The Redmond Hotel is significant as a good example of a public boarding house in a rural, Mormon community. Based upon a comprehensive survey of Sevier County, it is the best example of this building type in the county. It is also an excellent example of structural adaptation of a building to local events for the “hotel” has evolved as the community evolved. The Redmond Hotel stands today as one of the best remembered “old hotels” in Sevier County.
The Redmond Hotel is located at 15 East Main Street in Redmond, Utah and was added to the National Register of Historic Places (#80003964) on June 20, 1980.
Ifedmond Utah is a small agricultural community settled in 1876, surveyed in 1879 and “given” a local government in 1878. in 1879, John Johnson, an early Jtedmond settler, town surveyor and Mormon bishop contracted to have a three-room stone home built on Main and Center. The probable builder of the home was Jacob Nielsen, a Mormon, local stone mason, and Danish immigrant like John Johnson. This early structure is the core of the Ifedmond Hotel on which later additions were built.
The appointment of Johnson to the office of bishop, a position he held for 10 years, reflected his growing economic and social importance in the area. Around 1888 Johnson had a larger and more stylish home built east of his first home on Main Street. The older, smaller home was rented out, probably to his son-in-law and business partner, John B. Sorenson with whom he established the financially successful Redmond Co-op.
In 1892, two years after the Denver and Rio Gande Railroad arrived in the Sevier Valley, Johnson sold his main street properties to Henry McKenna Sr. The latter was an early settler of Salina whose past and future experiences with hotel building leads one to suppose that his purchase was a form of “hotel speculation.” Redmond was only a few miles from the Salina railhead and its untapped agricultural and mineral resources could be expected to bring in new residents. This demographic change was expected to cause, as it had elsewhere in Utah, the need for the temporary or seasonal services of teachers, salesmen, laborers, miners and entertainment troupes. To accommodate these mobile residents a pifolic house would be necessary for the community.
Henry McKenna sold his property in 1894 to his son, Henry McKenna Jr. Redmond’s economy continued to improve and so in 1503, the new owner mortgaged the Johnson properties to finance the remodeling of the three-room home into a public boarding house. In 1904, apparently unable to satisfy his creditors, McKenna Jr. sold the structure to James Frandsen who had been hired to do the remodeling work for the hotel (the new owner had done the remodeling work in the area before under taking the building of the Redmond Hotel). The daily operation of the boarding house given over to his wife Miranda as James continued to farm and raise livestock.
After sixteen years of successfully keeping boarders the Fandsen’s sold the building to Anthony C. Willardsen a local merchant. In B20 Anthony opened a store in the front and hired Ada Nielsen, granddaughter of Jacob Nielsen, to run the boarding house. The collapse of agricultural prices that followed World War I adversely affected the local economy and thereby affected the success of the Willardsen enterprise. With two outstanding mortgages and under threat of public sale for payment of back taxes, he sold the boarding house to Ada. With her extra income as post mistress and sales clerk, she was also able to keep the boarding business afloat. It was during her ownership that the public house became widely known as the Redmond Hotel. Ada continued to rent rooms through the depression. In 1946 Charles Hampton bought the building and continued to rent rooms until 1951 when he readapted the public house again, this time back into a private residence. The economic boom for Resdmond had come and gone and with it the Redmond Hotel.
This site is significant as the original launch site for the United States Air Force’s first supersonic guided missile, which was named the Ground-to-Air Pilotless Aircraft (GAPA). Thirty-eight two-stage GAPA solid-rocket-propelled aerodynamic test vehicles were launched by the Boeing Airplane Company from this site between June 13, 1946, and July 1, 1947. Stable supersonic flight was first achieved by GAPA test Vehicle 600 Series, Serial Number 10 on August 6, 1946. The GAPA program was subsequently transferred to Holloman Air Base in New Mexico, where an additional 73 missiles, propelled by various combinations of ramjet engines and solid and liquid rockets, were launched between July 24, 1947 and May 9, 1950.
GAPA was the lineal ancestor of the Air Force’s Bomarc air defense missile, which first flew on September 10, 1952, and is still in limited service 28 years later. The original GAPA launch site in Utah was the birthplace of the United States Air Force supersonic missile flight test program.
The GAPA Launch Site and Blockhouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places (#80003972) on August 26, 1980.
Reinforced concrete, semisubmerged blockhouse and launch pad. The Blockhouse is in original condition, except for damage caused by a single act of vandalism, to wit: entry door blown off hinges, glass viewports gone, hole blown in concrete floor and walls cracked, all apparently from a single explosive charge placed on blockhouse floor.
Reinforced concrete launch pad in same condition as when site was abandoned in July 1947. Steel launch tower no longer present.
The GAPA launch site and blockhouse is located three miles east and seven miles north of Knolls, Utah. The site includes the reinforced concrete launch pad approximately 100′ x 100′. The 40 foot steel tower, used in the launching moves, has been removed. Approximately 300 feet south of the launch pad is the original blockhouse from which the GAPA missiles were launched by remote control. The blockhouse remains in original condition except for damage done when an explosive charge was set off on the blockhouse floor. The explosion blew the entry door off its hinges, broke the glass view-ports, cracked the walls and left a hole in the concrete floor. The blockhouse is build of concrete, rises six feet above the ground level and is approximately 40 feet x 40 feet in size.
Built in 1896 by the pioneer electric power company, this hydroelectric powerhouse has withstood time and still retains its original architectural style. It is an excellent example of style and institutional construction in the 1890’s. The historic pioneer powerhouse is listed on the federal register of historic places.
Some of the first experiments with the transmission of high voltage electricity were conducted here. International recognition was achieved when power was carried to Salt Lake City over approximately 36 miles of transmission lines at 30,000 volts with a loss of only 9%.
The water to power the pioneer turbines is delivered via a 5 mile pipeline extending to the Pineview Reservoir through Ogden Canyon east of the powerhouse. The construction contract for the original pipeline was awarded in 1895 and all work was done from a shop that was built adjacent to the powerhouse. The union pacific railroad built a three mile spur that ran from here to the pipeline construction site. Eight solid rock tunnels, the longest being 667 feet, and eight steel bridges were constructed because of the steep walls of Ogden Canyon.
A hospital was built near the construction site to serve the approximately 500 workers that were employed. The pioneer electric power company was perhaps the first to provide sickness insurance fringe benefits in this area. Each worker paid 50 cents per month in “Sick fee” and in return was given free hospital care and medicine while laid-off the job for sickness or injury.
The pioneer electric power company was one of many small independent power companies to be purchased in 1913 and incorporated into Utah power and light company. In the 1930’s Pineview dam was constructed by the U.S. Bureau of reclamation and a new pipeline was constructed through Ogden Canyon. The pipeline is now jointly owned with the Ogden river water users association.
SNAPSHOT IN TIME: Pioneer Hydroelectric Project Workmen and Their Families in the 1930s
In 1930, six men worked and lived with their families at the Pioneer Hydroelectric Project. They each paid $10 per month ($180 in 2023 dollars) to rent one of the company houses at the plant site, which were erected to support the on-going operation and maintenance of the facilities.
The highest-paid worker living at Pioneer was the project superintendent, Idaho-born John M. Jones, who started working at the plant in 1923. He lived in the brick Queen Anne-style house with his wife, two adult sons, an 18-year-old daughter, and an infant son. One of his adult sons, a 20-year-old named Friday, also worked at Pioneer as a laborer. Superintendent Jones went on to have a 50-year career with Utah Power & Light, nearly all of which was spent living and working at Pioneer.
Pioneer’s chief operator was Danish immigrant Nels Fredrickson, who was 41 years old in 1930. He lived with his New Zealand-born wife Mary and their teenage daughter in one of the Canyon Road cottages. Fredrickson started working for Utah Power & Light in 1903 and retired in 1952. He lived with his family at Pioneer between 1930 and 1950.
Robert Mason, a 47-year-old Illinois-born electrician lived in one of the cottages on the Pioneer Project campus with his wife and young son in 1930 serving as one of the plant’s operators.
Utah-born Ralph C. Jacobs, a maintenance worker, also lived in one of the Canyon Road cottages. He was 61 years old in 1930 and the oldest of the workers employed at Pioneer. He lived with his wife and two sons, one of whom was later hired to work at the project and was photographed in 1937 helping superintendent Jones repair equipment. Jacobs retired from Utah Power & Light in 1931 after a 24-year career.
Henry S. Cartright, a Kansas-born electrician who served as the project’s lineman, also lived in one of the Canyon Road cottages with his wife and three daughters. He went on to become line foreman for Utah Power & Light and retired in the early 1960s after a multidecade career with the company, only part of which was spent living and working at Pioneer.
As demands for project operations have changed with automation and computerized systems, fewer and fewer on-site workers have been required since the early 2000s. In addition, improvements in local roads and widespread use of automobiles for commuting resulted in the eventual disuse and deterioration of the company housing at Pioneer and many other hydroelectric plants throughout the American West.
PIONEER HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT WORKER HOUSING
Hydroelectric facilities need workers and supervisors to be available on-site continuously for maintenance, monitoring, and ensuring the safe delivery of power. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most power plants like Pioneer were located away from population centers and were built before reliable automobiles, so workers needed to live on location. The first house at the Pioneer Hydroelectric Project was a brick Queen Anne-style superintendent’s house at the center of the campus. Built in 1897, it housed the Pioneer Electric Power Company superintendent and occasionally other workers. The centrally located Queen Anne house at Pioneer boasts features reminiscent of other traditional Queen Anne homes, including fish-scale siding on the gable ends with steep-pitched roofs and wide porches.
In 1920, Utah Power & Light officials anticipated a utility workers strike and searched for options to avoid it. They decided to provide a combination of raises in wages for those earning less than $200 per month ($3,700 in 2023 dollars) and additional housing for workers at their power plants, including Pioneer.
The original four wooden Prairie-style cottages built as part of this effort were located south of the power plant, at the current intersection of Canyon Road and 12th Street.
Three Prairie-style cottages were moved to the north end of the campus in the late 1960s in response to Ogden City road expansions, while one cottage remained in its original location immediately to the west of the superintendent’s house. In 2022, as part of improvements to facilities at the power plant to make way for much-needed vehicle and equipment storage, three of the original 1920 cottages were demolished after they became unsafe due to vandalism and animal invasion. Prior to their removal, the original cottages showcased the open eaves, picture windows, and hip roofs typical of the era and style. The original Queen Anne-style superintendent’s house has since been converted into an administrative office space but retains the original historic architectural style.
As this historic hydroelectric power plant continues to evolve, the superintendent’s house is retained to both honor the legacy of the past and accommodate the continued efficient and safe delivery of power today.
Brigham Young, president of the LDS Church, sent Ezra Taft Benson (referred to as Ezra T. Benson to distinguish him from his great-grandson of the same name) to Cache Valley in 1860 to help plan the city and organize wards and stakes (congregations) for the church. Benson chose a plot of land now situated east of the Tabernacle. The foundation of the house is stone quarried at the time of the building of the Temple. Plans for the house followed the plans for the Benson home they left in the East when they followed the Saints to Utah. Mr. Benson worked hard on the design of the city and planned that each home would have enough land for a garden.*
The William Raymond house (The Victorian Rose); Raylene and Michael Linder, owners
Built in 1896 by William M. Raymond, it was said at the time to be Ogden’s most expensive residence. Raymond ran the city’s first ice cream parlor, from an on-site creamery and pavilion on the property.
The doors of this three-story Queen Anne house are noticeably crooked, and the sill is uneven; according to local stories, this “flaw” and curved interior walls were designed to confuse harmful spirits.
The current owners operate The Victorian Rose gift shop and tea room, on the first floor.*
The Elsinore Sugar Factory is significant as the single most important agri-business in Sevier County history. The factory’s economic and social impact on local communities, as assessed by a recent county wide historical survey, exceeds that of any other business enterprise for the years 1911 to 1928. Also, the Elsinore plant is significant as a good representative of the overall sugar beet industry in Utah and as an excellent example of the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company’s contribution to the history of the state.
The Elsinore Sugar Factory is located at approximately 2905 North Highway 118 in Elsinore, Utah and was added to the National Register of Historic Places (#80003959) on June 17, 1980.
The first attempt at refining sugar from beets in Utah occurred in the early 1850 ‘s under the auspicious of the Deseret Manufacturing Company. With the strong financial and social support of Brigham Young, and with imported French machinery, a sugar beet factory was erected in Provo. This primitive plant was unable to recrystallize the sugar from the beet juice. With the company near ing financial ruin, it was purchased by the Mormon Church. After removing the machinery to Salt Lake City, the church tried anew, and again the process failed. This second attempt was the last try at refining sugar in Utah until 1891.
During these thirty plus years the MDrmon desire for economic self-sufficiency kept alive the “sugar beet hope”. Experimentation with sugar beets reached Sevier County in 1878 as William Seegmiller and C.A. Madsen each produced a few high quality plants. Local soil conditions were discovered to be excellent and with improved irrigation systems, large yearly crops were predicted. The improved refining techniques used by E.H. Dyer at his California plant that resulted in the production of a high quality sugar, helped revive the sugar beet interests in Utah. With increased tariffs on sugar that came with the Merrill Act, 1883 and the McKinley Act, 1890, the atmosphere for the “sugar business” improved.
The Mormon desire hope for financial autonomy now had the technological means, the capital and the interest to form the Utah Sugar Company in 1889. Two years after incorporation a sugar beet refinery was erected in Lehi under the direction of E.H. Dyer. As in the 1850 ‘s the Mormon leadership strongly endorsed the enterprise. Church wards encouraged local farmers to plant sugar beets in the spring for processing in the fall. The refinery was from the beginning a technical success but it took time for utahns to accept the fact that beet sugar was as good as cane sugar.
As the financial success of the sugar beet enterprise became apparent, it accelerated the proliferation of other sugar beet refineries. In 1898 sugar produced from beets made up 2% of the American sugar out-put, by 1901 it was 7% and rising. At this time that the American Sugar Refining Company, which controlled 98% of sugar cane market decided to buy stock in western sugar beet companies. In 1902 ASR purchased 50% interest in the Utah Sugar Company the result of which liquified assets for investment in new sugar beet refineries.
Around this same time the farmers of Sevier and San Pete Counties began to agitate for the location of a plant there. In 1906 the Utah Sugar Company promised to help build a factory at Moroni and towards implementing this offer a local sugar company was incorporated. An infestation of “curly-top”, a sugar beet disease, and opposition to the San Pete County location by Sevier County farmers, killed the proposed plant. The next year, 1907, the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company was created by the merger of Utah Sugar, Idaho Sugar and Western Idaho Sugar companies. The new corporation, as a result of increased assets and decreased competition, was able to increase its factory building program.
After getting a promise from Sevier County farmers to raise at least 6000 tons of sugar beets, a factory site was selected east of Elsinore and North of Monroe, near a small settlement named Frogs Jump. The land was purchased in 1910 and the construction of the rail spurs and beet silo sheds were begun. The following summer the main structural elements of the factory were completed so that by the fall of 1911 the first sugar beet campaign was carried out in Sevier County. The Elsinore plant like the one in Lehi was erected by the E.H. Dyer and Sons Construction Company. It was built at a cost of 620,000 dollars. In 1916 and again in 1925 the factory was enlarged to handle an ever greater number of beets. In its lifetime the Elsinore plant produced 1.9 million, 100 pound bags of high quality sugar.
The impact of the new enterprise on Sevier County was immediate and profound. From a steadily widening area of expenditures, through workers wages and payments to farmers, new homes, barns and schools were built, and new farm machinery purchased. The influx of technicians needed to operate the plant settled in Frogs Jump, changing the scattered community into an organized company town which was renamed Austin. In addition to the direct impacts of the plant, one must consider an important secondary economic consequence of sugar beet production. Local livestock interests were able to use the beet tops, pulp and unrefined molasses to feed both sheep and cattle. Southern Sevier County became Central Utah’s center for fattening livestock.
In 1926, one year after increasing the beet capacity at the Elsinore factory, the plant was forced to shut down. It reopened in 1927 but the sugar production was so low that U & I officials closed it for good in 1928. There
have been four explanations advanced for the plant’s failure. The first justifies closure by the recurring infestation of the “curly-top” disease in the Sevier Valley. Competition for locally grown beets by the erection of the Gunnison Sugar Beet Factory in 1918 is offered as the second; and the third argues that the relationship between the farmers and U & I officials continued to decline as both struggled to stay alive during the agricultural decline of the 1920’s. The fourth explanation argues that low tariffs on sugar confoined with a 20 million dollar mortgage hanging over U & I properties did not allow for keeping marginal factories in operation.
In 1928 the beet processing machinery was sold to a firm in Quebec. Fourteen years later, in 1942, the factory’s main structural elements were dismantled leaving only the office and sugar warehouse intact. At the end of World War II the warehouse was converted into a drying plant for potatoes from which a flour was made and then shipped to Europe. The operation was owned by Utah Food Products Cooperative and was a locally owned concern. In 1945 the business was forced to sale the property because it had failed to meet its mortgage payments. American Food Products Corporation bought the site but it suffered the same fate as the Utah Company. After a series of owners the Elsinore Sugar Factory property was purchased by Wilson Milburn. He has converted the office into a home and hopes to reuse the sugar warehouse as a local shopping mall.
Only two buildings of the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company’s factory complex in Elsinore, Utah are extant. The warehouse is a large brick building of symmetrical rectangular plan with a gabled roof. Piers divide the elevations into bays. Brick corbelling at the roof line creates the effect of a cornice. All openings have segmental arches.
Most of the houses in Austin were built by the sugar beet factory for workers. They were all variations of a similar pattern of modest, detached single family dwellings typical of the period, ca. 1910. The different configurations of this building may reflect its different function and location near the factory. The factory office occupies the ground floor. Rooms on the upper floor undoubtedly served as temporary accommodations for seasonal employees.
The factory office and rooming house is a gable roofed rectangular structure. The ground floor of the 1 1/2 story building is brick while the upper level is frame with shingle siding. Piercing of gable end facades is symmetrical. The broad sides exhibit asymmetrical piercing and paired shed dormers. Ground floor openings have segmental arches. The original window configuration was a two-over-two scheme. A balcony and porte cochere have been extended from the main façade. A small gable roofed portico shelters the entrance of the rear elevation.
The boundaries of the nomination encompass almost the same acreage as was purchased by the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company in 1910 for their Elsinore factory. Its addition to the two standing structures, the office/boardinghouse and sugar warehouse, the foundations of the main factory, the boiler and machine shop, the beet sheds and, the numerous pulp silo storage pits are included.
mentioned in Ogden’s Central Bench Historic District: A good percentage of the homes that were built pre-1887 in the neighborhood have been razed, with most demolished by the end of the 1920s to make room for more modern houses. Also, during the early days of the Central Bench, most families initially settled on large parcels of land and built smaller adobe and wood frame houses, usually with a stable and/or a barn in the rear of the property. As many of these Ogden pioneering families grew in size by the turn of the century, so would the need to increase the size of the home. So, many demolished their original dwelling and constructed a new home on the site or kept the old dwelling for a while and built new structures on their surrounding property, sometimes building homes for their children. William G. Biddle and family, of 2447 Monroe Boulevard, is a good example of this process.
also, The Biddles, Mormon pioneers, trekked to Utah in the early 1860s and by 1870 had settled on an acre of land in Ogden, located on the 2400 block of Monroe Boulevard (Green Street). They built a small rectangular shaped wood frame home on the north end of the lot. Two decades later the Biddies demolished this home and built a more modern Victorian Queen Anne style dwelling at 2447 Monroe on the south half of the lot; after demolishing the old home and building the new, the Biddies then sold the north half of their lot. Many other residents would simply build their home in the rear of the lot and years down the road build a modern home closer to the street front.
In the realm of airplane hangar construction and design, the Garfield County Airport Hangar is truly an oddity. The 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 built in the style they knew with what they had. The soundness of this building bears witness to the excellence of craftsmanship and ingenuity of design.
The hangar is a tribute to the early days of air travel in the United States. In the mid-1930’s remote places such as Garfield County began to realize the benefits that could be derived from air services. Simultaneously, the U.S. Government realized that a network of airport facilities was a necessity. Thus, the W.P.A. and Garfield County worked together to further both local and national concerns.
The airport reflects an attempt to encourage tourism by local officials and private individuals to Bryce Canyon which was declared a National Park in 1928. Xt also reflects the hope that air mail service could reach one of the most remote parts of the country. Finally the airport has served as a recreational, center for residents of Garfield County. Located roughly midway between Panguitch and Escalante, the airport hangar has been used for dances, ‘celebrations and other county activities since 1938. Although the structure is only 40 years old, it is recognized as an important local historical resource. .The hangar is undoubtedly one of only a few surviving hangars constructed of log.
Bryce Canyon Airport is located at 450 Airport Road in Bryce Canyon City, Utah and added to the National Register of Historic Places (#78002660) on October 19, 1978.
The Garfield County Airport began as a County W.P.A. project in 1936. Since the W.P.A. only provided partial funding, the county called for local men to donate their labor towards completion of the structure. Land for the airport was acquired from Ruby Syrett, J. Austin Cope, and others. Design of the structure and construction supervision was handled by the three county commissioners, Sam Pollock, Jennings Alien, and Walter Daly.
The logs used in construction of the hangar were cut as part of the C.C.C. project to eradicate the black beetle in Southern Utah. Infested trees were cut and sawed at the East Fork Sevier River sawmill by Garfield County men. They hauled the logs by teams of horses to the construction site.
A Garfield County News article of September 25, 1936 reported: “The project is being sponsored by Garfield County as a W.P.A. project and will cost about $38,669.00. About 320 acres of land has been set aside for the airport, which will consist of an 80-foot by 80-foot hangar of log construction with metal roof and concrete floor and warming-up apron.
Two runways, 5,000 feet long and 500 feet wide will be built. There will also be a waiting room with all the modern conveniences.”
The project was enthusiastically pursued especially after reports that Western Air Express would make the airport a regular stop between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. The importance of the airport to tourism was recognized by Mormon church leader, George Albert Smith in a letter to County Commissioner, Walter B. Daley:
“I notice an article in one of the daily papers referring to your attitude toward the establishment of an airport in your section of the country.
Being airminded and believing that an airport near Bryce Canyon would be of great advantage to your people in that it would advertise the scenery of your section of the world and induce many people, sane of whom are welcome to investigate down there. I feel that it would be an excellent investment if it doesn’t cost too much.” (Garfield County News, February 28, 1936, p.1)
Despite some delays because of a lack of workers and administrative technicalities, the project progressed and by the spring of 1938, was sufficiently complete to schedule the first landing during Air Mail Week. On May 12, 1938 the Garfield County News announced that the following Thursday, May 19th, T. E. Garn, Director of Aeronautics for the State of Utah would make a 15 minute stop at the airport to pick up all the air mail sent that day. The flight was to be a part of the Air Mail Week observance and as an experiment to determine the need for an air mail route through the section. Local residents were encouraged to “…send at least one letter to some friend or relative., .as the amount of mail sent may have a great amount of effect on the determining of whether a regular route will be established through this section…” (Ibid, May 12, 1938, p.1)
An elaborate reception was planned for the arrival of the plane piloted by T.E. Garn. The Garfield County News for May 19th reported:
“It is expected that more than three hundred letters will be carried from Panguitch post office by the pick up airplane that will stop at Bryce Canyon Airport today, Thursday. A special program has been arranged and the fifteen minutes that the plane will rest on the new filed will be taken up” in musical numbers and talks. Residents from every part of the county are expected to be in attendance.
Two o’clock has been set as the time for the plane to land and it will rest on the field for a quarter of an hour. As soon as the plane comes in sight, the band will begin playing and will furnish at least one selection as the plane lands. L.C. Sargent will call the group to order and Postmaster Rudolph Church and Civic Clubs.
President James M. Sargent, will give short talks and a quartette from Tropic will furnish a number. When the plane is ready to take off, the band will again play a selection.
County High School Day has been arranged so that the students from the three high schools in the county will be at the airport for the landing and take-off of the plane and it has been reported that throngs of delegates from every town in the county will be on hand. A great amount of interest is being taken in the event and those not at the airport on that day will miss a chance to mingle in one of the largest gatherings ever held in the county.”
Despite the elaborate plans, the arrival was postponed for two days because of bad weather.
The reception, welcoming pilot T.E. Gam was insignificant compared with the three day celebration staged to dedicate the airport.
“Plans have been completed for one of the biggest celebrations ever to be held in this section, when the Bryce Canyon airport and hangar will be officially dedicated, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of next week, July 5,6, and 7. The celebration will be in connection with the big wild west show and rodeo to be held at the “Y” service station and will be sponsored by the Gar field County Commission.
Official dedication will take place Wednesday, July 6, when county commissioners, civic leaders and others will take part on the dedicatory program. It is the plan to have every town in the county represented and short speeches, a dedicatory prayer and musical numbers will be presented.
Arrangements are being made to have at least three airplanes on the grounds and performing over the field. Passengers will be taken for rides over the beautiful Bryce Canyon and stunt flyers will “cut didos”, take dives and exhibit other stunts in the clear, mountain sky. Some of the best pilots in the state are expected to be on hand and take part in each day’s program.
Dode Burch and Sons will present a wild west show each day and promise something real in their line. It is reported that they will have a contingent of Navajo Indians directly from the reservation to take part in the chicken pull, squaw races and other Indian contests. Fancy roping, bronco riding and horse races will be staged by some of the best performers to be found in the southwest and each day’s events will be a variation from the preceding day.
Each evening a dance will be given in the spacious hangar, where revelers will have a choice of dancing either indoors on the spacious hangar floor, or in the open air on the huge apron that extends in front. Special music is being obtained for the dancers which will be under the management of the Panguitch Lions Club and will be on the largest floor in all of southern Utah. A special sound system will be installed for the occasion so dancers will have no trouble in hearing the music and thousands are expected to gather each evening for the fun.” (Ibid, June 30,1938,p.1)
Since 1938, the airport has served for other celebrations and exemplifies the ability of a people to use a resource of widely divergent purposes.
The airport has been in continuous operation since it was built as an emergency landing facility and for the promotion of tourism. On January 2, 1946, the airport was commissioned by the P.A.A. A series of fixed base operators have leased the facility from the county. Paul and Donna Cox became the most recent operators in August 1977. Their “Aero-Copters Scenic Flights” provides plane and helicopter tours in the Bryce Canyon vicinity.
