Utah & Agriculture Both Boom  1890s-1910s

Statehood came to Utah in 1896, at a time of agricultural change. Land acts had made vast amounts of government land available to private owners. New irrigation canals were planned to bring more water to Utah's dry lands. Scientific methods for dry farming, where crops such as wheat and hay could be grown without irrigation, were being studied. These changes encouraged people to purchase more farmland. The buying of farmland led to land speculation (people buying and selling land to make money). In just a few years land ownership in Utah rose from 1.3 to over 4 million acres, the largest increase in the state's history. Once farmers owned more land they began shifting from self-sufficiency farming to commercial agriculture. The number of sheep and cattle they raised to market outside of Utah dramatically increased. Utah farmers also began raising larger crops of hay, wheat, fruits, vegetables and sugar beets to sell for cash.

On January 4, 1896, Utah was admitted to the United States of America as the 45th state. Those in Utah celebrated with many events including parades, speeches, and choir performances. Public, private, and religious buildings were decorated with flags. In that same year, Utah sent its first two senators and one representative to Congress.

In 1897, President Grover created the "Uintah Forest Reserve." This was the predecessor to the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. Nine years later in 1906, a Presidential proclamation created the Wasatch National Forest, and, in 1907, the Cache National Forest was created. Due to overgrazing, logging, uncontrolled fires, and heavily grazed watersheds, the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest was established to protect valuable resources.

In 1900 two-thirds of Utahns lived in rural areas. There were 19,387 farms with an average size of 212 acres. This first decade of the new century was a boom time for agriculture. Canals were irrigating more land, and more reservoirs were being built to store water. In 1902 Congress passed the Reclamation Act to fund irrigation projects and make more dry lands productive. Livestock numbers soared to over 3.8 million sheep and nearly 400,000 cattle. There were large increases in the numbers of horses, mules and dairy cows in Utah. In northern and central Utah farmers grew row crops such as tomatoes and peas for canneries. Sugar companies built factories to process sugar beets. Commercial growers flourished by growing apples, peaches, cherries, pears, and other fruit. Utah dairies produced milk for canning. Farmers grew hay, wheat and grain, much of it on dry farms with no irrigation. Utah's farm products began to be shipped to the west coast and the Midwest over a growing network of railroads.

The agricultural boom from 1900 until World War I brought many non-Mormon farmers to Utah. This included a community of Jewish families in Clarion, Sanpete County, and Mexican families in Garland, Box Elder County. The Mexican families came to work in the sugar industry while Jewish immigrants established their community and later a thriving cooperative called the Utah Poultry Association, which evolved into the Intermountain Farmers Association (IFA) known throughout the Intermountain West today.

Utah's efforts to produce sugar from sugar beets began in the 19th century. The first sugar factory equipment was transported from Liverpool to New Orleans, then by riverboat to Kansas, and across the plains by ox teams to Salt Lake City. The factory was built in "Sugar House" which is South of Salt Lake City. Although Utah was producing sugar beets, this factory could never quite figure out how to process sugar beets grown in alkali soil into granulated sugar. Arthur Stayner, a horticulturist from England, received a $5,000 bounty from the territorial legislature for the first 7,000 pounds of marketable sugar produced in Utah. His research and efforts eventually won the support of the LDS church and business leaders to form a company. By 1891, a $400,000 sugar beet factory was constructed in Lehi. The town of Lehi offered a 40-acre building lot and water rights to a millpond. These incentives worked to attract the new business to Lehi instead of other locations. This plant in Lehi was the first sugar beet plant in the United States that was built with American machinery. With Utah's well-developed irrigation and improved practices developed by scientists at the Utah State Agricultural Experiment Station, beet growing quickly became attractive and profitable. By 1897, the Lehi Plant was considered a technical and financial success, and, soon after, sugar beet factories were built throughout Utah, including Ogden (1898), Logan (1901), and Lewiston (1905). By the 1980s, there were no longer any beet sugar factories in Utah. Three problems made it difficult for factories to stay open. After World War I, a postwar agricultural depression affected farm prices and incomes dropped in 1920, and remained low until the Great Depression in 1930s, where prices declined even more. The next problem was the invasion of the beet leafhopper which caused "blight" and "curly top" which devastated crops. This caused factories to close down or move to more promising locations. The third problem was the need to mechanize production in order stay competitive with cane sugar. Although beet sugar factories eventually moved to more promising locations, Utah achieved prominence in the 19th century for its efforts to produce sugar, and the inustry sustained Utah's economy for nearly a century.

Albert F. Potter of the U.S. Department of the Interior visited Utah in 1902. He discovered that unrestricted grazing and logging were destroying Utah's forest watersheds. If not properly managed, grazing and logging can leave the land exposed and vulnerable to erosion. Today, much of this land falls under the management of the U.S. Forest Service, which has established a Watershed Condition Framework to help focus efforts to improve the health of watersheds on national lands.

The Bureau of Reclamation is known for the dams, powerplants, and canals it has constructed in 17 western states. These water projects led to homesteading in the West and promoted economic development. Today, the Bureau of Reclamation provides 1 out of 5 (or 140,000) western farmers with irrigation water for 10 million acres of farmland. Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico make up the Upper Colorado Basin region. In Utah, the Bureau of Reclamation has two powerplants, 15 projects, and 25 dams.

Before commercial fruit production began to flourish, Utah's orchards were small, private operations. In 1890, the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station at Utah State University began researching different varieties of fruit in experimental orchards. University publications reported the results of the fruit growing research, and farmers received advice on growing fruit. These efforts led to a rapid increase of commercial orchards from 1903-1914. Overproduction of fruit in 1914 caused a general depression in the fruit industry, and it wasn't unitl 1970 when the fruit industry was revived. Tart cherries, apples, peaches, apricots, and pears were some of the most popular fruits produced. Today, tart cherries are one of the largest fruit crops produced in the state.

In 1910 half of Utahns lived in rural areas. A new land boom began, and 575,000 new acres of land were claimed each year for several years. In 1911 Strawberry Reservoir was completed. Its water was piped by tunnel through the mountains to central Utah. However, the project unfairly took valuable land and water resources away from the Ute Indians in the Uintah Basin. In 1914 Utah ranked fifth in the U.S. canning industry for the processing of vegetables, fruit and milk. Fresh produce was shipped to the west coast and the Midwest. Sugar was made from sugar beets and shipped nationwide. Overproduction of fruit led farmers to reduce 43,000 acres of orchard to 29,000 by 1916. Wool production increased, and mutton and other meat products were shipped all over the country and abroad. In the 1910s youth agricultural clubs, later named 4-H clubs, were established throughout Utah. Cars, trucks, and tractors also began to appear in small numbers in Utah and road construction became a state priority.

A tunnel was built to carry water from Strawberry Reservoir in the Uinta Basin through the Wasatch mountains to the farmers in the southern part of Utah County. Farmers in Spanish Fork, Payson, and other areas in Utah County were using all of the water from streams and rivers; however, there wasn't enough. From 1900-1905, the city and population of Payson was rapidly declining. A plan was developed to transport water from the Strabwerry River across the Wasatch mountains. In order to transport water to farmers in Utah County, this project required building a dam and diverting water from the river through a mountain tunnel. The Strawberry Valley Project was started in 1905 and wasn't finished until 1922. Although the population of Payson had been declining, in 1922 (nine years after the completion of the Strawberry Valley Project), Payson and its surrounding areas doubled in size. Today, Strawberry Reservoir and the canal system irrigate approximately 42,500 acres.

Utah State Agricultural College established the Extension Service to bring the college's research to the people on the land. The 4-H Youth program was added shortly thereafter to bring the principles of agriculture to rural youth and made school relevant.

The canning industry in Utah peaked during the 1920s and 1930s and was predominantly found in Weber, Davis, and Cache counties. These three counties led the state in the number of canneries. Canneries could also be found in Box Elder, Salt Lake, and Utah counties. Although canneries canned a variety of products, tomatoes and peas were by far the most popular canning commodities. Along with the sugar beet industry, dairy industry, and flour-milling industry, the canning industry was an important cornerstone of Utah agriculture. However, canning was slow to get started, and it took time to convince farmers to sell their produce to factories.