Linda King Newell and Vivian Linford Talbot The History of Garfield County A number of federal government measures helped lead to Garfield County’s increased emphasis on the tourist trade. In 1957 President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Interstate Highway Act of 1956 to create a national interstate freeway system. This thirteen-year program would be the most extensive public works project in …
Interstate 70
Edward A Geary History of Emery County In 1957 legislation sponsored by Senator Wallace F. Bennett of Utah added 1,000 additional miles to the original 40,000-mile Defense Highway System (later renamed as the Interstate system). Utah officials proposed that part of the added mileage be devoted to a new highway connecting Denver with the Wasatch Front metropolitan area, but federal …
Suburbia and the Freeway
Glen M. Leonard The History of Davis County Construction of north-south Interstate 15 through Davis County in the 1960s made the suburban development model a reality and eventually led to the rapid growth of Layton as a new commercial hub. By shortening travel time to Salt Lake City, the new freeway encouraged subdivisions in the middle of the county. The …
After Many Boom and Bust Cycles Moab Just Keeps Pedaling
Jeffrey D. Nichols History Blazer, June 1995 Like so many other western towns, Moab, Utah, has experienced prosperous times followed by harder times. The various boom and bust cycles in and around the town have involved mineral products, agricultural products, and recreation. The town’s up-and-down economic history has reflected national and international events and concerns from the Cold War to …
Rise and Fall of the Turkey Empire
W. Paul Reeve History Blazer, August 1996 Names of losing candidates, particularly in local and state elections, are often quickly forgotten after election year hoopla subsides. One such name, William Arthur Barlocker, came within 20,000 votes of winning Utah’s governor’s office in 1960 but was defeated by incumbent Republican George Dewey Clyde. To residents of the small southwestern Utah agricultural …
Central Utah Project
Craig Fuller Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 Water has always been a precious resource in the Intermountain West. Junius F. Wells wrote in 1889 that “water is just now agitating all people in this region, and it is also receiving attention in other quarters.” Millions of people could be comfortably located in the arid West, he added, “through the storage and …
Aneth Oil Field
Robert S. McPherson The History of San Juan County At the same time that the uranium industry in Monument Valley was booming, a second industry, oil, became increasingly prominent in the Aneth-Montezuma Creek area. Starting in 1953, Humble Oil and Shell Oil initiated agreements with the Navajo Tribe and the State of Utah to exploit the rich petroleum reserves locked …
Utah’s Black Gold: The Petroleum Industry
Osmond L. Harline Utah Historical Quarterly 31 #3 With the end of World War II, interest in Utah’s oil and gas possibilities was renewed. The annual well-completion rate during 1945, 1946, and 1947 was double the pre-1945 rate, and the stage was set for the birth of the state’s commercial petroleum-producing industry. In contrast to the earlier years, there were …
Carbon County’s Post-War Attempts at Progression
Ronald G. Watt The History of Carbon County After World War II, Carbon County renewed its efforts to enlarge the airfield, constructing, with federal help and matching funds from state and county, a new runway and extending the other runways so larger planes could use the facility. In October 1948 construction crews finished the new runways and over 5,000 people …
Salt Lake’s Post War Calamities
Linda Sillitoe The History of Salt Lake County A heavy snowmelt following the 1951–52 winter brought flooding. Streams filled the Mountain Dell Reservoir and swelled Emigration and City creeks, and then rushed into the city. Streets in the eastern part of town were deluged; storm sewers flooded as waters poured down Thirteenth South Street to the Jordan River where obstructions …