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Show ;Verna!-Besf Inland City In America, Say lis Residents "Largest and best-equipped 'la-, land' city in America" is the claim , made for Vernal, largest city be-, tween Craig, Colorado and Salt Lake City on Highway U.S. 40. Located 120 miles from the near-' , est railroad the city has overcome 1 the disadvantages which normally accrue from such lack of transportation facilities, and boasts an excellent municipal water system, a modern sewage disposal system, daily mail service, a modern elec-, trical service, excellent education-' al facilities and some of the finest churches in the west. I Vernal is 370 miles west of Den-! ver and 175 miles east of Salt Lake City; has a population of 3.700; altitude 5331 feet; county scat of Uintah county; gateway to Dinosaur National Monument; industrial and commercial center of the Uintah Basin. I i That Vernal is primarily supported by the production of alfalfa, wheat, beef, lambs, wool, honey and dairy products, is shown from the bird's-eye-view of circular Ashley Valley which one gets as be descends into Vernal from the di- i ' vide on the west. Oil exploration and production and the gilsonite ' mines furnish other major payrolls. The brilliant, clear at-' mosphere, the absence of smoke stacks or industrial plants, and the angular bay fields, pasture , lands and grain fields indicate ' that Vernal is fundamentally an agricultural community and that 1 Vernal people are serioug about their cultivating and farming. I And because Vernal is far off the railroad ad until recently has not been served by high-speed highways, it has been able to retain many of the characteristics of the typical frontier town. With its surrounding sheep ranges and cattle country and its nearby Indian res-; ervation. Vernal becomes the . mecca for cow bands, sheep men and an Indian or two each Saturday night when the week's work is done, and the Jangle of spurs, the Stetson hat. and the sleepy cowpony are still familiar on Vernal streets. And yet the city Is not without a metropolitan flavor. The well-lighted and compact business sec- ' tlon. the 40 blocks of asphalt-paved : streets, the fine motor courts, hotels and eating houses, the new ' modern swimming pool, $400,000 I hospital. Field House Museum, i super-markets, and service stations 1 point to the fact that Vernal Is 1 an important commercial center, i The nearby scenic Uintah moun-j tains. Dinosaur Museum, historic Indian pictographs. and the ! dances and ceremonies of the 1.900 Indians who make their homes , on the reservation near Vernal, 1 1 lend color to the fascinating area, j j Located a f"w feet more than I a mile above the level of the sea 1 the Vernal section has four dis-1 tlnct, although, not extreme, sea-; sons. The average length of the . . growing season Is 114 f.byi. The ' average date of the Ial killing ; frost in the spring is May 23, of , the first killing frost in the au-I tumn Is September 19th. The dry, 1 brisk climate is unusually health-' ful. The Vernal area has ample 1 i water resource (in normal years) i and fertile soil enough to grow , any of the staple fruits and vege-' I tables. Vernal dairy products are ; 1 noted for their unusual quality. : and Vernal honey is world-farn-1 0US- I |
