A HISTORY OF MUfard County Edward Leo Lyman Linda King Newell UTAH CENTENNIAL COUNTY HISTORY SERIES A HISTORY OF Mittard County Edward Leo Lyman Linda King Newell Fillmore in Millard County was designated as the site of the first territorial capitol of Utah. One wing of the capitol building was built in the early 1850s before the seat of government was returned to Salt Lake City. The eastern part of the large county was settled first, as Pahvant Utes under their leader Kanosh wel­ comed pioneers to their homeland. Relations were generally peaceful between the two groups as towns and farms began to grow and prosper in the county. Development in the county initially cen­ tered on the east side; later, the diversion of water from the Sevier River transformed west­ ern Millard County into a rich farming area. However, the turbulent river and irrigation brought serious problems to homesteaders in the form of flooding and alkali ("Mormon snow") coming to the surface, making agri­ cultural development a great challenge. During World War II, a Japanese-Ameri­ can relocation camp was located at Topaz in the desert interior of the county. This vast region later housed the hu^e Intermountain Power Plant—a generator of electricity for Utah and southern California. The result of this has been a shift of population and politi­ cal power from the east side to the west side of Millard County in recent years. ISBN: 0-913738-38-7 A HISTORY OF OVCiftard County A HISTORY OF Mittard County Edward Leo Lyman Linda King Newell 1999 Utah State Historical Society Millard County Commission Copyright © 1999 by Millard County Commission All rights reserved ISBN 0-913738-38-7 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 98-61319 Map by Automated Geographic Reference Center—State of Utah Printed in the United States of America Utah State Historical Society 300 Rio Grande Salt Lake City, Utah 84101-1182 Contents PREFACE vii GENERAL INTRODUCTION xi CHAPTER 1 The Land and Its Earliest Inhabitants 1 CHAPTER 2 Mormon Exploration and Settlement 31 CHAPTER 3 Expansion of the County 79 CHAPTER 4 Maturation of County Communities and Early Economic Expansion 122 CHAPTER 5 Late-Nineteenth Century Economic and Community Development 151 CHAPTER 6 Millard County in the Early Twentieth Century 202 CHAPTER 7 Expansion in the 1910s and 1920s . 238 CHAPTER 8 The Great Depression and New Deal 279 CHAPTER 9 World War II and Economic Developments of the 1950s 310 CONTENTS CHAPTER 10 Through the 1970s 342 CHAPTER 11 The Intermountain Power Project and Economic Diversification 377 CHAPTER 12 Developments at the End of the Century and Beyond 401 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 427 INDEX 431 Preface M.illar d County's history is as rich and varied as any in the state. It has been a distinct pleasure for the authors, both county natives, to immerse themselves in the source materials in an attempt to distill many, but certainly, with the rigid length constraints of this book, not all of the most important developments in Millard County history. The county possesses one of the most diverse arrays of geo­ logic landforms, along with vast mineral and fossil deposits, and anthropologists have fairly recently discovered prehistoric human habitation sites on both the eastern and western edges of the county. The Pahvant Utes and neighboring historic Native Americans, par­ ticularly Kanosh, deserve much more recognition than they have ever received. So too do the many explorers who traveled Millard trails prior to settlement of the area. Almost everyone knows of Fillmore's designation as the first ter­ ritorial capital of Utah. We have offered new insights into the plans for the area and some of the reasons they did not all come to fruition. While land and water were not particularly abundant in east Millard by today's standards, there was sufficient for a surprisingly large pop- Vlll PREFACE ulation in the last half of the nineteenth century. These people made the county one of the most important in south-central Utah. East Millard certainly spawned west Millard, which because of its greater abundance of land and water resources would eventually sur­ pass the parent area in agricultural production. Yet east Millard's con­ sistent bent for innovation, demonstrated in dry land farming and drilling wells for irrigation, allowed its residents to continue to pros­ per. The coming of automobile transportation and tourism was a bigger boon to the region than has usually been realized—until it declined with the bypassing of the communities by Interstate 15. In a sense, much of west Millard's history is centered around the Sevier River lifeline and the impressive man-made desert oasis created through irrigation. From the beginning of settlement, Millard County has had its two rather distinct regions of east and west. Through the years, the population centers of these two areas developed several rivalries, par­ ticularly expressed in politics and in high school sports. Even in the well-known Daughters of Utah Pioneers history of the county, Milestones of Millard, the history was divided, with Stella H. Day compiling the history of the east side and Sebrina C. Ekins that of the west. Yet, from mountains to desert, mundane to esoteric, forts to towns, farms to motels, all elements have combined to create the his­ torical tapestry of Millard County. Rather than separate them by some arbitrary dividing line, the authors have tried to integrate the history of the two sides of the county, roughly following a chronol­ ogy tracing interlocking settlement patterns and the development of both areas. With fax machines and other almost instantaneous com­ munication devices of our modern age there is certainly room for at least two centers of the county. Although there have been attempts to divide Millard into two counties, accommodation has been made in this regard in the present era that some from earlier periods would not have believed possible. Early west-side resident Mahonri M. Steel argued that the two sides should stay together and work to make Millard the best county it could be. Many of the present generation have contributed to making his argument a reality. Although it was intended that Linda Newell do most of the east Millard research and writing and Leo Lyman do that of west Millard, PREFACE _^x because of time constraints on Newell (who was writing two other county histories), Lyman wrote of west Millard and most of east Millard in the twentieth century. This volume is not intended to replace the several fine town and county histories that have been published both in the past and more recently. It is intended to augment those histories by providing in one work an overview of Millard County's history that is as accurate as possible and accessible to the general Utah populace, including pre­ sent and former residents of the county. Readers should not expect to find detailed family histories here, but, rather, examples of people and families who have helped build the county. There are perhaps too many mentions of the Lyman and King families herein. There was no intention of favoritism, but both were important at certain crucial junctures and left easily accessible records for any historian to use. There were many other people of these and other families who could have been mentioned, and apologies are offered to any who disagree with the authors' decisions. Milestones of Millard is not only one of the best of the entire Utah Daughters of Utah Pioneers county histories, it also has a fabulous collection of historical photos, particularly from the nineteenth cen­ tury. There were almost none on the county from that era that we have seen that were not already published there. Since the number of photos we could include here was severely limited, we encourage readers to consult that rich visual storehouse in connection with our narrative. Similarly, it is frustrating that much rich detail, particularly that dealing with daily life in earlier generations, was cut in order to comply with guidelines for the county centennial history series. We have tried to resolve this problem to some extent by placing longer (and somewhat rougher) drafts of what was originally contained in our history of the county in local Millard County libraries. This is not to say that the editorial staff was unappreciated. They had to make the various county volumes relatively uniform in length and, to some extent, in coverage. Kent Powell of the Utah State Historical Society and other staff, including Craig Fuller and Richard Firmage, have devoted countless hours to this project, as have we. We would also like to particularly acknowledge former county residents Carling I. Malouf, a retired anthropologist who participated in many PREFACE early digs in Millard County and offered access to his field reports, and Blair Maxfield, a retired geology professor from Southern Utah University, who generously wrote most of the geological material contained herein. Tanya Gentry, librarian at the Millard Fillmore Library and Charlotte Morrison of the Great Basin Museum also have been extremely helpful. Those who assisted with various aspects of some of the towns and in other ways include Leavitt Christensen for Kanosh and Cove Fort; Nadine Parks, Carol Wise, Patsey S. Iverson, and Tony Deardon for Fillmore; Rhea Dean Stephenson for Holden; Richard L. Stott and Marie Payne for Meadow; Ruth Hansen, Louise H. Lyman, and Jane Beckwith for Delta; Valene Finlinson for Oak City; Merrill Nielson for Lynndyl; Floyd Bradfield for Leamington; Lincoln Eliason for Deseret; and Roger Walker for Sutherland and Topaz. We also thank Millard County Commissioner Lana R. Moon, who oversaw most of the production of this history and kept our feet to the fire, along with Frank Baker, Jere Brinkerhof, and John Henrie.