted through the county and safely delivered elsewhere. "Signs will be posted on the three main highways at the county line to the effect of notifying all transits, that no Japs are allowed in Kane County," Swapp reported, continuing, "Rumors that three or four Jap families were due to arrive in Kane county very soon caused feelings to run high throughout the county and a special meeting was called Wednesday to protect Kane county from any form of Jap exploit." Swapp claimed that Governor Maw had expressed his support of their efforts to "protect themselves."15 Not all residents favored such expressions of bigotry. Soon after one such sign was posted between Kanab and Fredonia, it disap­peared; the "vandals" were never apprehended and it can be assumed that they represented many who had more tolerant feelings for their fellow citizens and other human beings. Americans in general have much to look back in shame upon at their attitudes during these years, particularly in the establishment of relocation camps for Japanese-Americans from the West Coast. The Kanab newspaper also reported on personal disasters during the war as at other times, such as a fire that destroyed Glen Johnson's sawmill and burned seven square miles of forest timber in 1942.16 Kaibab lead mines, located near Jacob Lake, Arizona, forty miles south of Kanab, produced 115 tons of ore for use in the production of war products during 1944. The ore was delivered to Marysvale, 165 miles to the north, for shipment by rail from there to defense plants.17 This was one example of the benefits county residents felt from increased markets for local raw materials during the war years; the increased demand for agricultural products was another. The human cost of war was profoundly felt in rural Utah com­munities, as elsewhere. On 15 July 1945 a dual funeral was held for Private Winsor A. Asay and Sergeant Deveroux W. Bowman, both of Kanab. Asay, twenty-five years old, was killed in action after just a year in the armed services. Bowman, a graduate of Kanab High School, had been in the army since October 1943 and died in a German prisoner of war camp after his airplane was shot down over WORLD WAR II AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS, 1940-1960 249 enemy territory. Locals J.L. Bybee and Mardeane, Delenna, and Lyle McDonald participated in the memorial service.18 Residents of Kane County celebrated the end of the war in August 1945 along with others throughout the nation and much of the world. In 1945 the Office of Price Administration (OPA) began to try to make the transition to peacetime without causing inflation­ary pressures, as shortages during the war period began to ease. Its program would increase supplies of reasonably priced essential goods, trying in the process to protect both manufacturers and con­sumers. In the euphoria of the early postwar period, however, most chafed under any restrictions; and those in Kane County, like their fellow citizens nationwide, looked to a future of unbridled prosperity after the trials of the Depression and war years.19 After the war years, life in Kane County began to return to nor­mal routines. Kanab's schools, for example, had a full roster of teach­ers and a total enrollment of 351 students in 1947; 175 students were at the high school. Several new high school teachers had joined the faculty; they included Claude Y. Lundquist, C. Duffin Pugh, and David Q. Gates.20 In October 1947 some Kane County women organized a local unit of the Utah Federated Republican Women's Club, with Vera Swapp as president, Helene McAllister vice-president, and Amanda Robb secretary and treasurer. When first organized, the group included twenty women, who decided to hold six meetings a year in a room in the courthouse. According to the newspaper account, the purpose of the club was to "further republican standards, and ideals, to become an active part of the national organization." Yet it was also reported that all meetings were open to both Democratic and Republican party members alike, "in order to do the most good for the community."21 The Kanab Women's Business and Professional Club donated a public drinking fountain to Kanab City that was to be located near a corner of Main and Center Streets. The women's club donated the materials and the American Legion and the Lions Club donated the labor to place the fountain.22 By 1946 the county was investigating the idea of selling the hos­pital to a private party, with the condition that the hospital continue to be used as a hospital or revert back to the county.23 The hospital 250 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY underwent extensive improvements in January 1949-floors were covered with asphalt tile and the rooms, offices, and operating rooms were painted and redecorated. Several of Kanab's civic organizations raised funds for new kitchen equipment. In January 1949 the women of the American Legion Auxiliary met at the hospital at various times and sewed and repaired hospital linens and made blankets and other badly needed supplies. On Friday, 21 January, men of the Kanab Lions Club spent the evening at the hospital and laid the flooring. The Lady Lions served their husbands sandwiches, cake, and coffee. After the work was done, the groups got together to stage a Hospital Benefit Ball to celebrate the successful effort. A new hospital board was organized on 14 March 1949 in the county commissioners' chamber at the courthouse. The board included N.B. Roundy of Alton, Elsie Brinkerhoff of Glendale, John H. Crofts of Orderville, Rena Talt of Mt. Carmel, Mrs. George Aiken, and Daniel Frost of Kanab. Kane County Hospital expanded in 1950. Funds were raised in a drive conducted throughout Kane County and northern Arizona. Renovation included a more modern operating room, delivery room, x-ray facility, and emergency room to handle minor cases. At the time, the hospital had ten beds, but that soon would be increased to thirteen with the addition of a small maternity ward.24 After World War II and the Korean War the American Legion A. Clair Ford Post held patriotic-oration events, financed local boys and girls to attend Boys and Girls State events, and built an open-air pavilion for Saturday night dances. Economic and Demographic Profile In terms of the assessed value of local businesses, in 1945 bus companies were valued at $7,673, power companies at $46,044, tele­phone companies at $58,552, and mining companies at only $3,280. The Industrial Commission of Utah as part of the Department of Employment Security conducted a study of industry in Kane County in September 1947 that provides a look at economic conditions and trends in the county at mid-century. It studied a total of fifty-two dif­ferent entities employing local residents in government, agriculture, railroads and transportation, domestic service, and religious and WORLD WAR II AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS, 1940-1960 251 The Kanab Automobile Garage. (Utah State Historical Society) non-profit organizations. Of those industries included in the study, the largest number (sixteen) were in wholesale and retail trade, another sixteen were labeled service industries, five were manufac­turers, two were construction firms, and three were placed under the category of transportation, communication, and utilities. Determined to share in the booming tourist industry that devel­oped after World War II, county boosters tried to present their best face to the world while capitalizing on the county's proximity to nearby national parks. Tourism was rapidly overtaking agriculture as the county's economic mainstay. In 1947 there were four hotels and four campgrounds in the county. Other businesses included three beauty or barber shops, two automobile repair shops, two bowling and billiard halls, and three doctor's offices. According to an enu­meration based on industries subject to unemployment insurance, of a total of 820 workers in the county in November 1947, 415 worked in agriculture, 405 in non-agricultural jobs, twenty worked for the government, eighty-five in public schools, thirty-one were employed in manufacturing businesses, eight in transportation, eighteen in retail trade, and thirty-seven in service industries. 252 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY In 1947 the Daughters of Utah Pioneers helped organize a statewide celebration of the 100-hundred-year anniversary of the arrival of the Mormon pioneers in Utah Territory, instructing local units on ways to commemorate the event. J. Reed Moore, Kane County centennial chair, worked with a committee of representatives from county government, public institutions, and private concerns and individuals. Governor Herbert Maw was invited to head a parade on the morning of 12 June under the direction of the American Legion. At local pageants, county queens were to be chosen to com­pete in a statewide competition. Competitors had to be at least eigh­teen years old, a descendent of the pioneers, "be of good character, and have some special talent."25 Geraldine Judd, who was twenty-one years old, won the Kane County contest; her attendants were Alta and Junice Sorenson. The local celebration included a historical sketch read by Helen Burgoyne, a string duet by Julia Young and John Burgoyne, a pioneer story read by Adonis Findlay Robinson, and singing of a male cho­rus directed by Don Moffitt. A trio-Nabbie Mace, Ramona Johnson, and Ruth Roberts-sang, and the local seventh-grade class danced a pioneer dance. John H. Brown played a mandolin solo, and the com­munity joined in singing the Mormon hymn "Come, Come Ye Saints" and "Utah, We Love Thee." Governor Maw did come to the county for the day's festivities, leading the parade. The American Legion Post 69 sponsored the parade, which included some thirty floats presenting such things as the history of Kane County, the Orderville High School band, and the Kane County centennial royalty. The most amusing entry was a replica of the early Kanab culinary water-delivery system-a barrel mounted on a "water lizard." A program welcoming all to the three-day celebration was given at the town park. Horse racing and other sporting events were staged during the celebration, as was a play, "Angel Street," produced by the Utah Agricultural College, and a light opera presented by University of Utah players. A final banquet held at the Parry Lodge was held after a parade of show horses down Main Street. Later, a fireworks display entertained the celebrants.26 In 1950 Kane County's population was 2,299, a drop of 12 per­cent (about 300 inhabitants) since 1940.27 Still, the period was WORLD WAR II AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS, 1940-1960 253_ marked by building growth in certain parts of the county-Kanab's business district, for example, experienced the construction of a new motel, numerous homes, and a new post office building.28 In 1958, the Kane County Standard under its new name of the Southern Utah News reported a population increase of 23.1 percent in a single year.29 That same year, the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Utah projected that by 1975 an additional 1,400 people would live in Kane County.30 Those projections were slightly off, pop­ulation in 1970 was only 2,421. More than any other single factor, available jobs impacted population totals. It was important to many area residents to find ways to entice young people to stay in the county rather than leave for better jobs and economic security else­where. It was also important that the county find new ways to attract outsiders to the area who would bring needed revenue, greater diver­sity in population, and help reenergize an area that could be consid­ered stagnant or in decline. The decades after 1950 were years of shifting values, economies, and social systems in the United States. As American families adapted to the post-war world, they found new ways of earning a living, resid­ing in neighborhoods, and relating to the world outside. It was no different for people in Kane County. Because of changing economic conditions it was necessary for Kane County residents to find new ways to survive economically, and in this they proved to be quite resourceful. Increasingly, however, they came to view the federal gov­ernment as an opponent of sorts as they tried to claim effective con­trol over the public lands in the county. Outside interests- environmentalist groups in particular-also came to play a larger role in local affairs and promoted policies that sought to alter tradi­tional land-use policies, protect wilderness, and oppose the funding of building projects on public lands at taxpayer expense for the ben­efit of a few-in this case, the ranching, timber, and mining interests in Kane County. At mid-century, the Kane County Commission included LeGrande C. Heaton, Cecil C. Pugh, Antone R. Hamblin, and Merle V. Adams; D.M. Tietjen was the county clerk. Discussions at that time were underway about a Utah-Arizona power cooperative, to be a sub­sidiary of the Southwest Power Federation. Dr. George R. Aiken, 254 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY Kanab in the 1940s. (Utah State Historical Society) Maurice Judd, Fred Heaton, Millard Black, and Odell J. Watson were local board members. This utility cooperative initially was to be funded by a $300,000 loan from the federal Rural Electrification Administration.31 Kanab Development of water systems was a constant priority of Kanab City officials. A city reservoir was built in Kanab City in 1948. This 1,000,000-gallon reservoir had concrete foundations and floor and was built by contractor W.E. Thatcher. Fifteen local men were employed on the project.32 The culinary water supply was increased in 1952 an additional 165 to 200 gallons per minute by the digging of a well in the north end of Three Lakes Canyon. Mayor Daniel S. Frost predicted that the well would bring in a new era of agriculture for the town. The well required one-half mile of pipe to connect it with the existing system, which had yielded 232 gallons of water per minute, an amount that had been insufficient during the peak-usage months of July and August. Until that time, the culinary water source had never been chlorinated because the springs were tapped at their source and cemented. Because of the population increase in Kanab related to the build­ing of Glen Canyon Dam, a second well was drilled by the city, the WORLD WAR II AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS, 1940-1960 255 "Big Well," located west of the highway at the top of Three Lakes Canyon. In May 1958, Kanab City hired the engineering firm of Coon and King from Salt Lake City to draw up plans for a new water and sewer system. Until that time, sewage waste had been dumped into Kanab Creek. City voters passed a bond in the amount of $375,000 and city officials applied for a federal loan.33 They received notification of approval on 8 May 1958. It was estimated that the total project would cost $483,730 and would be funded in part with a federal grant of $51,814 from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare under the Water Pollution Control Act, and $56,916 from the city itself.34 Ultimately, all waste water in the system ended up at a modern sewage disposal plant outside town. It was claimed in 1959 to be the only complete disposal system at the time in south­ern Utah. The new sewage plant prevented polluted water from draining into northern Arizona.35 A Volunteer Fireman's Association was formed in Kanab in May 1949 with Locklon Cram as fire chief. The Kanab City Council orga­nized the sixteen-man crew and equipment, which included a three-ton fire truck, 600 feet of fire hose, and smoke masks for the crew. Orderville The stately, architecturally eclectic church built at the turn of the century was razed in 1956 when plans were made for the present meetinghouse. A typical red brick, white-trimmed Mormon product, the present church was built in two parts; the recreation hall was con­structed first, and the chapel was dedicated in 1959. The 14,898- square-foot complex cost $150,000, half of which was donated. It included a bishop's office, Relief Society room, Junior Sunday School, baptismal font, sixteen classrooms, and storage areas. The brick facade was topped by a squat steeple over the main gable. Further educational enhancements came when the Valley High School gymnasium was built in 1955 by Chytraus Brothers contrac­tors. In 1958 the building was expanded to include a foyer and music rooms. Ten years earlier, the LDS seminary building, a twenty-four-foot- square cement-block structure, was erected for $3,000 with the help of donated labor. Twentieth-century Orderville has benefited and grown due to 256 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY increases in local i n d u s t r y a n d t o u r i s m . While two regional coal mines, a lime kiln, a n d area sawmills bolstered the economy, the largest source of income has come to be tourists and road trade along U.S. Highway 89. Orderville had earlier developed lodgings, such as the Palmer Hotel, a turn-of-the-century Victorian inn, for travelers. With the emergence of the automobile came new motels and inns, among t h em the Orderville Motel, the Valley Motel and Cafe, the Fisher Motel, the Coral Cove Trailer Park, and the Parkway Motel, originally Hattie's Inn. Orderville features homes from every decade over the last 120 years; its newer houses exhibit Ranch style and split-level designs common to most American cities. Writing in 1959, LeGrande Heaton summarized that, There are about eighty homes in the community. They are all wired for electricity, and all but two have modern plumbing facil­ities. The present homes are built of various kinds of material- lumber, brick, and cement blocks. About twenty-five percent have outside stucco finish. Most of them are painted and are landscaped with lawns, shrubbery and flowers.36 Only a few of the earlier outbuildings remain to document the town's a g r a r i a n past. To c o m m e m o r a t e Orderville's history, the Daughters of Utah Pioneers salvaged stone from the old rock school and erected the Pioneer Memorial Building, a partial replica of the school. A one-story structure with a gable roof and small-pane win­dows, the hall serves at present as a meeting place and museum. The commercial district at present is small and consists mostly of archi­tecturally nondescript shops and older, remodeled stores. Mt. Carmel In 1955 a concrete d am replaced the more makeshift efforts at retaining water and helped provide a more consistent water supply. Newer dwellings in the town are much larger than previous struc­tures and employ Ranch and other more contemporary styles. Life in the County Kane County has always been a rural county whose residents' lifestyle has been b o u n d to traditional values and a strong sense of WORLD WAR II AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS, 1940-1960 257 history. Old-timers speak fondly of family outings in Johnson's Canyon; they reference the location of ranches and farmsteads by their proximity to the Vermilion Cliffs or Kanab Creek. The natural landscape and the social landscape form a delicate web of meaning. A sense of place, a sense of being at home in a town or a city or a nat­ural environment, grows as we learn its seasons and rhythms, the way individuals interact. A sense of place is something that is created over time and space and comes in part from the interaction with features of the natural setting or the manmade physical environment. Old-timers interviewed about their youth remembered the time when Kanab's only school was one room and when all area roads were dirt and frequently covered with sand difficult to maneuver in. More recent stories about the motion picture industry abound, photos on the walls of many homes show locals standing shoulder to shoulder with such movie stars as John Wayne, Dean Martin, and Barbara Stanwyck. The county fair became an increasingly important activity after World War II, bringing together for recreation Kane County's farm­ers, business people, and families. Traditionally held during the first week in August, the fair included stock exhibits, the display of hand­icrafts, and a variety of activities. The Kane County Fair was held at Orderville in 1947 and grew to become a countywide activity. First organized by Valley High School's Future Farmers of America Club under the direction of agriculture teacher J. Bryant Anderson, the fair began as a livestock show for young people. Anderson's work was noticed by the Utah Mormon pioneer centennial committee and became part of a plan for future fairs that would combine traditional livestock shows with other recreational activities. Odell Watson, county commissioner and fair chair in 1947, joined with Charles T. Hepworth, mayor of Orderville, Rachel Dalley of Utah State Extension Services, and J. Reed Moore to organize the event.37 County residents joined together for a "49ers Celebration" in May 1949 that included a cowboy dinner. Much of the fun took place on the streets, where men, women, and children dressed in "western garb" to join in the festivities. One of the day's highlights was a horse race. The racing committee brought together the best stock horses in the county as well as from northern Arizona. A dance continued long 258 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY past midnight. Sponsored in part by the Kanab Lions Club, the day was intended to bring the community together. Prizes were given out at the end of the day. The Kane County Standard reported: For noble and stout-hearted Kanabites who bore those itch­ing beards, prizes will be awarded you at the dance in compensa­tion for your efforts. Whitting Bros. Lumber Co. Will lead off with a ten dollar bill for the best dressed couple. Dan Frost will part with a big, juicy ham for the best adorned face (meaning whiskers). Following are the rest of the prizes for the beards and costumes: Gift Shop, a hand tooled belt; Kanab Equitable, a prize in mer­chandise; Bahen's, an Arrow Shirt; Virge's Cafe and Bakery, two free meals and three pies; Bunting Market, five dollars in groceries. Fenton's Pharmacy is giving a Parker pen for the most sparse beard and Whit Parry is offering two meals at his dining room (less desert) to the second best couple. Other prizes have been promised but it has not been indicated just exactly what they will be.38 In 1950 the county fair featured a dance held at the American Legion pavilion, with local orchestra the Moonlight Serenaders play­ing long into the night. The highlight of the night's activities was the selection of Miss Kane County. The Standard promoted the event: "These lovely girls will parade and dance for your approval and the approval of the imported judges. The winner will reign over the Fair at Orderville the following day and will be presented with an inscribed watch. The Fair Committee is expecting a huge turnout of all Kane County-plan to be there."39 The fair began with a flag ceremony. The day's activities included films "depicting farm, home and traffic safety," wildlife and national parks, agriculture, homemaking, and comedies. There was judging of the county's finest livestock, produce, and poultry, and youth groups such as the 4-H Club displayed their entries. The day ended with a barbeque and outdoor talent show. The area was p r o f o u n d l y affected by the nuclear testing in Nevada beginning in the 1950s. Many remember being able to see the lights of the tests and wondered at their significance. Leah Button recalled that "while we were living down there [a house six miles east of Kanab], we used to get u p quite early in t h e m o r n i n g to gaze south-westward to watch the Atomic bombs go off at the test site in WORLD WAR II AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS, 1940-1960 259 Nevada."40 Most residents were patriotic supporters of the govern­ment, which was engaged in an nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union in the midst of the Cold War that lasted from the late 1940s to the late 1980s. They supported the atomic testing program despite some protests against it and warnings that nuclear fallout could be harmful to those in the vicinity of nuclear tests. Only much later did some county "downwinders" begin to question government authori­ties on the matter and seek redress for ailments and cancer-caused deaths many claimed were related to the atomic testing of the early Cold War. Kane County's close-knit communities have been described as inclusive, although residents say that it is only those newcomers who try to change things who are considered outsiders, an insider being someone who is respectful of Kane County as it is. The twentieth century's technological, political, and social changes nevertheless have increasingly impacted county residents. Increasing restrictions on the use of public lands have been especially unpleasant to many county residents. County residents valued their heritage and the hard work of set­tlement of their forebears. Many, in fact, seemed to feel that they were entitled to special claims on the public lands they and their ancestors had utilized over the years. Clearly life for most in Kane County had never been easy. Men like Jacob Hamblin, John Mangum, and Levi Stewart were strong-willed, robust men who battled to make their mark on the land. Many were also adventurers. For instance, Peter Shirts's settlement on the Paria River was greatly isolated from other whites. Breathtaking vistas in each direction may have helped him and his family endure the difficulty of living in their desert home. The stone remains of his house are quiet testimony to his efforts. Folktales abound about Shirts, one of which is a story of him plowing the land with a team of Paiute Indians hitched to the plow. Even if exaggerated, such stories indicate not only the resolve of men like Shirts, but early attitudes toward Native Americans. The eco­nomic growth that Kane County residents celebrated after World War II brought a greater awareness of the land to other Americans, who began to claim their own input into how the land should be man- 260 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY aged. This and increased global market economics threatened the tra­ditional extractive uses of the land. Besides the numerous businesses established earlier in the cen­tury, new organizations started up after 1950. For example, Lowell M. and Zelma J. Johnson started the Kanab Construction and Lumber Company in the early 1950s. Also in the 1950s, Boyd Y. and LaVerde P. McAllister began a sand-and-gravel plant in Kanab. Dan M. Ogden started a similar business-the Herring Ready-Mix plant-along U.S. Highway 89. The Salt Lake branch of Dun and Bradstreet financial services reported in 1955 on the financial well-being of Kanab's busi­ness scene. "There are 4 more business concerns in Kanab today than there were four years ago," said D.E. Smith, district manager. This brought the total number of businesses up to fifty-two from the forty-eight reported in 1953.41 In 1940 Southern Utah Power Company extended power to Fredonia, Arizona. In July 1941 the company was able to reduce rates for business customers.42 The company added new generating units in 1933, 1940, 1947, and 1952. In 1947 a 360-horsepower diesel elec­tric generating unit was installed in the power house of the com­pany's building in Kanab. Local distribution was enlarged and improved with the addition of new transformers at this time as well.43 Kanab resident Elgin H. Morris managed the plant between 1934 and 1954. Southwest Utah Power Federation purchased Southern Utah Power Company in August 1949 and promised new transmission lines, a new generator plant, and the extension of power lines to Moccasin, Cane Beds, Hurricane, Short Creek, and Johnson. The offi­cers of the Southwest Utah Power Federation included Gronway Parry, mayor of Cedar City and president of the company; Wilford Brooksby of Fredonia; George R. Aiken and Odell Watson of Kanab; Millard Black of Cane Beds; and Fred C. Heaton of Moccasin.44 By 1952, 449 local customers were using 1.3 million kilowatt hours of electrical power. Electricity was supplied to different areas of the county by Garkane Power Association and Southern Utah Power Company, which installed a new unit in its Kanab plant in October 1956. Earlier, the plant had a capacity to service a population of up WORLD WAR II AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS, 1940-1960 261 The Kanab Fire Department in August 1952. (Kane County News) to 3,000 individuals. The addition gave it more than ten times the capacity it had when it was purchased from Kanab City in 1933. Southern Utah Power merged with California-Pacific Utilities Company on 19 June 1958. The former president of Southern Utah Power, Warren H. Bullock, was installed on the board of directors of the new company and all employees continued to work for the new entity. The company supplied electricity to Cedar City, Kanab, 262 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY Hurricane, Enterprise, and a number of small communities near Zion National Park.45 Despite improvements in facilities and transportation, Kane County at mid-century was still a place apart-isolated by a rugged natural environment. For many this was the principal draw to the area-here was a place that felt untouched, raw, and boldly primitive, different from almost anything they could see anywhere else. After 1950, tourists came to the Kane County region in increasing num­bers, drawn by the rugged plateau and canyon lands, rock forma­tions, and the vibrant hues and textures of the natural environment. Kane County entrepreneurs and boosters were anxious to take advantage of the influx of visitors, and new businesses related to the tourist industry are an important part of the story of the economic development of the county during the second half of the twentieth century. In the spring of 1957, it seemed that a business boom reflect­ing tourism was beginning in Kanab. New construction for busi­nesses included two new service stations. Outside of town, a trailer court was being constructed by Kenyon Little on Johnson Road. Also, the Roman Catholic church had purchased land near Main Street for a new church.46 Part of the boom was due to the construction of Glen Canyon Dam, which officially began in 1956. In fact, a new city-Glen Canyon City-was built during the late 1950s near the Glen Canyon dam site. The town was located fourteen miles from the dam and seven miles from the Utah-Arizona border. The small town included residential areas, trailer lots, commercial zones, public playgrounds, an area for churches and schools, and a section for future industrial development. In 1957, internal improvements included four wells for water, a commercial well, and electric power relayed from Henrieville until the dam began its own production of power.47 County commissioners managed county business and supervised county officers and departments. For instance, on 10 June 1957, the commission took up the problem of increased traffic due to devel­opment of Glen Canyon Dam, reporting that any buildings erected along or near highways in Kane County must be approved by the Kane County Commission.48 In some ways this could be considered the beginning of certralized planning of development in Kane WORLD WAR II AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS, 1940-1960 263 County. The salaries listed in the commission minutes in 1957 pro­vide insight into the positions. County commissioners Cecil C. Pugh, Burton Banks, and Clark F. Swapp received $2,000 annually for their part-time duties, the county assessor was paid $3,000, the county attorney, $1,800, the full-time county sheriff earned $12,000, the county recorder and the county clerk each received $4,000. Issues faced by county commissioners were usually local in their nature-weed control, supervision of the tourist visitor's center in Kanab, animal control, disposal of waste, and increasing crime- although the latter was generally of a minor nature. In 1958, for example, law enforcement officers and school, church, and commu­nity leaders held a series of meetings throughout the county to dis­cuss increased crimes among young people and others, as well as the general observance of the law. According to the newspaper: "Heading the list of problems are at least two places of business which are not governing their establishments in controlling juveniles in smoking in public and not observing the curfew hour."49 In June 1959 an inquiry into complaints of illegal sale of liquor, gambling, prostitution, and the failure of public officials to enforce the law was begun at the Kane County Courthouse. In 1958 a Salt Lake City corporation, Tourists Enterprises, announced a $800,000 investment in a development and in regional bus tours. The facility was planned to include a dude ranch, motel, nine-hole golf course and club house, tennis courts, cafe, photo shop, and sound stages for movie companies. President S. Wayne Clark said the company planned to capitalize on the tourist boom as well as the continuing interest in the area as a scene for motion pictures. The 393 acres of land purchased for the development was located on Johnson Road.50 Tourists Enterprises hired the Hogan and Tingey construc­tion company of Centerville to construct its motel. By February 1960, however, the ambitious project had been reevaluated and put on hold. Agriculture The Bureau of the Census report for 1945 categorized farming in the county. Of a total of 155 farms, one produced a specialty crop, fif­teen others harvested a variety of crops for sale, nineteen were dairy 264 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY farms, two were poultry enterprises, eighty-three were livestock ranches, and twenty-seven were simply subsistence farms. In terms of total acreage, the largest category of 1,000 acres or more included thirty-eight farms; eleven farms each were found in three categories: 260-379 acres, 380-499 acres, and 500-699 acres. Twelve farms had between three and nine acres; fifteen farms were thirty to forty-nine acres in size. Other categories included from three to ten farms each. Assessed value of property in the county in 1945 according to Utah State Tax Commission reports was $1,684,285. Of that, $799,166 represented real estate, including $22,372 in improved dry-farm land, $141,575 in improved irrigated farmland, and $1,286 in unimproved farmland. Grazing land represented another $518,362 in value, and land in towns was valued at $99,565. Improvements on town land were valued at $312,085. Range cattle were by far the most valuable farm product-listed in 1945 at $117,638. Other livestock- including horses, mules, sheep, pigs and poultry-brought the total value of livestock to $237,129.51 The Guy Chamberlain dairy began production of pasturized milk in July 1947 with new equipment that brought the dairy in com­pliance with state grade A regulations. The pasteurization process involved the movement of milk from the cow immediately into the pasteurizer and then to the cooler. It was then poured into bottles and capped-all by machinery. Many local dairy farmers sold their milk directly to Chamberlain's dairy, where it was pasturized and dis­tributed for sale. The dairy expanded in 1950 after three years in business, installing new equipment-a cottage cheese machine, a but­termilk machine, and a cooler for raw milk. State inspector Lyman Willardson said that "Kanab and area served by the dairy were fortu­nate in having such an up-to-date plant and as modern as any in the state."52 The dairy served the entire county and several communities in northern Arizona. In 1950, Kane County and neighboring Garfield County were suffering from the consequences of a drought in the fall of 1949. The Panguitch office of the Farmers Home Administration had desig­nated the region as a disaster area, which opened up the availability of federal loans for local farmers and livestock raisers who were in financial trouble.53 Three years later, severe drought conditions again WORLD WAR II AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS, 1940-1960 265 b r o u g h t emergency aid to Kane C o u n t y stockmen and farmers. Normal rainfall in the area was scarcely enough to sustain crops, but between 1952 and 1953 the county received only 2.55 inches of rain, and area rangeland was producing much less feed than normal.54 By 1957, however, Kanab received more m o i s t u r e t h a n it h a d at any other time in the past fifty years. Welcoming the end of t h e long severe dry spell, cattlemen adjusted to the extremes of the environ­ment. 55 Natural Resources The water users of Kane County met regularly in the late 1940s to decide h ow best to use appropriations from the state legislature to develop and improve small irrigation projects and power resources. The county's Water Uses and Power Board was organized in June 1947 w i t h Preston Bunting as president, Lawrence Esplin as vice-president, and Reed Moore as secretary. Henry Carroll, Dee Roundy, and the c o u n t y commissioners were the directors of t h e group.56 Discussion about a Glen Canyon Dam project also began during this time. The hydroelectric d am would be one of twenty-three proposed power projects affecting Utah, but the only one directly impacting Kane County. Federal Power Commission surveys suggested that the Glen Canyon Reservoir would have a capacity to generate 618,000 kilowatts of electricity, have a level 408 feet above the streambed, and hold some 8,600,000 acre-feet of water. The local newspaper later reported that "the storage capacity at Glen Canyon site is enormous and that proposals have been made for a reservoir with a total capac­ity of 50,000,000 acre feet."57 The Glen Canyon Dam was recognized for its great potential in creating a recreational playground for s o u t h e r n Utah. Commis­sioners Merrill MacDonald and William J. Smirl and local stockman Floyd Maddox visited the proposed site in February 1954. According to Commissioner Smirl, however, it was n o recreational playground at the time: Huge monuments of rock rise for hundreds of feet into the dry desert air, and rival the mammoth pinnacles found across the Colorado River in Monument Valley,. . . The area is still one of the most primitive and least known in the United States and should be 266 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY WORLD WAR II AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS, 1940-1960 267 traveled at present only by those having proper desert equipment and knowledge of the region.58 The lumber industry was a major economic factor locally during the period. Hundreds of Kane County men were employed by the Kaibab Lumber Company mill that was located just below Fredonia and was operated in the 1940s by brothers A. Milton and Jay Whiting of Holbrook, Arizona. Other local m e n worked for other logging companies or milling o p e r a t i o n s in t h e area. J.L. Bybee set u p a sawmill in 1943 at the n o r t h end of Kanab. He sold the business to Jack Mognett and Glenn Johnson the next year. During the years they ran the mill, the two men improved operations until they sold in 1947 to Rowley Brothers, who moved the machinery to the n o r th fork of the Virgin River. Kane County residents gradually realized the value of the pru­dent harvest of timber from both public and private forested lands in the county, although aggressive lumbering practices did necessi­tate increased federal protection of the area's resources. What had earlier been a small timber harvesting o p e r a t i o n in Kane County began to provide timber to national markets in the 1940s. The Kaibab Lumber Company sawmill in Fredonia, Arizona, became a year-round employer of area men in 1954. In the 1950s this mill was pro­ducing about 100,000 board feet of lumber per shift. The history of the area's lumber industry has been closely linked with changing policies of the U.S. Forest Service toward timber cut­ting. The Kaibab National Forest is located in Arizona, but forested areas of the Kaibab Plateau spill over into Kane County. The forest contains a large amount of ponderosa pine that was historically inac­cessible, limiting lumbering in the area. In the twentieth century, the Forest Service developed programs to induce lumber manufacturers to establish modern mills to cut timber logged in the Kaibab. It spent more t h a n $500,000 on timber access roads, facilitating the trans­p o r t a t i o n of Kaibab timber to t h e Fredonia mill. The mill itself Opposite: A rafter on the Colorado River in Glen Canyon in 1942. (Utah State Historical Society) 268 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY received national attention and was often visited by lumber repre­sentatives from companies across the country.59 Lumbering was big business in the region. The Forest Service announced that a timber sale of about 125 million board feet was scheduled for the Kaibab National Forest in 1950. This news was received enthusiastically locally and was applauded by most residents for the potential economic benefit it could bring to the county. "Letting of bids for the new and enlarged timber cut will be the first large scale attempt to selectively manage the world's largest known stand of virgin ponderous pine-[the] stand is estimated at four bil­lion feet. Bids will be let that, through section cutting, the entire for­est will have been cut over once in a period of twenty years," according to one Forest Service official.60 Although such a large-scale harvesting of virgin old-growth timber would be condemned and opposed by many in later years, at the time there was little organized opposition, and agencies like the Forest Service were seen as cooper­ative partners and facilitators of private economic interests. This expansion of timber harvesting meant additional employment, the building of new roads in the county to better access forest land, and greater traffic through the area-all of which in turn would mean more revenue for local businesses. In 1950 the Kaibab Lumber Company successfully competed for a contract to cut 168 million feet in the Big Saddle Unit, about thirty-five miles south of Fredonia in the Kaibab Forest.61 In 1953 Croft's Lumber Company of Orderville was awarded a contract to cut 3 mil­lion board feet of Western yellow pine saw timber on a 2,500-acre tract in the Strawberry Knolls district of the the Dixie National Forest.62 The Kaibab Lumber Company, with five different lumber operations, centralized its operations in Flagstaff in February 1957. Two years later, Kaibab sales reached 100 million board feet and the company had seven full-time salesmen who worked the western region.63 After World War II, attempts proceeded to identify new sources of revenue for county residents, including continual investigation of the area's mineral, oil, and coal reserves. The Smirl-Alton coal mines reported an "impressive output" during the busy winter months at the mine in 1949, extracting an average of forty tons daily. The mine WORLD WAR II AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS, 1940-1960 269 was worked from a central shaft, ore taken from underground rooms.64 The Carter Oil Company was exploring in the county at the time for possible drilling sites.65 A uranium strike was recorded that same year thirteen miles from Kanab at Navajo Gap; M.E. Noel and E.W. Ford claimed an area of 1,000 feet of exposed uranium.66 The claim set off a rush on land nearby, some claims reportedly yielding rich deposits. These reports were often exaggerated in the uranium frenzy, and Kane County never became a major source of uranium in subsequent years. In October 1953 a report from the oil industry suggested that the Kanab Basin was land with great potential for the extraction of oil and gas. The Valen Oil and Gas Company, with offices in Fredonia, Arizona, was one of the largest holding companies in the area. Company president Van D. Bennett said that the company was con­tinuing its leasing program from the federal government and "will have exploratory drilling rigs in the area in a matter of a few months." He said that each test well would cost from $150,000 to $250,000 and that it would take at least five wells to conclusively test the area.67 Drilling at the Byrd Oil Company well in eastern Kane County had progressed to a depth of 5,226 feet in October 1953; but it had yielded no oil by the time it had reached a depth of 10,000 feet.68 The Great Western Drilling Company was drilling to depths of around 7,000 feet in Reese Canyon about three miles south. This well encountered oil saturation at a depth of approximately 6,430 feet. This find was particularly significant because of the geological con­ditions of the Kanab-Fredonia Basin. According to one geologist, if "structural geological traps are determined in this area [it follows] that commercial oil production is highly probable where these for­mations are found at a much shallower depth than in the wells men­tioned above."69 By March 1954 the focus was on uranium deposits, and, accord­ing to the Southern Utah News, claims were being staked by the hun­dreds in the county. Most of the filings were east of Kanab, starting at Johnson Gap and extending over to the Paria River country.70 In June 1954, Time magazine featured a story about a murder commit­ted in Kane County during the uranium-craze years. Sixty-two-year-old Leroy Albert Wilson was an excommunicated Mormon and 270 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY "leader of a strange band of men and women," according to Time. He was found dead on a slope outside of Kanab with six .45 caliber bul­lets in his back and head, his Geiger counter in hand. Founder of a small colony called "Veyo" 100 miles northwest of Kanab, he was a large and imposing man, considered by some as being belligerent and crude. Kane County Sheriff Mason Meeks explained the occurrence as an inevitable result of the greed that drove this new version of the "gold rush." He was quoted by the newspaper: "Terrible thing it was. Many a man was murdered in cold blood because of it. Well, we got a new one now, uranium fever, and as long as the fever lasts and people keep on claimin everything in sight and them outside promoters keep swarmin in here with their big-money offers, there's bad trouble ahead."71 By June 1954, 1,850 filings of location notices had been sub­mitted to the county. House Rock Valley was described as a particu­larly "hot" area for claims. Residents from the nearby haven for polygamists of Short Creek, Arizona, including Roy Johnson, Orval Johnson, Lewis Barlow, Edwin Jessop, filed more than one hundred claims in that area alone.72 During the Boyle's Company uranium drilling activities east of Kanab in April 1955 near the Von Hake and Foote Hamblin ranches, an artesian well was discovered at a depth of 150 feet. Water initially sprayed twenty feet into the air, creating a natural fountain and attracting excited visitors from nearby towns. The newspaper focused on the value of this water-perhaps the most scarce and critical com­modity for living in the area-rather than on the potential of discov­ering more uranium. The Drilling Company was originally drilling for uranium, but for now most of the local people have forgotten about uranium in favor of a more valuable resource for this area-water. This undoubt­edly will start some extensive drilling by ranchers in that area, and some have already made preliminary investigations into it. With water being so important to this area it is hoped that these wells along with others that might be drilled will yield a great amount of water for our thirsty land to drink up.73 The Kanab Uranium Corporation, a penny-stock firm created during the wild and little-regulated era, hit a natural gas deposit in May that same year in Grand County, again during a search for ura- WORLD WAR II AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS, 1940-1960 271 nium. It was estimated that the well would produce from 4-6 million cubic feet of natural gas a day from the Morrison Formation, located at a depth of about 3,260 feet, and additional gas from the Dakota section at around 3,177 feet, for a total potential of some 8 million cubic feet of natural gas daily.74 An incidental effect of the uranium boom was that the number of part-time prospectors for wealth created labor shortages in south­ern Utah. A report issued by the Agricultural Marketing Service,the Utah Extension Service, and others suggested that many local work­ers had been "absorbed by uranium mining activities" rather than helping harvest farm crops.75 Oil drilling continued throughout the period. In 1957, for exam­ple, the Tidewater Oil Company of Oklahoma drilled to a depth of 3,200 feet twenty-five miles to the east of Kanab.76 The J. Ray McDermott Company of Denver planned to drill an 11,000-foot test well near Kanab in 1959. By July the drilling was underway, testing various geologic formations near the Virgin Oil Fields.77 Mountain States Drilling Company of Denver drilled yet another well, twelve miles northwest of Kanab near Red Knoll in 1962.78 The Pan American Petroleum Corporation drilled in the Paria area in 1967 to depths of 6,000 feet.79 Between 1953 and 1968, eight test wells-all coming up dry-were drilled in the county. Three were in the Mt. Carmel area, two in Reese Canyon, and one each in the Soda Springs, Kaibab Gulch, and Kanab areas.80 The development of coal mining was an idea that various entre­preneurs returned to throughout Kane County's twentieth-century history. For example, Preston Peterson, former member of the Utah State Road Commission, was considering a partnership with R.A. Gillis in the development of coal property in the western part of the county in 1941.81 Gaining access to the coal deposits was not possible without a great economic investment-one that no one ultimately was willing to make during the mid-part of the century, however. Education In the 1954-55 school year, the high school and elementary schools each had their own principals for the first time since 1935. In 1952 Kanab had received supplemental state aid-$581,261-under 272 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY the School Building Act for two new school buildings. An elementary school described as "modern" was designed by architects William J. Monroe, Jr., and Harry R. Wilson. It included seven classrooms, a multipurpose room, and offices. It was located on the northern half of the public square at the center of town and was constructed for a cost of $206,804. The new high school was to be built at the foot of the hill where the older structure was located and contained seven classrooms, a gymnasium and stage, and administration offices. It was built for a cost of $339,569 and was designed by architect Claude S. Ashworth.82 In 1957, the district approved plans to add five addi­tional classrooms to the Kanab Elementary School, a reflection of the addition of some ninety students to the original total of 210.83 Despite the new facilities, Kane County schools decreased in stu­dent population in the mid-1950s, with a loss of twenty-five pupils in 1955 from the year before, for a total of 626 students. Kanab Elementary housed some 200 children between the ages of five and twelve; Kanab High School had another 164 students; and Valley High School had 133 students. Valley Elementary had seventy stu­dents; Glendale Elementary had thirty-four, and Alton Elementary had twenty-five students.84 Students from the Kane County schools were pitted against each other and other teams from the region in sporting events. Consolidation of certain Kane County schools became a topic discussed both locally and by the Utah State Board of Education in the 1950s because of the potential savings it would bring to the county, particularly the consolidation of Valley and Kanab High Schools. It was anticipated that this would save the district $25,000 per year.85 Even so, this was a very controversial issue in Kane County towns. In May 1960, Utah Board of Education personnel made a room-by-room inspection of the county's schools along with county, state, district, and local representatives. Although the state furnished about 81 percent of the total funds of the district, it was left to the Kane County School Board to make the final decision.86 However, the state board did decide to withdraw special approval for the operation of the small elementary schools at Alton and Glendale beginning with the 1961-62 school year, a decision that met with significant dis­favor locally. The board did promise to build a new elementary WORLD WAR II AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS, 1940-1960 273 school in Orderville for Long Valley children.87 Valley Elementary was constructed in 1967 for $276,250 and included six classrooms, a mul­tipurpose room with wall tables, a modern kitchen, instructional material center, kindergarten room, and suite of offices. Higher education opportunities could only be found outside the county. The nearest junior colleges were Dixie College at St. George and Southern Utah State College (now University) in Cedar City. A vocational school located in Richfield, Sevier Valley Technical College, also attracted a number of Kane County youths. Communication and Transportation The Kane County Standard was edited after 1941 by Lloyd Lovestedt and was printed in Kane County for the first time in its his­tory in February 1941. This shift from a Garfield County printer was made with the purchase of the paper by the Standard Publishing Company. Centering its operations in Kanab, the company installed linotype equipment and a cylinder printing press. The publisher announced the intention to provide the most up-to-date news and pay close attention to local affairs: "And so we delve into the task of printing a paper for Kane county in Kane county; a task we will enjoy in the midst of these colorful surroundings. We encourage all our readers to write or phone their news to this office not later than Tuesday evening or early Wednesday morning in order that it may appear in that week's publication."88 While Lovestedt served during World War II, Clair Ford edited the paper.89 A.C. and Jess E. Saunders published the paper in the early 1940s. The paper was bought in July 1945 by Myron W. Martin of Whittier, California. Martin, his wife, and two daughters moved to Kanab to operate the business.90 In 1950 the Kane County Standard again changed management; Errol G. Brown was the new publisher and editor, and he was backed by the belief that a "progressive" newspaper was important to a com­munity's well-being. He wrote, "We believe that one of the greatest assets that any city, town or locality can have is a progressive and informative newspaper. To be progressive and informative a newspa­per must have the cooperation and support of the people at all times and to the extent that it can operate on a sound economical basis, to be able to present its format to the public in a way becoming to the 274 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY trend of modern times and in a manner that will be a credit to an up-and- coming community or locality."91 The Standard was awarded a second place in "General Excellency" at the Utah State Press Association's annual convention in February 1953 and received that association's top award for newspaper excellence the next year.92 After 1954, the paper became known as the Southern Utah News, and Brown was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in Journalism for his work in local publishing.93 A $130,000 building was constructed in 1956 in Kanab for a branch of Mountain States Telephone Company. The structure was constructed of cement block with brick facing and native flagstone trim and housed Kanab's new telephone dial system and a business office. Part of the process of shifting to the new dialing system included home visits by company employees to demonstrate to cus­tomers how to use the latest equipment.94 Under the new system, which was completed by February 1957, when Kanab residents picked up their phone, instead of speaking directly to an operator and cranking the phone to operate it, they heard a humming sound which signaled they could dial a number directly. In October 1943, R.W.F. "Bob" Schmidt, a regional superinten­dent of airport services for the Civil Aeronautics Administration, and Joseph Bergen, commissioner of aeronautics for the State of Utah came to Kanab to discuss the location of an airstrip.95 Mayor L. Elmer Jackson proposed that the Kanab Lions Club co-sponsor the airstrip, an idea the members enthusiastically responded to. After World War II ended, a number of men returned to Kane County who had served in the Army Air Corps. Many brought with them the ability to fly aircraft and some foresaw the potential impact that regular airline service in and out of the county might have on the local economy. Emron Findlay Robinson, a flight officer during the war, flew home from the war in his own two-passenger airplane, which he landed in a pasture on the bench east of Kanab. Chester Shuttleworth and Alfred Brooksby also owned planes, which they kept in Fredonia. Besides petitioning the city council for a local airstrip, Robinson began teaching flying lessons locally. Eventually four of his students-Thomas Parkes, Bob Baardseth, Romell Young, and Richard Von Hake-became professional pilots. WORLD WAR II AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS, 1940-1960 275 On 11 June 1946, Mayor Jackson called a special city council meeting, with councilmen Claud M. Glazier, Elgin H. Morris, John M. Burgoyne, and C.H. Ackerman in attendance. The Lions Club announced in October of 1946 that it would donate $1,500 for the purchase of land for an airport.96 The U.S. government and the Utah state government each provided part of the funding in return for provisions that the airport be built near a highway and be supplied with water, electrical power, and telephone service. The city pur­chased agricultural land owned by Carlos W. Judd, Merlin G. Shumway, Dana F. Findlay, and Clara E. Spencer for $425 per acre. During the post-war movie boom and the years when Glen Canyon Dam was being built, the airport proved to be enormously beneficial to the county. In fact, the needs of the motion picture industry doubtless served as a major motivation for the airport construction. The first plane to land at the new Kanab Municipal Airport had passengers from the Universal International Motion Picture Company. A crowd of people gathered near the field in anticipation of the flight's arrival in early October 1948, getting out of their cars to watch the landing. The first to depart from the plane was movie star Howard Duff, followed by Lloyd Bridges. The pilot and co-pilot expressed enthusiasm about the new airport, applauding the length and the general appearance of the field and saying that they were sur­prised to see such a modern airport in this part of the country. The airport was officially dedicated on 24 October 1948 by Governor Herbert Maw. The Utah State Road Commission donated $3,000 to the Kanab Municipal Airport for the purchase of three hangars.97 A new city airport was completed in 1959. The federal govern­ment contributed $11,600 to the system, the city paying the addi­tional $7,100.98 In March 1959 Bonanza Airlines announced it would begin service in and out of the county and maintain a consistent schedule of flights to Arizona, Nevada, and northern Utah. In 1943 the idea of building a Paria area road was being investi­gated by a group including Frank Moore of the regional U.S. Grazing Service office, Frank O'Brien of the Utah Department of Publicity and Industrial Development, men from the state highway depart­ment, the county attorney, and other citizens of Kanab. The group traveled from Warm Creek on horseback to try to identify the best 276 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY The LDS Church in Kanab. (Utah State Historical Society) route. In May it was announced that work would start immediately on the dirt road. The Utah Publicity and Industrial Development Department appropriated $4,700 for the project in July.99 A year ear­lier, Lester Little and Fred Fleming of Kanab helped negotiate a com­mitment from the same department for $4,500 to help construction of a road to Coral Pink Sand Dunes, which would greatly facilitate the movement of movie film crews and their equipment in and out of that area.100 In the 1950s, the national interstate highway system, including more than 600 miles of roadway in Utah, was planned and funded with federal monies. Included in the system was Interstate 15, which ran north-south through the state of Utah. The Glen Canyon Dam project created an immediate need for improved transportation to and from the building site and eventu­ally to recreation sites around the dam area and the resulting reser­voir, Lake Powell. Roads were built in Kane County an the surrounding region as part of the overall project. Kanab was chosen as the northern junction point for a major roadway (which became the route of U.S. Highway 89) running southeasterly to the proposed WORLD WAR II AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS, 1940-1960 277 Glen Canyon Dam, where the Colorado River would be crossed. The highway would then return to rejoin old U.S. 89 in Arizona south of the river crossing. The fifty-seven-mile Utah stretch of roadway was to cost $5.5 million. Funding for the project was completed in 1957-58 at an eventual cost of $6 million. The highway was dedicated in a 19 September 1958 ceremony as a unit in the federal primary highway system.101 The Southern Utah News announced on 18 June 1959 that the "wonderfully scenic, just completed highway leading east from Kanab, Utah" connected Kane County to activity at the dam site.102 This road, Utah Highway 259, became U.S. Highway 89 in 1960. Motion Pictures Between the 1930s and 1950s, Kane County's canyon vistas became a regular backdrop for Hollywood motion pictures. Clarence A. Locan, a public-relations man for the Metro-Goldwin-Mayer film company, said that Kane County residents were excellent hosts-tak­ing their visitors on fishing trips and staging barbecues, campfires, and horseback rides. "These people treated us as neighbors and human beings and forgot all about moving pictures. In Hollywood we can't be ourselves; there are certain appearances we have to keep and so on, because fans expect it," he was quoted. "Out in Utah we can wear old clothes, gossip with the cowboys and people in the gen­eral store, act as we please, and be perfectly natural. Personally get­ting away from Hollywood into these mountains has done me a world of good, physically and mentally."103 Buffalo Bill was a film produced by Twentieth Century Fox in 1943 that caused quite a stir in Kane County. After a complete fort was built in Johnson Canyon, a crew of about one hundred men and women arrived in Kanab from Hollywood. Parts of the movie, star­ring Joel McCrea and Maureen O'Hara, also were filmed at the old townsite of Paria. Almost as soon as it was built, the stage set was threatened by flooding from the Paria River. The crew built two dams to divert water, but water rolled over the dams.104 Nearly 250 local res­idents were employed by the company for the picture; they included Delia Pugh, who acted as a stand-in for Maureen O'Hara. Also, more 278 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY than 200 Navajo Indians were hired to camp nearby for scenes in the film.105 The townsite of Paria with its old western look was also used for many other movies, and continued to be used for films, television programs, and commercials in the following decades. The entire area benefited from the film industry in the early 1940s as in the years before. The production crews, actors, and directors all needed places to stay and eat, local laborers worked on sets, waitresses, shop owners, and all other local businesses benefited from trade associated with the presence of crowds of outsiders in town. The movie industry needed teamsters, drivers, stuntmen, horse trainers, and carpenters; and vir­tually everyone in town was an extra on one film or another. The Kane County Standard commented upon the way the movie industry enlivened the sleepy little southern Utah town: "The movies have surely revived the town. The hustle and bustle is here once more. Every one who wants a job is busy. Those who are working receive a substantial check for the week's work. The Kanab Equitable was crowded to capacity and it also took on the capacity of a bank last Saturday. There was quite a line-up to have Mr. Ackerman cash checks."106 Use of the region for motion pictures continued after World War II, as that period into the 1950s was in many respects the heyday of movie making in Kane County. In its 19 September 1949 issue, Life magazine highlighted Kanab as "Utah's Hollywood," "a tiny town earning a big town living supplying locale, extras and props." The land clearly was the county's most significant asset. Photographs of the movie days line the walls of Dennis Judd's restaurant at the time of this writing. One shows Judd seated next to Dean Martin for a film in which he worked as Martin's double. Another shows Jackie Rife and other local women dressed as Indian women for a western that featured women pioneers-Westward the Women. About 150 women worked on the film, including some recruited from outside the area. Women also worked as saloon girls or as farm wives. A person who could drive a team of horses could find a lot of work. Wranglers with their teams could get a dollar a day per horse and a dollar a day for labor. Rife remembered big productions when the whole town was filled with movie crews and money was spent freely.107 WORLD WAR II AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS, 1940-1960 279 In order to see that local residents received pay commensurate with that received by movie extras from California, Calvin Johnson organized a local filmworkers union that was affililated with the Teamsters Union. Johnson himself worked in some films as a double for stars; he also played both cowboys and Indians and drove wagons for the companies. Fay Hamblin worked as a public relations man, identifying locations for particular films, traveling to Hollywood to negotiate deals, and serving as a sort of liason between Kanab and southern California movie makers. In September 1949 the county commission considered renting county equipment to movie compa­nies working in town to further attract the companies.108 During the mid-1950s fewer and fewer movie production com­panies came to town. This has been attributed to the changed tech­nology of filmmaking; more scenes could be produced in studios, with dubbed-in backgrounds filmed on location. Kane County still attracted the movie industry to a lesser degree after 1950. Howard Koch, an assistant director at MGM studios in Hollywood, came to the area in 1951 to find a location for a film called Lone Star starring Clark Gable and Ava Gardner. He remembered: "We needed horses and riders and good country that would look like Texas."109 He was advised to contact Fay Hamblin. Koch drove to Kanab and with Hamblin's help arranged for animals, a location, and arrangements to house and provide for the cast. According to Koch, that visit began a friendship that spanned twenty-five years and resulted in the pro­duction of twelve films. The landscape was the obvious draw to Hollywood producers, but the townspeople facilitated their efforts, and movie makers received enthusiastic local support in their work in Kane County. The citizens benefited as well. Besides the revenue the film industry pro­duced (Howard Koch estimated that the pictures he made produced four or five million dollars for Kanab), many residents continued to work as extras in the films-everyone "from the Mormon bishop, to the mayor, to the butcher, got a chance to take part in several movies."110 All town businesses benefited-motels were filled, restau­rants catered meals or fed movie workers late into the night, carpen­ters and artists built sets, and ranchers and farmers leased out their land.111 280 HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY In June 1953 a film entitled Camel Corps was filmed in Kane County near Johnson Canyon. It was a new special effects three-dimensional (3-D) film, and director Ray Nazarro reportedly required a "good deal more careful study and times for all shots. A large number of animals, besides the camels, are being used in the film as well as wagons, and a lot of local props owned by local men," the Kane County Standard reported.112 Motion pictures were attempt­ing to use 3-D and other innovations and special effects to combat the rise of television, which had begun to cut into the entertainment market. Some scenic movies, particularly westerns, continued to be filmed in the county. In 1955, for example, Howard Koch and Aubrey Schenk of Camden Productions came to Kanab to shoot the film Fort Yuma, starring Peter Graves. The company hired twenty locals for the film as well as another sixty for two days of shooting. This work was appreciated by many in Kanab who longed for the bustling days of the movie boom and missed the added revenue which came to the county from Hollywood. The Southern Utah News noted, Having suffered from the loss of movie making in Kanab for the past year or two, this company will be a great uplift to the feel­ings in this area. It is hoped that with the reorganization of the Screen Extra's Guild and several other matters being cleared up that the movie-making men of Hollywood will consider our beau­tiful locations for many more of their pictures in the future.113 Many local men and women chose to join the Kane County extras organization. Clara Pratt, secretary and treasurer of the group, collected an initial fee of ten dollars and the subsequent annual fee of two dollars. All extras were hired through this organization.114 One major motion picture to be filmed in Kanab in 1955 was The Lone Ranger, produced by Warner Brothers. The company imported a crew of one hundred film workers and employed seventy-five extras as well as eighty Indians from the area. The Parry Lodge housed most of the company members.115 Despite the general lull, a few films con­tinued to be made, employing local men and women and bringing needed revenue into the county. The Kanab Chamber of Commerce and the Kane County Commission continually worked to attract movie companies throughout the period.116 WORLD WAR II AND LATER DEVELOPMENTS, 1940-1960 281 Besides m o t i o n pictures, an increased n u m b e r of television shows were filmed in the area. For example, "My Friend Flicka" tele­vision episodes were filmed locally; later, the series "Death Valley Days" began filming in 1959. The drama "Route 66" filmed an episode in Kanab that employed locals Bert Brinkerhoff, Debra Walley, and Tony Haig, and the popular western series "Gunsmoke" filmed several episodes in Kane County canyons.117 Motion pictures began to counter television's threat with color extravaganzas, grand epics, and other technical innovations. This to some extent benefited southern Utahns, but westerns remained the films most commonly shot in the area. Frank Sinatra came to Kanab in 1961 to star in the Hollywood film Sergeants Three along with Peter Lawford, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., a n d Joey Bishop. Filmed near the old Paria townsite forty miles east of Kanab, the movie was described as a "rollicking, action-packed, gutsy story of the winning of the American West," a n d was said to be the largest western to be filmed in Kane County.118 While in town, Sinatra gave a check to Kanab High School for the purchase of football uniforms and other badly needed sports equipment.119 The Greatest Story Ever Told was one movie epic of the 1960s that was filmed in part locally. After the movie industry b o om died down, the Parry brothers among others campaigned for the bus tour business of foreign visi­tors, offering package deals that included lodging, entertainment (melodramas or musical presentations), and tours of area attractions. The residents of the county looked for a general expansion of busi­ness in the years ahead as the decade of the 1960s approached. ENDNOTES 1. "100,000 Tourists Can't Be Wrong," Kane County Standard, 19 June 1941. 2. "Projects Completed on Range in Kane County," Kane County Standard, 20 May 1942. 3. "Government Trappers Aid Stockmen in Control of Predators," Kane County Standard, 17 April 1941. 4. Kane County Commission, Minutes, 9 December 1940. 5. Lester Y. Johnson, interview with Bayden Grover, 27 April 1993, Kanab, Utah.