increased in the northern section of the valley, once again a demand for small stores arose. Currently two modern convenience stores are located in outlying communities, one in Peterson and the other in Mountain Green. Also, during the construction of Trapper's Loop Road, many people traveled into the county from Huntsville en route to Ogden and Salt Lake City, creating further opportunity for small businesses to be profitable.
M o m and Pop Stores Following are brief histories of the Mom and Pop enterprises that at one time constituted the heartbeat of the small communities:
Peterson General Store Peterson store was located on the east side of Old Highway 30, on a hill directly east of Union Pacific Railroad depot. According to the book Mountains Conquered, "Early owners of the General Store were Isaac Bowman, Edwin Williams, John Croft, Joe Greenough, J.B. Robbins, Axcel and Oscar Olsen, and the last to keep the store in operation were A.F. Bohman and his daughter, Esther Thompson." Isaac Bowman was granted title from the United States of America to one hundred sixty-two acres of land in 1875 on which Bowman was already established." The date Peterson General Store went into operation is unknown. Also, the date Edwin Williams acquired the one and one-eighth acres of land and the store or how long he operated the business is unknown. In 1890 Williams sold the land and store to John Croft for $900.84Joseph B. and George Robbins bought the general store from Croft in July 1899 for $1300.85 George was the postmaster, and Robbins lived in the back of the store. The store did not provide enough income for two, so Joseph bought out George's interest. Joseph then became postmaster. Jim Williams helped Joseph get logs from the nearby mountains. The logs were sawed into lumber to build a barn and ice house. Joseph and his family built and moved into a small house south of the store. From 1899 to 1906 Joseph's children helped deliver groceries to miners in Cottonwood Canyon. In March 1906, Joseph Robbins sold Peterson General Store to Axcel and Oscar Olsen for $1,000." They owned the store for only a
