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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY
meeting the old highway to Wellington east of the city. The state planned to complete the four-lane highway around Price to the county line, but to the present (1997) this has not been done. The exit from the new highway into Price travels into the city on First North, thus bypassing Main Street. Price's Main Street is much less traveled than it once was, but cars and trucks are able to travel much faster around the southern part of Price. Businesses have sprouted along the highway exits, including fast-food restaurants, hotels, and a hospital. Shopping centers have been built on both the west and east sides of the city. The county also has budt new roads to connect subdivisions in the county to the main roads. Carbon County remains a center of road transportation in the state.
Air Travel Not far behind the automobde in its arrival in Carbon County was the airplane. In August 1917 the Sun reported that observers in Price had sighted airships doing stunts over Price, flying about 600 feet above ground in a southerly direction. In 1919 Price built a landing field to provide for the new means of transportation. In 1920 a plane in which L.E. Whitmore was riding hit high-voltage wires at the Salt Lake airport, cutting Whitmore's chin and wrenching his back. The impact broke the propeller and landing gear and burned two brace wires completely through. Whitmore had decided to leave Price when the pdot offered him a ride. After the accident, he returned to Price by railroad but continued to fly whenever he had an invitation.35 The small airfield was not sufficient for long; in 1933 the county built a field nearby on a bluff south of Price just above the Price River. It was dedicated on 23 November 1933. The new airfield had a hangar forfiveplanes, one 2800-foot runway, and two 1500-foot runways. The community established an aviation school, which began with eighteen students. Two months after the airfield dedication, a fire destroyed the hangar and three airplanes. Three youths later confessed to starting the fire when they attempted to steal gasoline from the hangar. A few months later, the county rebuilt the buddings at the airport with private donations and a grant from the federal government. The county also purchased several fire extinguishers for the
