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Vernal in Uintah County, Utah — The American Mountains (Southwest)
 

Farm Exchange Building

 
 
Farm Exchange Building Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, July 16, 2013
1. Farm Exchange Building Marker
Inscription.
"They didn't have a lot of money, but they
didn't know that they were poor."

-Rebecca Kunz's (1892-1985) impressions of the Great Depression

Built of concrete because it was considered fire proof, the building across from you has not changed much since its completion in 1925, following seven years of slow construction. Five local people would own this building before it became a vital link to this community in 1930 as the "Farm Exchange Building." Purchased at the beginning of the Great Depression, when many people in the Basin were losing their jobs, this Co-op supported small farmers and ranchers enabling bartering or trading of supplies like wheat, oats, corn, squash, pumpkins, potatoes and carrots, for other goods or services. Bartering was a way to survive without money, and during those days, money was hard to come by.

Adjacent to the Farm Exchange Building was a livery stable where many wild horses, after being caught from the open range, were corralled. As a condition of sale, the horses had to be ridden at least once before being sold to the British government and shipped to South Africa during the Boer War of 1899-1902.

The large, painted letters on the west side of the Farm Exchange Building advertise the once robust gasoline and refining company named PARCO,
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an acronym for the Producers and Refiners Corporation of Parco, Wyoming. In its heyday during the 1920s, the company refined over 8,000 barrels of oil a day to fuel the voracious new auto industry.

By the time of the Great Depression in the early 1930s, the company had fallen into receivership, but was saved by the booming Sinclair Oil Company. Today, the town located six miles east of Rawlins, Wyoming, boasts 600 Sinclair employees and, due to management support, is now considered one of the most modern refineries.
 
Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Industry & Commerce.
 
Location. 40° 27.348′ N, 109° 31.909′ W. Marker is in Vernal, Utah, in Uintah County. Marker is on Main Street (U.S. 40) east of 200 West Street, on the left when traveling east. Marker is located on the sidewalk, directly across Main Street from the subject building. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 168 West Main Street, Vernal UT 84078, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 12 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Fort Ashley Center (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); Vernal Post Office (about 400 feet away); Cobble Rock Gas Station (approx. 0.2 miles away); Do Religion and Money Mix? (approx. 0.2 miles away); Parcel Post Bank
Farm Exchange Building (<i>across Main Street from the marker</i>) image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, July 16, 2013
2. Farm Exchange Building (across Main Street from the marker)
(approx. 0.2 miles away); Where the Dollar has More Cents (approx. 0.2 miles away); Shipped Another 12,000 Hen Fruit by Parcel Post (approx. ¼ mile away); Jensen (Mau-be) Ferry (approx. 11.9 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Vernal.
 
Also see . . .  Men with New Trucks in Front of Farm Exchange.
The Farm Exchange was the outgrowth of the Farm Bureau, which A. Theodore Johnson managed from 1919 until 1935 when he changed the name to Farm Exchange. In 1937 he sold the business to T. G. Alexander who remodeled the building, inside and out. Located at 200 West Main Street, this photo taken in 1948, shows men standing in front of new GMC trucks locaded with 36 tons of wool. (Submitted on February 26, 2018, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.) 
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on February 27, 2018. It was originally submitted on February 26, 2018, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 256 times since then and 11 times this year. Photos:   1, 2. submitted on February 26, 2018, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.
 
Editor’s want-list for this marker. A wide shot of the marker and its surroundings in context. • Can you help?

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Mar. 28, 2024