Date of Award:

5-2014

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Arts (MA)

Department:

English

Committee Chair(s)

Steve Siporin

Committee

Steve Siporin

Committee

Lisa Gabbert

Committee

Bradford Cole

Abstract

As a whole, Cache Valley, Utah, residents have experienced dramatic changes in population size and economy over the last century. Providence, Utah, was once characterized by the farmers that worked the land surrounding it. The importance of agriculture has especially declined due to expanding urbanization. Despite these changes, Providence residents are aware of and celebrate their history. The purpose of this thesis is to add to the official account of local history. I attempt to capture a segment of the agricultural economy that often goes uncelebrated in current histories—fruit farming. Alongside the oft-cited sugar beet and pea production was a rich, small-fruit-and-berry economy, at one time a large part of Providence’s identity as an agricultural community.

The main body of my research relied on interviews with farmers’ children and those who once worked for them as adolescents and teenagers. Although the scope of this project was not large enough to include interviews with all of the farmers on the bench, the hope is that the conglomeration of the stories from this select group will be true to the experiences and community that once existed up on the bench, and that the results can be enjoyed by future Providence residents as the current generation passes on. This work is also applicable to and intended for those interested in the agricultural traditions of the past, which have declined across Cache Valley, Utah, and the nation.

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