1939: Utah

Area and Population.

Known because of its history as 'the Mormon state,' Utah was admitted to statehood Jan. 4. 1896. With an area of 84,990 sq. mi., it ranks 10th in size among the states. In population it ranks 40th, numbering 507,847 according to the census of 1930; 519,000 on July 1, 1937, according to a Federal estimate. The majority of the people are of the Teutonic and Nordic races, with about 1,900 Negroes and comparable numbers of Indians, Mexicans, Chinese and Japanese. The largest cities (1930 census) are Salt Lake City, the capital, 140,267 (metropolitan area, 195,200); Ogden, 40,272; Provo, 14,766.

Education.

Utah has three accredited universities of fine standing, the University of Utah, with a full-time enrollment in 1938-39 of 3,500, the Utah State Agricultural College at Logan, with 2,540, and the Brigham Young University at Provo, with 2,600. The four junior colleges had a full-time enrollment for the same period of 1,001.

The University of Utah and the State Agricultural College both have new field houses erected with the assistance of WPA and Federal financial aid.

In Salt Lake City, 92 per cent of the women and girls trained in strictly women's occupations under a vocational training program were placed in industry. Among occupations in which most placements were made were garment manufacturing, fur finishing, and garment alteration.

Mineral Products.

The total value of Utah's leading metals, copper, gold, silver, lead and zinc, amounted in 1938 to only $43,745,902, a reduction of almost 50 per cent from the 1937 total of $87,897,549. Preliminary figures for 1939, however, show a gratifying increase to a total of $62,385,575.

Production of copper, the state's most important metal, in which it ranks second in the Union, shared in the general decline in 1938, totalling 216,252,000 lb. valued at $21,192,696. This was about half the record production of 1937. The estimate for 1939 is 341,040,000 lb. valued at $35,468,160, an increase of about 60 per cent over the preceding year. The Utah Copper Company property at Bingham is again the leading producer in the United States. Gold production amounted to 200,630 oz. (value, $7,022,050) in 1938; and silver, in which the state also ranks second, totaled 9,682,732 oz. (value, $6,259,544) The output of lead was 65,657 tons in 1938; and zinc, 33,658 tons.

Industry.

The leading industries in the state, in order of importance, are: Smelting, grain milling, meat packing, oil refining, canning and preserving, sugar refining, car building and repairing, printing and publishing, butter making, baking, the manufacture of confectionery, clothing, clay products, and ice cream, and the refining of salt from Great Salt Lake. About half of the products used in manufacturing are purchased or obtained within the state.

Banking and Financial Condition.

Salt Lake bank clearings showed a gain during 1939 of 11.2 per cent over clearings for 1938. In 1939 the total was $787,415,116.

The total assessed valuation of all property in the state was $513,813,712.00 for 1930, and $569,973,730.00 in 1938. The total property tax collection during the fiscal year which ended June 30, 1939, was $17,735,000, as compared to $17,724,327 in 1938. The total of other taxes collected was $14,432,566.31 in 1939, as compared with $13,895,792.37 for 1938.

As of July 1, 1939, the general fund of Utah started a biennial period with a cash balance of $1,153,228.98, the largest in the history of the state.

Legislative Matters.

The Legislature comprises a Senate of 23 members, half of whom are elected each two years for a four-year term, and a House of Representatives of sixty members, elected each two years for a two-year term.

The Legislature met in 1939 and appropriated money for an Education Survey to be made throughout the state. A report is to be made by July 1, 1940. A 'Working-Wives' bill was introduced, and in effect a policy was adopted that state, county and municipal positions should be filled by men and women who have no other member of their families in such employment.

The 1937 law passed by the State Legislature, establishing milk production and market areas, with minimum prices and control of surplus milk, is being contested now before the Supreme Court. In the meantime, the Marketing Board for Salt Lake City and the surrounding area has voluntarily been dissolved. Reorganization is being resisted by some of the producers.

Government appropriations for 1939-40 amounted to $3,939,624.29.

Events of the Year.

A crude-oil pipe line has recently been completed from Fort Laramie. Wyoming, into Salt Lake City. This was built by the Utah Oil Refining Company, a subsidiary of the Standard Oil Company of Indiana.

Under the U. S. Public Health Service, the State Industrial Commission and the State Board of Health, a cooperative industrial survey was carried on. Three thousand workers in coal mines, metal mines, mills and smelters have been examined and studies of working environments have been made. Samples of dust, fumes, vapors, etc., to the number of 1,500 were sent to Washington, D. C. for analysis.

A new $165,000 tuberculosis hospital at Ogden, Utah, will be opened at the beginning of 1940.

WPA rolls in Utah for December 1939, averaged 11,532 persons, a decrease of 3,569 as compared with December 1938, when the average was 15,101.

A building tabulation, itemizing expenditures in Salt Lake City during the last 12 years, shows a gain in each year since 1932. The number of permits issued in 1928 were 1939, at a valuation of $4,446,376; permits issued in 1939 were 2,150, at a value of $4,896,516. This was an increase over 1938 of $1,000,000 in construction value, and an increase of more than $4,000,000 over the low of 1932.

Sports.

In 1939 the Bonneville Salt Flats in Western Utah were again the focus for land speed racing. John Cobb broke Captain George Eyston's 1938 record of 357.5 miles per hour by 11 miles, averaging 368 miles per hour on two trips through a measured mile, on an 11 mile course curving at one end. Both Cobb and Eyston are Englishmen. Endurance and distance speed tests and records were again established by Ab Jenkins in 1939 over a 10 mile circular track. Jenkins was subsequently elected Mayor of Salt Lake City.

Baseball increased in interest during 1939 in the Class C baseball league, the Pioneer League, with teams from Salt Lake and Ogden, Utah, and Pocatello, Twin Falls, Boise and Lewiston, Idaho. Night baseball is very well established and popular.

Skiing in Utah canyons is a most popular sport during seven months of the year. With the aid of Federal funds a 2,600 foot ski lift and a winter lodge were constructed at Alta, 20 miles from Salt Lake City.

State Officers.

The chief officers of the state in 1938 were: Governor, Henry H. Blood; Secretary of State, E. E. Monson; Attorney General, Joseph Chez; State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Charles H. Skidmore; State Auditor, John W. Guy.

United States Senators.

William H. King, Elbert D. Thomas.