John S. McCormick, Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 Utah was among the states hit hardest by the Great Depression of the 1930s. That claim surprises many people, who assume, for various reasons, that it was spared the worst. A few statistics make the point. In 1933 Utah’s unemployment rate was 35.8 percent, the fourth highest in the nation, and for the …
President Harding’s 1923 Visit to Utah
W. Paul Reeve History Blazer July 1995 President Warren G. Harding’s 1923 visit to Utah was part of a broader tour of the western United States designed to bring him “closer to the people and their conditions.” After touring Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and other states, he proceeded to Alaska, his primary destination, and became the first president to visit that …
The Beginnings of Commercial Aviation
Charles S. Davey History Blazer, November 1995 Airmail service in the United States began on May 15, 1918, over a single route between Washington, D. C., and New York City with a refueling stop in Philadelphia. From 1918 to 1920 routes were expanded to include Chicago, Cleveland, and Omaha. The last leg of what was developing into a transcontinental route …
Growing Crops for the Cannery
Miriam B. Murphy History Blazer August 1996 In 1925 the Utah Packing Company began to build a cannery south of the Spanish Fork River in Utah County, near the settlement of Leland. Later the California Packing Corporation (Del Monte) acquired the cannery. Completion of the Strawberry Valley Project a decade earlier had made it possible for farmers in the area …
Dinosaur National Monument
G. E. Untermann and B. E. Untermann Historical Quarterly 26 July 1958 One of the most unique and colorful areas in the entire National Park system is Dinosaur National Monument with its outstanding scientific and scenic interests. The Dinosaur Quarry, six miles north of Jensen, Utah, is world famous for the quantity, variety, and fine degree of preservation of the …
Ogden’s “Grand Hotel”—the Bigelow—Preserves a Historic Area
Preservation Office Utah Division of State History History Blazer, September 1995 Constructed in 1927 the Bigelow/Ben Lomond Hotel is both architecturally and historically significant. It is an excellent and rare example of the Italian Renaissance Revival style in Utah—popular in America in the 1920s but seldom employed in the Beehive State. The building—located on the southeast corner of Ogden’s most …
The Civilian Conservation Corps
Kenneth W. Baldridge Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 When Franklin D. Roosevelt took over as president in March 1933 the country was in the midst of the worst depression ever experienced in the United States. Among the organizations established to help relieve the situation was the Civilian Conservation Corps, not only one of the first to begin operations across the country …
The Civilian Conservation Corps Was a Boon to Utah
W. Paul Reeve History Blazer, February 1995 Compared to the rest of the nation Utah was hit particularly hard by the Great Depression of the 1930s. In 1933 Utah’s annual per capita income of $300 was a mere 80 percent of the national average, and 35.8 percent of Utah’s work force was unemployed. The New Deal legislation of Franklin D. …
Clean Clothes Blowing in the Breeze
Miriam B. Murphy History Blazer May 1996 More Utahns seem to be writing or compiling family histories nowadays. Many are full of details usually not found in other kinds of historical publications. The story of the Lewis Leo and Hortense Cope Munson family is one such book. Born in the year of Utah’s statehood, 1896, Leo Munson spent much of …
Garfield County Airport Has Unusual Hangar
Allan Kent Powell and Miriam B. Murphy History Blazer October 1995 In the realm of airplane hangar construction and design the Garfield County Airport Hangar is truly an oddity. Its barn-like construction of native materials is a testimony to the ranching/agricultural background of the men who built it. Having no previous experience in designing or building an airplane hangar, they …