Utah Centennial County History Series - Grand County 1996

for the community. O n 12 February 1915 the paper proudly announced that Moab had electric lights. Advertisements in the paper's pages for light bulbs and other electrical appliances became ever more prominent in the years to come as more citizens took advantage of the new technology. Still, compared to today, electrical use was sparing, and the technology and service primitive. Floods or other problems regularly seemed to damage or knock out power in Moab-often for periods of several days. In 1919 there were repeated problems with floods damaging the electric plant, and a new concrete dam was built on Mill Creek that year to help ensure more reliable service. This helped the situation, but disruptions of power continued to be a recurrent feature of subsequent years.

Telephone lines between Moab and Thompson had been announced in the 14 January 1898 edition of the Times and were built soon after. J. N. Corbin was one of the prime movers in the enterprise and became one of the officers of the La Sal Mountain Telephone and Electric Company, organized in June 1903. Lines were gradually built and connected between Moab and Castle Valley and then south to Monticello. They were generally constructed by Corbin with the help of an assistant. When Corbin moved to Colorado in 1908, he sold his interest in the company. Some years later, in 1915, he organized and incorporated the Midland Telephone Company in Colorado to connect Fruita, Colorado, with Price, Utah. When the company's lines reached Cisco, Corbin was asked and agreed to take over operation of the La Sal Mountain Telephone Company. After a ten-year lease expired, the La Sal interests were purchased by the Midland Telephone Company, which continued to provide telephone service to county residents. Management of the company was taken over by J. W. (Jack) Corbin after the death of his father in July 1923.

Moab finally got a bank of its own-the Moab State Bankchartered and capitalized at $25,000 in July 1915, months after it was first announced. In March 1916 it was announced that another bank would be chartered as a national bank; and on 16 December 1916 the newpaper proudly announced that the First National Bank of Moab was officially chartered with a capitalization of $50,000. The town definitely was growing. Thompson also was flourishing as seen in the pages of the paper; Westwater and Cisco received occasional men-