174
HISTORY OF MILLARD COUNTY
Melville of the county, a development that dismayed some church officials. Even after the establishment of the two national parties, many county residents sought advice from local church leaders before becoming involved in politics. For example, Hinckley resident David Stout conferred at the turn of the century with his ecclesiastical leaders prior to running for political office.49 It was often not easy to be a n o n - M o r m o n living in a community so heavily d o m i n a t e d by the M o r m o n church as was east Millard; this was evidenced by Charles Crane's comments to fellow county Liberal party member George Viele. Crane stated that during the years of conflict he and others experienced "social ostracism" that people in northern Utah, where more gentiles resided, knew nothing of. Crane was in the forefront in founding the Republican party in the territory w h e n the M o r m o n a n d a n t i - M o r m o n parties were finally disbanded and regular national political parties established in Utah in the early 1890s.50 Embracing the two national political parties helped sooth the longstanding religious a n d political animosities between m a n y M o r m o n s and n o n - M o r m o n s in the state as well as in the county. Non-Mormon Charles Crane of Kanosh took a lead in the Utah territory in organizing the new Republican party. The political salve of the 1890s paved the way for non-Mormon George Viele to be elected mayor of Fillmore in 1898 and again in 1902. Fruit production looked promising for county farmers during the last two decades of the nineteenth century. Fruit, wrote a Deseret News correspondent, was "one of the main dependencies of the people, especially in Fillmore." 51 The county had a narrow belt of land extending from Kanosh past Oak City with soil and climate conditions that were conducive to fruit growing. Gabriel H u n t s m a n in 1885 returned from Santa Cruz, California, where he had studied fruit canning. Huntsman established a small fruit-canning operation at the old Bartholomew mill in Fillmore; however, the enterprise was stillborn. The failure of Huntsman's enterprise, coupled with insect problems, low prices, and the frequent problem of late or early frosts, diminished the local enthusiasm to produce fruit. In 1881, for exam-
