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HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY
million square feet of covered storage space available by the late 1960s, "Second Street" remained one of the largest supply depots in the nation and an important factor in the Weber-Davis economy 48 The economic impact of wartime spending created a new prosperity unknown in Davis County since before the Great Depression. The most obvious boost was the creation of thousands of new jobs at the depots and thousands more in temporary construction work to meet the need for facilities, housing, and schools. Sunset, Clearfield, and Layton became "bedroom communities" to the military depots. In addition, the government and its employees p u r chased goods and services locally Some farmland was sacrificed for military installations and housing in the northern region and for oil refineries along the county's southwest border; even so, price supp o r t s and the d e m a n d for farm p r o d u c t s increased agricultural income. Government controls and quotas were a continuation of the Depression-era p r o g r a m s of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. During the war, the AAA's Davis County office— renamed the Davis County Defense Board—set higher crop production goals in the federal "Food for Victory" drive. Local farmers generally approved of these actions because of the positive impact on profits.49 Recruiting thousands of workers for the Davis-Weber depots was a challenging task, as there often was a need for additional help. Many of the resident civilian employees of the two-county region liked the security of government employment. Farming became a part-time occupation for many; for others a defense job was viewed as overtime work to supplement farm income. Most employees saw the work as a patriotic d u t y Enlistment in the military had diminished the pool of available white m e n , so recruiters encouraged nonwhites and women to apply The limited number of nonwhite residents in Utah led to recruiting outside the state. The Naval Supply Depot, for example, brought in more than 2,400 African Americans from the South. The depot also employed Native Americans recruited from New Mexico and Arizona as part of the federal bracero project. Japanese Americans who had been interned during the war hired on as well. Students c o m m u t e d to the federal workplaces from as far away as Logan. Retired persons a n d people with physical handicaps also
