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expand into three more complexes along a twenty-five mile corridor, increasing their daily census to 120,000 sows and 800,000 hogs or 1.3 million hogs at a given time, or 2 million hogs per year. Within a short period of time, the project made Beaver County the West's largest hog producing area. By the time "Circle 4" reached its long-term goal, Utah would rank eighth in the nation in hog production. The company anticipated creating 750 permanent jobs.194 Already an important source of income to local residents, in 1998 the annual payroll was $7.5 million.195 When "Circle 4" first came to Beaver County, it seemed certain to offer economic prosperity, security, and unexpected benefits. It did bring much needed revenue into the county, but it also brought new challenges for local government and private citizens pitting neighbor against neighbor, locals vs. outside investors, federal vs. county and local government. According to Mike Carter, writing for the Associated Press, Allen Mayer and his family raised alfalfa in fields south of Milford for three generations before "Circle 4" came to the county. Now each morning they are acutely aware of the gallons of hog waste fermenting in sewage lagoons nearby. The Mayers joined with fifty other Milford farm families in opposition to the company, which they described as "employing the same political tactics and environmentally questionable m a s s - p r o d u c t i o n techniques that caused N o r t h Carolina in August to slap a moratorium on corporate hog farming, encompassing operations of all four hog producers (Smithfield Foods, Murphy Family Farms, Carroll's Foods and Prestige Farms)." "It's like the devil came to Milford," said Joey Leko, owner of the Green D i a m o n d Ranch near the Mayer farm. "This has split this c o m m u n i t y right down the middle, so's one half won't even talk to the other."196 Still the economic benefit to Milford was tangible and spread throughout the area—in 1994, when construction began on the complex, mining and the railroad, long a principal employer of the town, were in decline. In more than sixteen years, the city had not issued a single building permit. In 1998, however, more than sixty buildings were being built. "Circle 4" employed more county men and women t h a n any other business, with 300 jobs and an annual payroll in excess of $6 million.
