Show ROOSEVELT AS THE commercial CENTER OF THE UINTAH BASIN recently the roosevelt commercial club offered a prize of 11 0 to the high school pupil vat writing ing the best essay on the subject entitled roosevelt as the commercial center of the vintah uintah basin P we herewith publish the prize essay written by joseph F harris a student not the duchesne ducheine high school the city of roosevelt was established in the spring of 1906 with an ideal location in the heart of the great uintah basin from the first all conditions have leen favorable for the rapid and steady growth that it has enjoyed it is located on a small mesa overlooking broad and fertile farming valleys crossed by many irrigation canals ca nals and dotted by the houses of many homesteads the tillable bench and valley lands extended on an average thirty oe five miles in all directions to them the east and southeast the valleys reach past the uintah and duchesne rivers these streams streaking aing furnish a plentiful supply of water for the irrigation of most of the former uintah Te reservation roosevelt is located in the center of more agricultural turn land than any other town or city in utah and has six times ns as much in cultivation as any other community there is no city in the west today that tins has greater chances of becoming a metropolis than roosevelt j there them are numerous towns in the district surrounding roose velt which depend on roosevelt for merchandise many of these were established by roosevelt business men so is as to serve the th people better and more quickly coola Ced cedarview arview hayden and nannett lie to the north moffitt and taft are arc on the east cast inde mee and myton are td tl to the south while Lake fork loli B bluebell and Alt alzonah altonah oriah are on the all west nicest these villages are ten to tah thirty ty five miles from roosevelt the unlimited undeveloped resources and those in the course of being developed on every side of this thiis growing city make roosevelt 1 the preeminent pre eminent jav town i of the basin on oil her bord lers is is to be found unlimited water T chich in the near future a great amount should be harnessed from the uintah duchesne Lake fork and strawberry rivers abundant timber for both burning and building purposes is free to I 1 the he settler gold cooper zinc and an silver have been mined in paying quantities in the rock creek and whiterock canyons about twenty five miles away radium beds are said by national literal experts to be located av at independence five miles from franj roosevelt and extending to ti the wasatch these are the only known beds in the united thin than in colorado there are great jphn of gilsonite eight tiler boiles ep east st of if roosevelt which are being worked constantly they have an estimated extent of e thirty two million tons there are in the uintah basin of the hy many other minerals 1 dro carbon family such as wurt wed erite 1 and oze erite which are used to manufacture certain grades of rubber and to make combs paints varnishes roofing wax coating boatin cr for barb wire to prevent rust and for scores of other things roosevelt is in the middle of the great coal field that stretches from the carbon county mines one hundred miles northward to the uintah and from currant creek fifty miles west of roosevelt eastward into colorado probably another fifty miles coal is now norv mined within V four miles of roosevelt and imore more extensively at points aven ty to forty miles distant both to the east and west from there large quantities quani ties of iron ore are unknown known to exist in various places in the uintah mountains northwest w C of roosevelt here is the fulfillment of the manufacturers efream rf ream of plenty of coal and iron r ore close dose together in the basin surrounding roose velt there are several thousand square miles of oil ell bearing strata considerable ground has been located and filed on by men principally from other states much development work has been j done and excellent samples of oil have been obtained it is fully accepted as certain by those who know that some day the oil I 1 output out put of the uintah basin will be enormous within two miles of roosevelt is a large gypsum deposit the product when treated properly makes good building blocks and pottery and an all excellent plaster brick kilns kalns here turn out each season quantities of a high grade product at a low cost agricultural produce if roosevelt and her adjacent territory were cut off from the outside world the industrious and sturdy settlers could support themselves with the necessaries of life and advance in in chiv civilization at the time because her climate being so dav arable her soil so very good her supply of timber for all es so liberal and water of the purest kind so plentiful first on the agricultural li list comes alfalfa which grows like a week here and will produce three crops each season totaling five to eight tons per acre the quality is perfect the grow crow ing season is not troubled by the weevil as in some other sections of thi the state at present the hay is largely fed to cattle sheep and horses in the winter time there is also a surplus stored awaiting the advent of the railroad in the near future when it will ivill bring eighteen dollars per ton some farmers make a business of producing alfalfa seed which may be sold A at all times at fifteen to twenty I 1 cents per pound and is sought for in all markets because of its purity and germinating strength alfalfa a seed eed raised at roosevelt takes the state prize at the national irrigation con gress sweet clover seed beings even a 1 price on the market j it ii 16 sought for by other stat states to fertilize the soil as it stores laro large amounts of nitrogen in its rooi and inoculates the soil for alfalfa which also when started makes the soil richer sweet clover may be used for hay and because of rapid growth it will produce six or seven crops aeh season in some sections sweet clover seed has brought one hundred nineteen dollars per acre each year i i wheat and oats both thrive here and bring the grow or fancy prices from other section as a feed for stock and for seed the 1 wheat and oats produced near roosevelt surpass all standards required per bushel by any state law ilaw the average average yield per aire acre of wheat is twenty to forty bushels and for oats is sixty bushel any crop th that atwill will grow in any pere here as corn cane melons and garden truck of all kinds sugar beets grow here to perfection fec tion the only trouble is that some times they grow too large at the county and state fairs they have tested record breaking percents of sugar in the near future when a sugar factory is established at roosevelt sugar beet raising will become a leading industry mangels and other varieties of beets which grow to weigh twenty pounds are used by the farmers to fatten stock on common potatoes also thrive here immensely well roosevelt has a record of seven hundred thirty bushels of potatoes per acre sweet potatoes will also produce here but riot not as well as irish variety the honey industry is a very important one in the roosevelt district at the present rate of I 1 increase the uintah basin will soon lead evereth everything I 1 ng in the west in the production of honey this honey is not only known for its excelled excel let quality over the central and western part of the united states but it has found its way into foreign markets last year each colony colons of bees prodoc produced ed on the of pounds this I 1 is a low average for this roun oun try the product is a very heavy honey weighing 1213 pounds per gal the bees here heie are free of all disease in the very n near ear f fu if ture at the present rate of in ii I 1 crease the honey crop of the uintah basin will be worth pei year horticulture the growing of fruit I 1 is still in its infancy but it is a true success because of the numer ous small orchards which have in the seven or eight years now nov I 1 planted produced large amounts of both the small and large vari i aties these fruits are of a first class quality the land nem nead roosevelt is found especially I 1 adapted to the growing of all kinds of fruit as apples pea peaches pears plums apricots pi prunes and cherries stock raisin raising the immense areas of summer pasturage in the national forest and of winter pasturage in the lower badlands bad lands region make stock raising especially profitable in the uintah basin great amounts of surplus hay can be profitably fed to stock which may be driven to the railroad and sold considerable meat is disposed of in the basin butchers to who pay good prices for it in the place of great herds of cattle and sheep that ranged in the basin in the early days each farmer now has a small herd of blooded stock which he turns over in the summertime mer time to the cattle growers association organized by the farmers for the mutual benefit to be run 0 on n the r range an ge P provided provided by the federal government in the mountains in the fall they are pastured on the individual farms and in the coldest weather lier are fed alfalfa hay there are several breeds of cattle raised here all do well among them the dairy breed is prominent several creameries crea meries have begun operation in the basin sheep raising is also a very profi profitable taNe business A few large sheep owners are located at roosevelt evelt dut but like cattle raising this business pays more profit when the sheep are handled in small herds on individual farms the past year the sheep so managed returned a 1100 percent profit in one year with their wool clips and marketing the surplus members for mutton 0 E every very farmer raises enough hogs for his own use and has some for sale dressed pork brings 12 cents per pound on the average there are numerous breeds of hogs all of which thrive well but the opinion is that the poland china leads them all in this district the farmers around roosevelt take pride in the raising of and the maintaining fancy breeds of horses and it is a very rare thing for anyone to see a scrubby horse in this district there are more than thirty pure bred sires in the basin and the blood is constantly changed the climate is perfect mules also thrive here but have not been given much attention yet turkeys chickens and all other poultry do aswell as well here as anyplace many of the farmers are making big profits in inthe the raising of turkeys as the birds need little care the climate being so favorable we furnished this last year something ai like ke pounds of dressed poultry to other sections of our own state and to other states the eggs are always in demand in winter selling as high as 50 cents per dozen with an average of 30 cents the year round this is the greatest undeveloped op e d C country aunt ry of the west today most all the precious metals are mined including coal of which the supply IS is almost unlimited everything ver ing I 1 is 5 grown jae acre to perfection that will grow groat in any climate ate except the tro tropics pies there are in many a ny rich and varied soils of many compositions over long and wide expanses one of the foremost of the united states geologists has described this country as being composed of the largest argest beds of subterranean lake deposit soil on this taij continent and as compared to switzerland in the grandness of its mountains and crags the tourist stis lis astounded by the phe nominal progress the dauntless settlers have made in these ten short years thora there is an abundance of game in ill tho mountains and many kinds of water fowl on the lakes and rivers the waters are alive with fish of many species of which the mountain trout are the most common bear deer elk and many of the small fur bearing animals are found in the forest the city of roosevelt has a population of about 1000 and is rapidly growing almost all the trades and professions are represented in its population it has a modem telephone system connecting with points on the railway and an efficient electric lighting system the water system is being enlarged and improved and in a short ti methe city will bo be sup supplied piled with artesian water roosevelt is the head quarters of the dry gulch irrigation company it is the largest irrigation concern in the west owned entirely by the farmers themselves this company has built hundreds of miles of canals and laterals literals late rals which furnish water for about acres of tillable land in the basin roosevelt also supports a flour mill and the largest hardware hard vars and farm machinery and implement house in northeastern utah the town eastwo has two churches and amal amusements ments are provided in a skating tinly rink moving picture show anil and an amusement hall merchandise disa stores drug stores blacksmith shops hotels real estate offices harness shops garages c confection confectionaries aries a pubic lie library mills feed stables and a bank with a capital and surplus of are thriving hee most of these institutions elre are housed in modern modem brick and cement buildings in the last four months there have b been ri jour large business structures erected while some joine others are in in the course of construction the city has an excellent public school system that employs thirteen teachers and has enrollment of pupils the high school is classed in efficiency as second to none in the state it is housed in a forty thousand dollar building which is modern in every respect six teachers are employed to teach a full four year course including agriculture and manual training for the boys and domestic art and science for the girls roosevelt has a superior brass band and an orchestra a live Odd fellows club and a boosting commercial club the commercial club has advertised far and wide the advantages advantage of this region and has been a great help to the health officer to maintain tain the high sanitary condi condition ti 0 n so a as s to in make a k e health the rule and sickness the exception it is also helping the county to keep the roads in ill good condition and to improve them our rapid growth our albund abundant a nt natural resources in coal iron and other minerals farni farm produce stock raising dairying and water power from which immense amounts of cheap electricity may be developed justify the location of smelters shelters sm elters factories for handling our hydro carbons woolen mills to use our supply of wool and creame ries and cheese factories fac tries to convert our miny many products into marketable products the traffie traffic demands and will pay for the building of several railways into the uintah basin the uintah uin tah railroad company has invested in property here and careful surveys to locate locale the most feasible routes through the country and expect in the near future to makithia make maki this city cheter minus of their line this company is at present running their freight wagons as far as roosevelt the union pacific railroad rai broad company has surveyed and located a line one half mile south of roosevelt on what is known as the dry gulch creek this will be ae a main double track line connecting with other lines at denver and salt lake city this will bo be built in the near futi future lre as the company has order ordered edits its ties ti e s and filed on its right of way the rio grande and moffitt rall rail road company are also contemplating building into this inland empire The Al offitt people have already a survey running near roosevelt and are only awaiting the securing of the necessary funds to drill the tunnel near denver for the permanent track for the man with the family paying ri rent for a portion of this pay earths h surface to make a living upon and wishing to better his condition morally and financially and to become a property owner probably no other place in the world offers such great opportunities tuni ties |