MILLARD COUNTY IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY
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Billy Van's Dance Hall in Delta—opened in 1920s and still standing. (Great Basin Historical Society) outstanding athletes of the county before 1930 were Nels Cooper from Fillmore and Bryan Petty from Deseret, rivals in track sprint races.41 Nearly every town had a ball field and a team. Oak Creek had two teams, the "Limbers" and the "Stiffs." Weekend games between town teams were common. 42 Limited by the few basketball courts, basketball nevertheless was played during the winter months. Basketball games were played in the small gym at the Millard Academy, in Anderson Hall in Leamington, and in Oak City after the cultural hall was completed. On occasion, the Delta First Ward amusement hall served as an improvised basketball court. The Millard Academy team won the southern Utah championship in basketball in 1911. An interesting source of income for a few ranchers at the turn of the century was capturing and selling wild mustangs. In the summer of 1911 Roy Dresser, brother to newspaper editor Norman Dresser, and Al Searle announced their intention of going into the business on a more permanent basis. They reported locating twenty-three different bands of mustangs and expected to capture and ship several hundred head that season. One local man recalled that the mustangs were corralled in Oasis and were shipped to St. Louis for sale for pur-
