CACHE VALLEY PIONEERS ESTABLISH AN ECONOMY "Isn't cash some potatoes, carrots, and a little squash and maybe some wheat?" —MELTNDA OLSEN
L he end of the Civil War brought dramatic changes to the American economy. The war accelerated the economic revolution by helping to create a virtually insatiable demand for agricultural goods, new industrial products, and transportation connections. Cache Valley inhabitants were no exception. Although, on the one hand, the isolated location of Cache County meant that its primary economic development remained internal and included barter, tithing, and inkind materials, the communications and transportation improvements that brought railroads and the telegraph into the valley also meant immediate contact with the economic, political, and social world outside the high mountain valley. There is little doubt that within a few short years the pioneers of Cache County evolved from a local barter and cooperative economy to a national market system 52
