6
From Sagebrush to Shopping Centers
COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENTS O o o n after settlers established homes in the county, they set about establishing means of exchanging goods. Two businesses that soon appeared were the trading post or general store and the saloon. In the town of Ashley, Pardon Dodds and James Gibson began trading posts. Several saloons soon came into existence, all bringing trade and money into the county. Each outlying settlement developed in a similar manner. T h r o u g h o u t the years many establishments have been organized to serve the county. The first general merchandise store in Vernal was erected by John A. Blythe and Thomas L. Mitchell; it also became the post office. In 1889 John Thomas McKeachnie opened a large general merchandise store in Glines at what is now called McKeachnie Corner (1500 South and 1500 West). The main road into Vernal passed by the store in the early days. The Ashley Co-operative Mercantile Institution was organized in 1881. The one-story, log-and-rock building was twenty by thirty feet. Its first manager was William Ashton and the first clerks were Philip Stringham and B.O. Colton. The store soon prospered in thriving Ashley Valley. The old co-op building was torn down and a new one 154
