09 Thursday Oct 2025
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Welcome to Lode – Adventures of Power Filming Location
This is the location for multiple scenes on the movie showing the entrance to the fictional town of Lode, New Mexico from the movie Adventures of Power (2008).
It was filmed in Helper, Utah.
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08 Sunday Dec 2024
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Price Main Street Historic District is a historic district covering Main Street from 100 West to approximately 215 East.
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The text below is from the nomination form (#08000383) to the National Historic Register.
The City of Price is the county seat of Carbon County in east-central Utah, and is approximately 120 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. The Price Main Street Historic District, with a period of significance dating from 1910 to 1960, contains the greatest concentration of commercial buildings in the city and is the de facto commercial center for both Carbon and Emery counties. In addition, the City of Price is a key regional transportation hub, with the Denver & Rio Grande Western (now merged with the Union Pacific Railroad), US Highway 6 and State Highway 10 all converging in town. Due to its geographic location and influx of immigrants, early development in Price did not follow the pattern established by the early LDS (Mormon) colonies, principally along the Wasatch Front. Consequently, Price is unique in Utah for its early association with the railroad and coal industries and for its sectarian history.
The town of Price did not develop as most early Utah communities had; its growth was not due to an influx of Mormon settlers but was largely the result of industrial development in the region, specifically from the coal and railroad industries. The arrival of European immigrants, especially from Greece and Italy, accounted for much of the community’s early population growth. The earliest commercial district in Price, representing the early period of settlement and growth, from 1877 to 1910, was centered on the railroad yards at the west end of town. The Main Street Historic District began to develop as businesses moved away from the railroad district and concentrated to the east along Main Street, from 200 West to 100 East. These later businesses were often owned or managed by immigrant settlers, and to the present day many of the Main Street buildings and businesses bear the names of their immigrant founders, such as Silvagni, Oliveto, and Georgides.
The Price Main Street Historic District is a concentration of historic buildings on Main Street that are representative of the commercial prosperity and growth that characterized the town of Price through the first half of the 20th century. The district is bounded by 100 West and 200 East, and also includes the United Methodist Church at the northeast corner of Main Street and 200 East. The Price Municipal Building and the Carbon County Courthouse, together with the United Methodist Church , define the eastern end of an otherwise largely commercial district. West of 100 West the early commercial buildings have either been demolished or no longer retain their integrity; East of 200 East the concentration of commercial buildings is far less than the concentration within the district boundaries and includes few buildings from the historic period. The streets immediately north and south of Main Street never experienced the kind of commercial growth that sets apart Main Street. The district boundaries, therefore, include the two blocks with the largest concentration of extant historic commercial buildings in Price, together with the two most substantial public buildings, and an historic church.
Period of Significance 1910-1960
No buildings from the earliest period of development remain on Main Street (1877-1909). Some of these early buildings were destroyed by fire; others were demolished to make way for the structures that we see today. The Period of Significance ( 1910-1960) began with rapid growth and development on Main Street. Although it was destroyed by fire in 1965, the Savoy Hotel, constructed in 1910 at the southwest corner of 100 West and Main Street was representative of this rapid growth. The years from 1910 to about 1915 also saw the construction of many other extant buildings within the district (historic names are given if known):
These 20 buildings account for nearly one-half of the buildings within the district that date from the period of significance.
Based on the Utah SHPO criteria, of the 46 buildings within the district ~ the Price Main Street Historic District contains 28 contributing resources ( 60 percent) and 18 noncontributing resources ( 40 percent). Of the contributing resources, three are individually listed in the National Register. These are:
individual building s within the district consist mainly of a variety of commercial structures, from boarding houses and hotels with ground-floor business or retail space to single-story commercial blocks. The district includes three non-commercial buildings: the United Methodist Church , Carbon County Courthouse , and Price Municipal Building (City Hall), all three of which are significant, contributing resources within the district.
As exterior “windshield” visual survey results only, RLS criteria address the age and historic integrity of the Main Street façade, and do not address other criteria such as structural condition or integrity of historic interiors. A number of resources that date from the period of significance have been remodeled, such as the Silvagni Building , con structed about 1915. The existing aluminum “skin” was applied c. 1960 and has gained significance in its own right. Similarly, exterior alterations such as those on the Elk Theater (Crown Theater) date from the period of significance such that these buildings represent very different styles and dates of construction, yet still retain integrity as examples of the perpetual adaptation of commercial buildings with regard to use and style. The district includes only one out-of-period intrusions, the building at 6 W. Main.
Survey results indicate a variety of styles and periods of construction, from late 19th century varieties to mid- 20th century styles. A handful of earlier buildings show elements of late Victorian eclectic styles, with decorative brickwork , decorative trim and deep, classically adorned cornices. The most common style in the district is also eclectic: early 20th century commercial style with varying degrees of decorative elements and vernacular interpretations of popular styles of the day. These buildings may include Prairie Style influences, Arts and Crafts and/or Art Nouveau influences, or other fanciful or eclectic details However, only where a given style is dominant has the building been indicated as having a given style. The relevant periods , approximate dates of construction and architectural styles include those shown below, have the number of contributing resource s within the district representative of each period /date/style (approximate dates are indicative of the buildings within the district and not necessarily representative of the style itself). A few representative buildings of each style are shown below. Those that are both stylistically significant and retain their historic character are indicated with an asterisk(*):
Victorian Period, Beaux Arts Style:
Victorian Period, Eclectic/Commercial Style:
Revival Period, English Tudor Style:
Revival Period, Italian Renaissance Style:
Revival Period, Spanish Colonial Revival Style:
20th Century Period, Commercial/Eclectic Style:
Modern Period, Art Deco Style:
Modern Period, WPA Moderne Style:
Post WWII Period, Other/undifined Style:
Late 20th Century Period, Other/undifined Style:
As indicated above, the Price Main Street Historic District also includes a number of altered, non-contributing resources (17) and one out-of-period building (1).
The estimated date of construction of the earliest building from the period of significance, at 5 East Main Street, is 1910. The earliest buildings with actual documented dates of construction include the Paternoster Building, 5 West Main (1912), Eko Theater, 34 West Main (1912), and the Parker & Weeter Block, 85 West Main (1913).
While 1910 is an estimate for the building at 5 East Main, this year is nonetheless chosen as the beginning date for the period of significance. Additionally, in December, 1910, a successful election was held to upgrade Price’s standing to a third class city. Thus, 1910 was a symbolic end to the period of early settlement and growth that began in 1877 and also heralded the establishment of Price as the comn1ercial center of a larger region.
Narrative Statement of Significance
The Price Main Street Historic District is locally significant under criterion A, and ”is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to broad patterns of our history.” The historic resources within the Price Main Street Historic District represent a period of local economic growth and prosperity that paralleled the expansion of the region’s coal and railroad industries. As described below, under criterion A, the development of Utah’s coal and railroad industries and their relationship to the growth of the city of Price are a significant regional and national historical development of which Price’s Main Street commercial district is an integral part.
The District is also architecturally significant under criterion C. Of the forty six (46) buildings within the district boundaries, twenty eighty (28), or 60 percent, are contributing. At least a dozen of the extant buildings are important examples of distinct architectural periods and styles, including the three that are already listed in the National Register: Price Municipal Building/Price City Hall, listing number 78002652 (2/17/1978); Star Theatre, listing number 82004]] 6 (8/9/1982); Parker & Weeter Block/Mahleres-Siampenos Building, listing number 82004115 (3/9/1982). In addition, under criterion C, the physical development of Price’s Main Street and the types and styles of individual buildings within the district embody the spirit of growth and prosperity that were largely a consequence of the region’s growth and industrial development.
The period from 1910 to 1960 is chosen as the period of significance. Not only is 1910 the estimated date of the earliest building in the district, it was also the date of the establishment of Price as a third class city that commenced a couple of decades of rapid growth, as represented by the commercial buildings on Main Street. This period also saw relatively consistent prosperity for Price, even as other communities in the region suffered through economic downturns such as the Great Depression. Not until the decline of the coal mining industry and railroad traffic in the early 1960s did Price experience any significant corresponding economic decline. This period ended with the construction of the most significant “modern” building within the district, the Carbon County Courthouse, constructed 1958-60.
The commercial sector of Main Street included within the historic district boundaries is the best representation of the growth, both commercially and architecturally, of Price during the early to mid twentieth century. The character and setting of the district retain a high degree of integrity and contribute to the history of Price.
Price Early Settlement and Growth: 1877-1910
The first permanent Anglo settlers in the Great Basin region of the Intermountain West were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS, or Mormons), who first arrived in the valley of the Great Salt Lake in July of 1847. The early leaders and members of the church considered this region their “Zion” and began organized colonization efforts immediately after their arrival. The first settlements were founded along the north-south corridor of the Wasatch Front, but soon communities were established in regions in the central and southern areas of the territory, as well.
As a largely agrarian culture, the LDS settlers preferred areas that were well-watered and advantageous for raising food crops and livestock. The Wasatch Front and central valleys of the territory, such as the Sanpete and Sevier valleys, met these criteria, and early settlements were established in these fertile areas. “Missions” or settlements were also established in less favorable environments, such as the desert southwest comer of the territory and the Uinta Basin to the east, but not until the 1870’s did Mormon pioneers begin settling eastern Utah in relatively large numbers. By the time of the death of the LDS prophet and colonizer Brigham Young, in 1877, the more fertile parts of the territory had been colonized, and the systematic pattern of settlement established by Brigham Young had largely run its course.
For territory residents or later immigrants seeking land or less-crowded conditions than the earlier settlements afforded, opportunities existed mainly in the less-favored regions, and thus it was that some of these adventurous individuals settled in the Price River Valley, beginning in 1877. In contrast to the well-planned grid-like town planning of the earlier Mormon communities, early Price-area residents settled along the Price River, where water could be readily obtained for crops. Within only two years, however, the completion of the first railroad in Carbon County altered the character of the region, and instead of an isolated farming community, Price quickly became a planned community with regular streets, and rapidly rose to also become the dominant commercial center in the area.
The discovery of coal in the mountains north, east and west of Price prompted the construction of the first railroads in the region. The Utah and Pleasant Valley Railroad, organized in 1875 and completed in 1879, connected Utah Valley with Pleasant Valley, northwest of Price. In 1881, the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad proposed to construct a line through the area to connect Denver with Salt Lake and Ogden. Consequently, the D&RGW purchased the Utah and Pleasant Valley Railroad, and in May, 1883 arrived in Price with much fanfare. The railroad made the extraction and transportation of coal from the region commercially viable, and Castle Valley Junction, as Price was then known, experienced its first economic boom as an important regional transportation hub. The railroad and coal-mining industries significantly shaped the development of Price as a community, from the early settlement years into the latter half of the 20th century.
With the coal mines and railroad came immigrants from many countries, particularly Italy and Greece. While most lived and worked in the mining towns, or “coal camps,” some became merchants and businessmen and established themselves in Price. Early immigrants also included a number of French, who were mainly sheepherders and wool growers. The business district was the center of activity for railroad workers, coal miners, and other transient inhabitants, most of whom were not Mormons, while the more permanent residents tended to be Morn1on fanners and ranchers. However, the two groups learned very early to tolerate one another, and cooperation became a hallmark of Mormon and non-Mormon relations in Price.
Another early influence in the commercial development of Price was the freighting, or “forwarding” business, as Price residents called it. In 1886 a road through Nine Mile Canyon east of Price was completed, connecting the town to Fort Duchesne, about 60 miles to the northeast, and the lucrative hauling of freight between Price and the Fort began. Prior to 1886 only four general merchandising businesses were known in Price, while by 1888 town businesses included two contractors, four mercantile or general merchandising establishments, a blacksmith, a hotel, two saloons, a butcher, a baker and a restaurant.
Early commercial activities in Price in essence created two distinct communities. The industrial and business district was centered on the railroad yards and depot at the west end of town and also included hotels and saloons, while four blocks to the east were the church, school and town government buildings. As commercial and business activity increased, business interests began to expand west from the railroad district to the east along Main Street, toward the civic and religious center near 200 East. Sanborn insurance maps clearly show this pattern of growth. In 1908 commercial interests were clustered on either side of the railroad tracks and the densest grouping of buildings occurred on Main Street between 100 and 200 West. By 1924 wall-to-wall commercial buildings had been extended along Main Street almost as far as 100 East.
Price residents organized in 1892 to create a town government. By then, the population of Price had grown to 245, with businesses that included an attorney, a bank, two blacksmiths, a butcher, three hotels, two saloons, a livery and stable, four mercantile businesses, and a publisher.
Price was clearly becoming the dominant commercial center in the region, and shortly after the organization of the town, residents tried to have the Emery County seat moved from Castle Dale to Price. Although this attempt failed, the effort helped persuade residents that they should separate themselves from Emery County. With a more diverse population and a very different economy in the northern po11ion of the county, the proposal seemed to make sense, although residents in some communities, sucl1 as Huntington, opposed the plan. Subsequently, petitions were circulated among the communities in the northern part of Emery County to convince the territorial legislature to create a new county. In spite of some opposition, the petition was finally delivered to the legislature, which enacted a bill on February 17, 1894 to create the new county. Territorial Governor Caleb B. West signed the bill into law on March 8, and Carbon County officially came into being, with Price as the new county seat.
As noted above, early business establishments were largely clustered around the railroad depot and yards. In 1892 these included the Mathis Hotel, the Oasis Saloon, the Emery County Mercantile Institution, Price Trading Company and tl1e D.J. Williams General Merchandise. Early Main Street businesses were also located near the railroad, mostly between 100 West and 200 West. By 1908 these included a saloon, office, grocer, printer, cobbler, barber, and the Price Cooperative Mercantile Institution on the north side of the street, and a saloon, general store, drugstore, restaurant. barber and billiards on the south side. The Price Cooperative Mercantile Institution had relocated to Main Street, in 1906, from a building nearer to the railroad. Its relocation was indicative of the growing tendency for businesses during this period to locate on Main Street rather than in the railroad district. The J C. Weeter Lumber Company, located on the opposite corner of 100 West and Main Street, a bank across the street from it to the north and the Price Cooperative Mercantile Institution anchored what was then the east end of the Main Street business district. Three blocks away, at the northwest corner of 200 East and Main Street was the City Hall.
The growing importance of the community and the substantial business and retail activity “downtown” led to improvements in the construction and maintenance of streets, sidewalks, utilities and other community services. Street were at first graded, and then graveled to accommodate horses, wagons, and a gr wing number of automobiles. The 1912-1913 Polk Business Directory predicted that Price would soon have paved streets. By October, 1910, the town had even constructed its own electric power plant, and had extended electric service to both businesses and residences, a major undertaking for a town of only 1,000 residents.
The progressive spirit demonstrated by the settlers and early residents of Price was firmly established in the developing community, and its residents determined to become a third class city. (Third class cities could assess more taxes and could also provide more services.) An election was held in December, 1910, and the measure to change Price’s status easily passed. Price’s residents celebrated its new standing on March 24, 1911.
Main Street Period of Significance: 1910-1960
ln the early years of the period of significance, building construction, especially along Main Street, continued to increase. Although no longer existing, 1910 saw the construction of the Price Commercial and Savings Bank and the First National Bank, both on the north side of Main Street near 100 West. The following year, the Miles Building was completed, and one of the early merchants near the railroad, Louis Lowenstein, relocated to a new business building and hotel, the Savoy, at the southwest comer of 100 West and Main Street. These, too, have since been demolished. Other important Main Street businesses established during this period of growth included the Eastern Utah Telephone Company. Established in 1905, the telephone company constructed its new building in about 1912. On the southeast comer of Carbon Avenue and Main Street, Pietro Silvagni constructed a substantial office building, in 1913. Across the street to the west, the Paternoster Building, consisting of a drugstore and hotel, was constructed, about 1916. All three of these early buildings still exist as contributing resources within the district. Besides the new banks, stores, hotels and office buildings, new businesses also included amusement and entertainment establishments. such as the Eko Theater, at 32 West Main Street, built in 1912 and still standing.
Main Street expansion was not limited to business growth, alone. At the east end of Main Street, near the city hall, the LDS Church built a new tabernacle at 100 East and Main Street; the Methodist Church constructed a new church building across the street east of City Hall; and, a new County Courthouse was built, across the street to the south of the tabernacle. All of this construction had been completed by 1914. 1914 also saw the establishment of a chamber of commerce, organized by about 40 businessmen. Membership applications soon reached nearly one hundred.
The first automobile took to the highway in the United States in 1893. Within just twenty years, even in remote Utah there was a growing need for improved roads to handle automobile traffic. In 1913 the Utah legislature authorized the construction of the Midland Trail, a new highway intended to extend west from the Colorado state line through Cisco and Green River, thence north through Price, Colton, Spanish Fork and Salt Lake City, and finally extend to Brigham City and around the north end of the Great Salt Lake to Nevada. This road was completed through Price the following year. As the railroad had a generation earlier, this automobile link to the north and other regional communities to the south and west enhanced Price’s significance and economic control in the area.
The First World War seems to have barely slowed the consistent and continued growth of Price and its Main Street business district . The 1918-1919 Polk Directory reported a population of 2,000, and noted Price’s importance as “the center of a large livestock, coal mining, agricultural and fruit raising section.” The Directory also provides a glimpse at the cultural diversity for which Price had become known. Surnames in the directory include “foreign-sounding” names (at least to the more established Mormon and Protestant settlers with northeastern U.S., British, and Scandinavian ancestry) such as Bonacci, Broeker, Dragates, Grosso, Klapaki, Kopf, Nakagawa, Pappas, Viglia, Yukawa, and numerous others. Many of these immigrants bad become managers of local businesses or business owners themselves.
By the mid 1920s, Price’s Main Street could boast additional banks and numerous small business buildings. 1924 Sanborn maps show that commercial buildings bad been completed along Main Street to 100 East, with few empty lots in between. The Polk Directory of the same year complemented Price’s business community: “Because Price is the commercial center for a vast territory the business section would do credit to a town of more than twice its size in population.” The Directory also noted that Price had ‘”three good banks… sixteen hotels and a number of practically all kinds of retail business firms.” Buildings of note completed during this time include the Redd Building, at 21 West Main, which John Redd completed in 1921 then leased to the J.C. Penney Company for its first location in Price, and the national-register-listed Star Theatre, built by Angelo, Peter and George Georgides in 1923, which was a popular venue for vaudeville, music, lectures and motion pictures.
The economic collapse of the late 1920s and the Great Depression both had a great impact on Carbon County and Price. As the economic center of the region, Price business, perhaps suffered less, but all were affected. Workers who did not lose their jobs often had their wages and/or hours reduced, anyway, and the effect rippled through the business community. For Price businesses, the result was often a merger of like companies. Businesses that survived this way included the Redd Motor Company, which acquired the Chevrolet Motor Agency in 1928, and the two local newspapers, the Sun and News Advocate, which together became the Sun Advocate, in 1932. In 1932 the Carbon Bank of Price and Emery Bank of Castle Dale also merged, and the bank in Price took over all business of the two for both Emery and Carbon counties. (None of these buildings still exists.)
Even through the Depression, some Price businesses prospered, largely due to its economic dominance of the region. Construction of some private and public projects also helped alleviate the effects of the Depression on the local economy. The most significant of these projects was the replacement of the aging city hall building at the northeast corner of 200 East and Main Street with a new facility, the Price Municipal Building (Price City Hall–individually listed in the National Register). The Work Projects Administration (WPA) funded about one half of the projected cost of $200,000. In November of 1938 the city’s offices moved into the new building and the mayor and city council held their first meeting there. The project also included a new auditorium attached to City Hall, which was completed in February, 1939, and a new gymnasium, finished some time later.
World War II brought new prosperity to Price. Because of the increased need for coal to help fuel the war effort, output at the region’s mines increased, and of course, so did railroad traffic. Improvements in local roads and regional highways contributed to a corresponding increase in automobile traffic, which also brought new business to Price. In 1941 the increased automobile traffic led to the installation or a new semaphore at Carbon Avenue and Main Street, with caution lights at a number of lesser intersections.
Perhaps the most significant change during the war and immediately afterward was the construction of new businesses on the blocks west of the tabernacle and county courthouse as the few remaining empty lots were filled in. The largest of these was a new J.C. Penney store, at 78 East Main Street, Opened in 1947. Some newer buildings replaced older structures, such as the new First National Bank at100 West and Main Street, also completed after the war.
The years after World War II through the end of the historic period also saw the period of greatest economic prosperity for Price. The post-war economic expansion benefited Price, and Main Street thrived. The eastward expansion of the Main Street business district that began during the community’s early years continued, with some businesses also being constructed east of the historic district. Prosperous miners in the area, among others, continued to bring their business to Price, and its importance as the dominant regional commercial/retail/business center was reinforced.
In addition to some new construction, many Main Street businesses changed hands or were otherwise remodeled during this prosperous era. As Ronald Watt recounts:
“From 1948 to 1965 the Price commercial district continued to expand eastward along Main Street. The First National Bank reconstructed its building on the corner of Main and First West. The Eastern Utah Electric Company remodeled its store, forcing Ross Boyack, who had a small shop within it, to move his men’s clothing store to another location. He purchased a lot on Main Street between Carbon Avenue and First East and built a new store that would serve Price for almost half a century. In 1950 the Mahleres and Siampenos block [national-register-listed Parker & Weeter Block] and the Larcher building (which included Houston Furniture, the Price Hotel, and the Walnut Bar) were also remodeled. The old Utah Theater building was thoroughly remodeled both inside and out with new lighting, ventilation, and heating systems. It reopened as the Crown Theater. Mode-O-Day opened a women’s apparel shop on Main Street, and in November 1954 a Brigham City man, Max A. Creer, held a grand opening for Sonoma’s, another women’s clothing store. The J.C. Penney store also remodeled, adding a basement level.” [Of the building cited, the Eastern Utah Electric Cmpany, Mahleres and Siarnpenos Block, Crown Theater and J.C. Penney’s are all extant, contributing resources in the Price Main Street Historic District.]
Besides J.C. Penney’s, other national chains found homes in Price. Both Safeway and Woolworth opened stores in Price, with Woolworth’s opening in 1958 at 100 East and Main Street, and Safeway on Carbon Avenue, one block north of the historic district.
As if to mark the end of the historic period, in 1958 the original county courthouse, completed in 1912, was demolished to make way for a new county complex. Its replacement had been contemplated since the end of the war, but not until 1958 did construction begin on a new building on the site of the original. The new building was completed in 1960, retains its character as a contributing resource, and marks the end of the period of significance for the historic district.
Economic Decline and Recovery: 1961 – Present
In the early 1960s, the fortunes of Price, its residents, and its Main Street district began to decline with the closure of many of the region’s mines. The economic engine that had largely driven Price’s prosperity for 80 years slowed and Main Street businesses suffered. At first, mine closures related more to the accessibility of the coal and/or the economic viability of the mining operations, but this was also combined with a general recession. With the loss of jobs, the population of Price declined by about 4,000 persons. The low point for the community occurred during the middle of the decade, punctuated by the unrelated destruction of the Savoy Hotel, by fire in 1965. During this time, the opening of small industries in Price took up some of the slack so that the declining prosperity was not a death-blow for Main Street.
Concerted efforts by Price’s political and business leaders during the latter half of the 1960s and later were rewarded with additional industries and businesses locating in Price. The energy crisis of the early 1970s also brought resurgence in the coal industry and an increase in mining jobs. However, a trend also began to construct new buildings away from Main Street, as it .vas considered cheaper to build new than to rehabilitate Main Street’s older structures. A mini boom during the 1970s saw the construction of shopping centers and businesses both east and west of town. By 1980 the perception was clear: Main Street was dying and “redevelopment” would be needed to save it from certain death. In the early 1980s the City of Price organized a redevelopment agency to cover an area that included the historic district. A number of Main Street businesses <wailed themselves of the incentives offered by the redevelopment agency to renovate.
Beginning in the 1980s and continuing today, another trend to affect Main Street merchants was the construction of “big box” businesses, mostly east of town. These included a K-Mart, a Smith’s grocery center, and a Wal-Mart “Super Store.” On Main Street, specialty stores and boutiques, in particular, have seemed to successfully survive this new challenge, but even J. C. Penney’s on Main Street continues to serve the community, in spite of the competition.
Today, Price continues in its place as the largest and most important community in both Carbon and Emery Counties. In the years since the period of significance it has weathered considerable economic downturns, but its significance in the region’s history, both past and future, is assured. The Main Street Historic District exemplifies the spirit of cooperation, independence and progress that have characterized the community since its founding.
13 Wednesday Mar 2024
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Desolation Canyon
Located along the Green River in eastern Carbon County and northeastern Emery County between Ouray and Green River, Desolation Canyon was added to the National Historic Register (#68000057) November 24, 1968.
05 Tuesday Mar 2024
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25 Saturday Nov 2023
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Carbon County, Ghost Signs, Helper, Murals, Neon Signs, utah, Vintage Signs
07 Tuesday Nov 2023
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14 Monday Aug 2023
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The Price Riverwalk Solar System Trail
One of the X-Trails Solar System Trails, this one in Helper, Utah.
The River Parkway Trail in Helper, going from the Mining Equipment Display at Poplar Street along the river up to near where North Main Street / Martin Road meet Highway 191 just north of the labyrinth has plaques/markers spaced proportionally to match the ratio of the planet’s distance from the sun.
Experience the breath-taking scale of our Solar System on this 1 mi trail representing the 3.7 billion miles from the Sun to the orbit of Pluto. On this 1:3.7 billion scale a step on the trail is equivalent to 1.4 million miles in space. Get to know the planets, each a unique outpost on their epic orbit of the Sun. See the Earth from a new perspective, as a precious blue dot in the dark.
This solar trail has been sponsored by Helper City, the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation, AARP and numerous citizens who treasure our dark skies and the opportunity to marvel at the stars and planets.
The Sun marker is located at Poplar Street.
The Mercury marker is only a few feet farther north.
The Venus marker is only a few feet farther north.
The Earth / Moon marker is only a few feet farther north.
The Mars marker is a little farther north, just beyond the park.
The Jupiter marker is located just north of Ivy Street.
The Saturn marker is located on the trail behind about 80 S 100 W.
The Uranus marker is…
The Neptune marker is located just north of where Main Street crosses under Highway 191.
The Pluto marker is located at the Carbon Fuel Company #2 Mine historic marker.
16 Sunday Jul 2023
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Sunnyside, Utah in Carbon County
01 Saturday Apr 2023
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Price Municipal Building
The Municipal Building was constructed 1938-1939. The construction was funded with $85,000 provided by the city and a $90,000 federal grant from the Works Progress Association. The building is significant as one of the largest buildings constructed in Utah under the WPA Program and for the mural depicting the history of early Carbon County painted on the four walls of the foyer as part of the Federal Arts Project of the WPA by the Price-born artist, Lynn Fausett.
185 East Main Street in Price, Utah.
From the National Register’s nomination form:
The Price Municipal Building is a two-story flat-roofed structure of irregular shape (roughly rectangular) constructed of concrete and light-colored brick. The building houses offices for Price City, which are located on both the first and second floors, an auditorium, handball court and gymnasium, which has been converted into a museum. Located in the northeast corner of the building is a garage which originally served as a fire station. Constructed with the use of WPA funds during the late 1930s, the building is architecturally similar to other municipal buildings constructed during this time period. There are two main entrances to the building, one on the north along Main Street which enters the main office area and the second on the west side of 200 East, which enters the foyer and provides access to the theater and gymnasium. The foyer is the location of the Lynn Fausett mural depicting the history of the area.
The Price Mural
Following an absence from Utah of sixteen years, Lynn Fausett returned to his home town of Price in 1938. Discouraged by his recent divorce and the bleak prospects for success as an artist in his native state, the Price mural was a turning point in his career. The mural depicts events and themes significant in the history of Carbon County. The mural is painted on all four sides of the building’s foyer. The four foot high mural occupied some 200 feet of wall space. Regarding the mural Donald Hague writes: , “The principal figures within the mural are approximately one half size. There are some 82 figures throughout the painting discounting the many smaller figures which appear in deep perspective in the background. The artist worked from photographs, tintypes, and personal recollection in recreating the characters portrayed. The mural, in affect, offered Lynn the opportunity to totally submerge himself in a subject with which he had deep personal ties. It allowed him, he said, to maintain his sanity during the stress of divorce, and separation from his children, and in another sense permitted him to relive his childhood through the mural.”
James L. Hazeltin, in his book One Hundred Years of Utah Painting, observes, “It is surprising to learn that after seeing reproductions of the Price mural, it is only 4 feet: high, for it is difficult to obtain monumentality in a narrow strip encompassing a low-ceilinged room. Fausett has done it, and maintained the two-dimensionality of the wall, with an unusual blend of Rubenesque form and Piero della Francescan mood and color.”
The first scene of the mural, located on the west wall, depicts Abram Powell and Caleb Rhodes who entered the area as trappers in 1877. The cabin constructed by Abram Powell on the Price River in 1877 is shown as well as the dugout built by Caleb Rhodes in the area of present-day Carbonville. The two men remained on the Price River until early 1878 when they returned to their homes in Salem. In December of 1878 Abram Powell was killed by a bear on Mt. Nebo and his brother, John Powell, took up the Abram Powell homestead in 1879. The return of Caleb Rhodes and John Powell with their families in 1879 marked the beginning of a permanent settlement in the area. This event is depicted by a newly constructed dugout with an adjacent covered wagon and man plowing in the background.
The second scene depicts the construction of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad through the area in 1882-1883. The painting shows both Chinese and European workers laying rails with the familiar cliffs and mountains in the background. The completion of the railroad between Salt Lake City and Denver was not only of importance to the entire state, as it served to end the monopoly of the transportation system by the Union Pacific Railroad, but of great local importance as it brought in a large number of new settlers, men to freight from the Price depot to the more isolated parts of eastern and southeastern Utah, and miners to dig for coal in the newly opened mines at Castle Gate and Sunnyside.
The third scene shows the store and post office built by Fred Grames in 1883. Grames is shown with W. H. Branch surveying the Price Canal in 1884. Their instrument was a level tripod with two lamp chimneys filled with water. Sighting through the lamps the two men laid out and surveyed a course which is still followed by the canal. To the right of the two men is shown the original log meetinghouse. Constructed in 1884, it served as church, town hall, and school.
The fourth scene is of a group of freighters at their campgrounds located near the railyards. After completion of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad in 1883 Price became the rail head for shipping goods into the vast area to the north and east known as the Unita Basin. Freighters carried supplies to the Uintah-Ouray Indian Reservation and Fort Duchesne. After the discovery of gilsonite the wagons hauled gilsonite from the Uinta Basin to Price where it was shipped by rail. Men included in the scene are A. J. Lee, manager of the Gilsonite Company; Chuck Fausett, a freighter and uncle of the artist Lynn Fausett; Bert McMullin, a freighter and another uncle of Lynn Fausett; Matt Warner, a former companion of Butch Cassidy and later marshall of Price; Henry Kelsey, another freighter; Sam Gilson, the developer of the gilsonite industry is shown in his familiar Prince Albert coat; Oz Barlow, another freighter is also pictured.
The fifth scene, located on the north wall, is a view of the Price East Main Street in 1892. The dominent building in the scene is the Price Trading Company store where both of the artist’s parents worked. Lynn Fausett’s mother, Josephine Bryner Fausett, is pictured in the doorway of the store wearing a white apron.
The sixth scene is a group of seven people, A. W. Horsley, C. H. Taylor, A. Bollinger, an unidentified woman with a child, E. S. Horsley, and Isabell Birch Bryner. In the scene Mrs. Bryner is holding a petition to incorporate the town of Price. According to the account, by 1892 all the men had used up their homestead rights for farms and Mrs. Bryner, a widow, was asked by the local people to use her homestead right to file on the property which had been chosen for a townsite. Threatened by reports that someone else was headed to Salt Lake City to file on the proposed townsite, Mrs. Bryner was rushed to Salt Lake City by train to file on the land. She was successful in obtaining the land which was then sold into lots.
The seventh scene, located on the east wall, is a portrait of J. M. Whitmore, a prominent early rancher and first president of the town board. In the background is the first town hall.
The eighth scene depicts the religious history of the community. The three leaders of the dominant non-Mormon religions, the Catholic Bishop Lawrence Scanlan, the Greek Orthodox Priest Reverend Mark Petrakis and the Methodist Minister Reverend R. P. Nichols, are shown in a group portrait. To the right are illustrations of the Notre Dame de Lourdes Catholic Church in Price, constructed between 1918 and 1923; the Price Academy Building, a school operated by Reverend Nichols; and, the Greek Orthodox Church of the Assumption, completed in 1916. The Mormon story is portrayed in a scene showing the organization of the Mormons in 1882 by Bishop George Frandsen. The figures in the scene are Mrs. George Robb (with baby), George Robb behind his wife, Grandmother Mud in a bonnet, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Empey sitting next to the table, E. W. Mclntire, first counselor to Bishop George Frandsen is sitting behind the table, Soren Olsen, the ward clerk, is sitting at the table. The rest are unidentified.
The ninth scene illustrates the theme of law. Justice of the Peace Erastus W. Mclntire is shown conducting the community’s first marriage between Gilbert Peterson and his bride Ann. Mrs. Mclntire is present and the best man and Mclntire’s son are shown holding the pigs which were brought as payment for the marriage fees. In the background is the old Carbon County Courthouse with its statue of Justice atop the building.
The tenth scene concerns the theme of education. Two of the town’s early school buildings are shown and a group portrait includes Sally Ann Olsen, the first school teacher, collecting children in her buckboard; W. J. Tidwell, who surveyed the Price townsite and became the first public school teacher; L. M. Olsen, the first superintendent of schools; and Joseph Birch who sponsored in the Utah Legislature a bill providing for free public education. Another setting shows Carl R. Marcusen, principal of the Price Public School and later president of the Board of Education. Behind Marcusen is the old Carbon High School with the still familiar “Block C” located on the cliffs behind the school.
The eleventh scene shows Lynn Fausett as a small boy leading his blind grandfather Haws Ulrich Bryner.
The twelth scene, located on the south wall, shows W. Grant Olsen, first mayor of Price in 1911. A community promoter, Olsen is shown planting trees in the new Price City Park. In the background is a statue of a pioneer woman executed by Dean Fausett, brother of Lynn Fausett.
The thirteenth scene depicts a Fourth of July parade in 1911. Shown are two horse-drawn floats and the marching band.
The fourteenth scene commemorates the importance of the coal industry to the county. The first setting shows two men working at the Sunnyside coke ovens in 1917. Coke from the Carbon County area was of prime importance to the smelting industry of Utah. The next setting shows three miners emerging from a mine tunnel. Both the American-born and southern European miners are represented in the picture. The third setting shows the outside workings at Sunnyside in 1917. World War I brought a tremendous expansion of the Carbon County coal industry and the setting depicts the activity which characterized the coal industry during this period.
Statement of Significance
The Price Municipal Building is of significance primarily because of the mural depicting the area’s history which was painted as a Utah WPA arts project by the noted Utah artist Lynn Fausett. The mural represents the best work of art produced during the WPA art project in Utah and is of great value as a historical document in portraying the themes and personalities of the area’s early history. The building itself was one of the largest WPA buildings constructed in Utah. Architecturally the building is a good representative of the international design for public buildings during the last half of the 1930s.
History
On June 8, 1936, the Price City Council authorized an application to the Works Progress Association for a loan and grant to aid in financing the construction of a municipal building. Lewis T. Cannon and John Fetzer were architects for the building, and under their advice Price City requested a $67,500 grant from the WPA which would cover forty-five percent of the estimated $150,000 project. Under WPA requirements projects would have to be supported by a fifty-five percent local expenditure.
In order to receive the grant Price officials would have to provide a local match of $82,500.00. A bond election was held April 2, 1937, and with a thirty-five percent turn out Price voters accepted the City Council proposal to issue $85,000 in bonds for construction of the City Hall and public auditorium. The rendered vote was 200 for the project with 42 opposed. Fifteen months after the initial application Price received the WPA grant for $67,500.00.
Bids for the construction were opened on January 3, 1938, and the Price firm of Fausett and Pessetto was awarded the contract for $139,936.42. A week after the bid was awarded, Councilman W. E. Mclntire proposed that Price City draw up a project for mural paintings by Lynn Fausett in the Municipal Building. The motion carried, and City authorized a sum of $350.00 to launch the project. Plans for the building proceeded rapidly, and the laying of the cornerstone occurred on April 7, 1938.
The original estimate of $150,000.00 was too low, and therefore the first contract did not include the gymnasium. On October 10, 1938, the WPA increased its grant for the total project to $90,000.00. This allowed for awarding a second contract to complete the gymnasium. Announced on November 5, 1938, the gymnasium contract was awarded the firm of Fausett and Pessetto whose bid of $29,900.00 was the lowest.
A severe winter required that a thirty-day extension be granted to Fausett and Pessetto, and the gymnasium was completed in the early spring of 1939. However with the city hall and auditorium completed dedication ceremonies were held on February 22, 1939, Washington’s Birthday.
Architecturally the building is a good example of the adaptation of the International style in the construction of public buildings in Utah during the late 1930s. The Price Municipal Building is significant as one of the largest buildings constructed in Utah under the WPA program. In addition the building was constructed during J. Bracken Lee’s tenure as mayor of Price and is probably the best tangible reminder of his service as mayor of his hometown from 1935 to 1947. J. Bracken Lee later served as Governor of Utah from 1949 to 1956 and mayor of Salt Lake City from 1960 to 1970.
However, the Price Municipal Building is best known for the 4′ x 200′ mural located on the four walls of the foyer of the Municipal Building. The mural, painted by Lynn Fausett, depicts the early history of Carbon County.
Born February 27, 1894, in Price, Utdji, Lynn Fausett received a high school diploma in art from Brigham Young Academy in 1912 then returned for an additional year at Carbon County High School. He attended the University of Utah from 1914 until 1916 when he joined the Navy and served until 1921.
Returning to Utah he was employed as an engineer by the Utah Power and Light Company for one year until he decided to pursue his real desire of art. Quitting his job, he hitchhiked to San Francisco where, using the experience he had gained in the Navy, he shipped on a freighter bound for New York. Upon his arrival in New York he began his art training with the Art Students League. To support himself he worked as a night report clerk for the Fifth Avenue Bus Company. Studying under Kenneth Hayes Miller, Lynn Fausett began a life-long quest to discover the techniques which would enable him to paint “like the old masters.” Following the completion of his studies in 1927 he worked with the Hildreth Meiene Studio and served as a member of the Board of Control for the Art Students League. In December of 1932 he was elected president of the Art Students League and served from 1933 to 1936. In evaluating his tenure as president, the Art Student League News found “Lynn Fausett was the right president at the right time. The League, in those early Depression years, was reeling from the clashes of artistic rivalries on the staff and in the membership, and was also in bad shape financially, During his Presidency the League liberalized its requirements for League membership and placed a three-year limitation on Board membership. Prior to this change in the League’s by-laws, there had been occasions when the Board had tended to freeze into the reflection of a single point of view, with the result that the League’s teaching staff was inclined to become narrow. Under Fausett the league embarked on a greatly broadened type of teaching, and there began to be radically different points of view on the staff. This is a condition which continues today.”
Although he did some small works during his stay in New York, most of his energies were devoted to several murals for which the Meiere Studios were commissioned.
His stature as a mural painter was recognized when he was elected to the Board of Control of the National Society of Mural Painters in 1936. In addition, despite the severe depression which touched so many talented artists, Lynn Fausett found sufficient work that his association with the federal government’s relief program for artists came quite late in’ the WPA program. His biographer, Donald Hague, writes, “Yet Lynn Fausett might well be termed a latecomer in regard to the federal government’s public relief program, he finally appearing only in the final act of a rather long, and complex Depression arts drama. In fact, had Lynn’s promising career not been shattered by divorce, the success and steady progress he had made from 1922 to 1938 would probably have ruled out his becoming involved in the Federal Art Project of the WPA at all for which the people of Utah, Wyoming and Nevada would have been the poorer today.”
Upon returning to his native Price, Lynn Fausett contacted some of his old friends and proposed the idea of murals for the foyer of the new Municipal Building. Despite the objections of Mayor J. Bracken Lee to decorating public buildings, Fausett found an ally in Councilman W. E. (Ted) Mclntire and he succeeded in persuading a majority of the council members to support the project. As the mural was underway, Mayor Lee became one of the strongest supporters of the project. Work on the mural involved nearly two years total work, although several other commissions were sandwiched in between. Lynn Fausett received about $1600.00 for the Price mural between 1938 and 1941.
The mural traces the history of Carbon County from its initial settlement in 1877, the coming of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad in 1883, the heyday of the coal mines in 1917, and the founding and expansion of Price as a community.
While work proceeded on the Price mural, Lynn Fausett was involved in work on three other murals under the Utah WPA art project: one for the Union Building at the University of Wyoming; another for White Pine High School in Ely, Nevada; and the last a reproduction of an aboriginal pictograph from Barrier Canyon. The Barrier Canyon pictograph murals include two separate canvases. The larger 12′ x 60′ is on display at the Utah Museum of Natural History while the smaller canvas, 12′ x 20′, is on display at the Prehistoric Museum in Price which is housed in the Gymnasium of the Price Municipal Building.
The WPA art project ended on June 30, 1943, and, according to Donald Hague, “this brought to an end an era of excitement and innovation in the arts which aside from the financial boost it gave the economy, provided what might be termed a minor Renaissance in the United States.
With the close of the WPA art project, Lynn Fausett took a position as Art Director of the Special Services Branch, Ninth Service Command at Fort Douglas. He remained there until 1946. During this period he painted a mural entitled “Utah’s First Tank.” The 6′ x 22′ mural was placed in the Fort Douglas NCO Club and depicts a battle between Mormon settlers and Indians in which the Mormons used a V-shaped sledge to advance on the Indians.
After World War II he took to easel painting to earn his livelihood and became well known for his Western Landscapes. At the 1947 Annual Exhibition of the Utah Institute of Fine Arts he won first prize for a picture entitled “The Old Log Barn.” The next year the San Antonio Express Magazine described his work in the following manner: “In his canvases one sees the stuff of which the West is made, the mountains with their thick covering of trees, the far-revealing plains, the soft blue skies, the eroded cliffs of the desert country.”
The easel paintings interspersed work on several murals including the 8′ x 16′ Kennocott Mural in 1951; the Harman’s Cafe Murals at 1300 East and 2100 South, Salt Lake City, which include three 4’6″ x 13′ murals entitled, “Pony Express Riders Passing two Pioneer Wagons” completed in 1955; “Handcart Pioneers” completed in 1956; “The Ute Rangers” completed in 1956. The Harman’s loft murals at North Temple Street which include a 6′ x 30′ mural entitled “Dead Horse Point” completed in 1956 and the 5′ x 25′ “Brighton” completed in 1958.
His last work, the Pioneer Trek Mural, was completed for the “This is The Place Monument” information building in 1959-1960. It includes three panels, two 10′ x 10′ panels entitled “Flight from Nauvoo” and “First Glimpse of the Salt Lake Valley from Big Mountain” and one 10′ x 31′ panel entitled “On the Trail Near Fort Laramie with Brigham Young in Command.”
Earlier, in 1941, he had completed an 8′ x 25′ mural for the Farmington Chapel commemorating the founding of the LDS Church Primary Association. Mr. Fausett had hoped the mural would lead to other opportunities to use his artistic ability to depict church history. However, church policy during those years did not recognize the usefulness of art in meeting its needs, and Mr. Fausett focused primarily on landscapes until the Pioneer Trek Murals were commissioned.
Unfortunately by the beginning of the 1960s Mr. Fausett had begun to suffer health problems. Cataracts dimmed his vision and several strokes weakened him physically. A partial recovery enabled him to return to Price in 1966 to do restoration work on the Price Murals.
His biographer, Donald Hague, writes, “Recognition of his work has been well and hard earned. . . but most of all, it has been legitimate. He can be numbered among the few artists who have been able, apart from my teaching position, to pursue a successful career as a painter.”
The Price Mural is the most significant work executed during the WPA Art Project in Utah and ranks as one of the most important works completed in the nation under this New Deal Program. Lynn Fausett’s work on the Price Mural is a fitting representative of the course which the WPA Art Project followed as outlined by Holger Cahill, first director of the Work Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project. “The fact that the Federal Art Project has made it possible for hundreds of artists to work in their home environments has led to interesting developments in many parts of the country. Heretofore certain regions have been barren of art and art interest because of the constant drift of talent toward the already overcrowded art centers in the East. The Project has helped to counteract this movement. One result has been that a great deal of latent local interest has been brought to the surface and stimulated into healthy activity. Another is that many little-known aspects of this extraordinarily varied country of ours have been brought into the current of art. Through this we are discovering that the country differs considerably from the ‘standardized America’ which was so thoroughly advertised in the recent past. There has been no attempt under the Project to foster a ‘regional art’, assuming that a regional art is possible in this day of easy transportation. But art that is related to the history or the local color of a region has been encouraged where this has seemed a natural expression of the artist.”
Regarding the Price Murals, Holger Cahill was reported saying during his visit to Price, “No better murals were being painted in America.’
The Price Mural is an important historical document which preserves and portrays much of the color and flavor of the region’s history. The mural gives a unique sense of acquaintance and understanding of the local history. It has been a source of great local pride and city officials have voiced a strong commitment to its preservation and protection.
10 Friday Mar 2023
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Price River Valley – It’s Early Beginnings
This monument inscription is an expression of gratitude for the people and forces that shaped the Price River Valley from 1877 to 1885.
Historical events that brought changes and settlers:
1877, Caleb Rhoades (Rhodes) and Abraham Powell came into the valley to trap and homestead. In the winter of 1878 they returned to their homes in Salem, Utah Territory planning to lead their family members and friends into the valley.
January 21, 1879, Caleb Rhoades, Frederick E. & Charles W. Grames arrived. Other family members and settlers followed. 1880, Emery County formed with the Price River Valley in the northern section.
1881-1883, construction of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad through the Price Valley, naming Price as a station.
1882, L.D.S. organization, with the leadership of Bishop George Frandsen, the townsite surveyed, the Price Water Company formed to bring water to the townsite and building of a log structure for church, school and civic use.
1885-1886 establishment of the government Fort Duchesne in the Uintah-Quary Indian Reservation and opening of Basin gilsonite asphaltum mines with Price as the freight station.
Known settlers that came between 1879 and 1885:
This historic marker is (along with the “Carbon Tabernacle” marker on the other side of it) located in the plaza between the Coal Miners’ Memorial, the library, and the Prehistoric Museum at approximately 139 East Main Street in Price, Utah.
