blackfoot-valley

couldn’t afford to purchase one. But as economic conditions slowly improved during the mid-1920s and used vehicles became increasingly available, the “traveling machine” began to exert an increasing influence on the way people lived, even more than had the telephone. While the telephone afforded in- stant communication, the automobile and the improved roads they engen- dered, greatly extended people’s personal mobility. Trips that had taken all day by horse and wagon were reduced to an hour or two. A statement in the Powell County book concisely summarizes its effects in Helmville. “With the coming of the automobile the traditional Sunday din- ners vanished. People didn’t stay home on Sunday anymore. Busi- ness in small communities everywhere began to decline. The bank couldn’t compete with banks in larger towns and closed; so was it with the drugstore. The two-story hotel that burned down was not re- built. Travelers no longer needed to stay overnight. The Geary Com- mercial store burned and wasn’t replaced because a few hours drive would take people to large towns where there was a wide selection of goods. A garage replaced a livery stable. Disturbers of the peace were taken to the county jail; thus, exit the local jail.” Bill Baker In addition, most of the recent homesteaders, with low yields and crop failures due to the erratic weather in the area they had painfully discovered was at best marginal for grain farming, sold out! The main buyers were ranches. On the ranches, the replacement of Herefords became almost com- plete. As time went on, many of the individual family ranches were bought by corporations, further increasing the average size of ranches. In a larger per- spective, this is to be viewed as part of a greater trend affecting cattle ranching throughout the American West. 151