ST. GEORGE — America, late nineteenth century, was a mishmash of old-world sensibilities intersecting with the economic prosperity of industrialization.

Although the nation’s economy was strong and growing, it struggled through several downturns, such as the Panic of 1893, which led the United States into the worst economic depression it had experienced up to that point in its history.

The financial fallout was felt almost immediately throughout small-town America and large urban cities.

During the years between 1893-97, several Wall Street brokerage houses collapsed, more than 600 banks and 16,000 businesses failed in just five years. The national unemployment rate reached an estimated 20% in the first year of the crisis, those who remained employed found their wages slashed by an average of almost 10%.

The agricultural sector, already experiencing a slump, also felt the effects of the panic with thousands of farmers losing their land. When the Panic of 1893 reached Utah, it found a precarious situation and made it worse. No longer regionally self-sufficient, Utah had become part of the national financial structure and at risk to the ebb and flow of economic cycles.

To meet the economic challenges, Utah businessmen began laying off workers and reducing wages. A half-dozen prominent citizens were bankrupt with many more on the verge of losing everything.

“I have never witnessed a greater stagnation in business enterprises than has manifested itself during the last month,” said Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Heber J. Grant in 1893. “Money is not to be had, confidence seems to have disappeared, and credit is denied by nearly all tradesmen. Public works are stopped, and thousands of men are out of employment.”

Even before the panic, Utah had experienced tough times. During the territorial boom of 1889-90, the value of land, business and residential property skyrocketed to as much as ten times pre-1889 prices. Speculators reaped enormous paper profit, and real-estate transactions in Salt Lake City reached an unprecedented $100,000 daily — $3.3 million in today’s dollars.

To meet the unquenchable demand for credit, nine new banks opened in the city. In December 1890, the collapse of London’s Baring Brothers burst Utah’s financial bubble, leaving in its wake price devaluations, lower profit to be made, overextended credit lines and an atmosphere of pessimism that contributed to the Panic of 1893.

Most historians agree that the financial panic could have been worse. Fortunately for Utah, church leaders and local business owners who placed their faith in God would not let what had been created by the pioneers be laid to waste.

One local entrepreneur, Thomas Judd, who immigrated to America from England in 1864 at the age of 18, fit the description to a tee.

“I wish the population of our state was composed of just such men. A pioneer of exceptional worth and a bulwark to any community,” wrote Utah resident D.S. Spencer at the time of Judd’s death in 1922.

Resourceful, kind, compassionate, a hard worker and a man of faith with an affinity for numbers, Judd did everything in his power to assist in the colonization of Southern Utah. His business ventures were as varied as his imagination.

Whether the business was involved the processing of cotton lint for cloth, growing fruits and nuts for commercial sale or opening a mercantile in St. George, Judd had a hand in it all.

Apex Mine

During the 1880s much of the American West was awash in mining operations, and Southern Utah was no exception.

In 1884, copper was discovered 14 miles west of St. George by Nephi Fawcett and William Webb, making way for the Apex Mine, which operated sporadically from 1884 to 1962. More than 7,000 metric tons of copper, 180,000 troy ounces of silver and small amounts of gold and lead were taken from the mine.

After a period of poor performance, the mine was bought by the Woolley, Lund & Judd Company in 1890, who turned it into a profitable enterprise. To meet the demand for copper, the new owners built a smelter on the northwest corner of Diagonal Street and 700 East in St. George in 1890.

The smelter, complete with water-jacketed blast furnaces, processed ore from the Apex mine. The City of St. George provided land for the copper smelter at the head of Diagonal Street. The 25-ton smelter was operated profitably during 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894 and intermittently until 1899.

Woolley, Lund & Judd sold their interest in the Apex Mine in 1898 to the Utah Eastern Copper Company, which also built a smelter near the Santa Clara River. This saved the expense of hauling ore into the city for processing.

The canal

In 1888, Judd was called by church leaders to LaVerkin to supervise its colonization.

Prior to his arrival, Judd formulated a plan to facilitate the region’s growth by diverting water from the Virgin River onto the LaVerkin Bench via a canal.

The plan took shape and construction began. But, because of extensive delays from constant breaks in the canal, Judd was forced to mortgage his St. George home in order to raise the necessary capital to complete construction.

In 1889, Thomas Judd would turn his business acumen to the development of the region’s agricultural and horticultural potential. That year, the LaVerkin Fruit and Nursery Company was incorporated with a capital infusion of more than $30,000.

The purpose of the company was to establish fruit orchards and vineyards, manufacture wine and liquor, promote the husbandry of cattle and general farming operations. Thomas Judd was the first president of the organization.

The canal was a difficult engineering accomplishment. Construction lasted nearly two years. It was not until the Spring of 1891, that fruit trees, signifying completion, were planted.

However, when the water’s path was diverted into irrigation ditches the real problems began.

As soon as the water began flowing it caused cracks in the gypsum formations along the canal. On closer examination, men found many of the cracks were studded with holes “big enough for a bear to crawl in.”

The men dug out the holes, filled them in with rocks and dirt, and “puddled” them with bentonite clay to reform the canal. But, to everyone’s dismay, holes continued to plague the project.

With cotton lint furnished by Thomas Judd’s factory, workers tried plugging the holes, but the water again took the gypsum away, including the cotton lint plugs. As a final ditch effort, the men tried to use Bagasse, or roughage left over from making sorghum molasses and straw, with little success.

The LaVerkin Bench was an ideal place to grow fruits and nuts. The soil was rich, but keeping water in the canal was enough to infuriate even the most patient settler.

Regardless of the challenges, residents started to take more interest in the canal as farming expanded throughout the bench.

Aeound 1910, Judd learned farmers were having success lining their portion of the tributary canals with cement. Judd decided to purchase several bags of cement and test for himself.

In the beginning, they had a great deal of difficulty at the head gate of the dam.

Flood waters would constantly cause sand and debris to pile up against the gate. Church leader Henry Gubler felt that they could prevent this problem if they dynamited rocks at the head of the canal. Judd sounded the warning bell, firm in his belief that Gubler’s plan wouldn’t succeed, but it did.

With a dream fulfilled and a functioning irrigation canal crisscrossing Washington County, the City of LaVerkin was established. Another project accomplished.

Silver Reef

One year after Judd’s return from proselytizing in England, a silver boom was well underway in the nearby mining town of Silver Reef. The mines there were so rich they would go on to produce approximately $8 million worth of the precious metal.

By 1879, about 2,000 people lived in Silver Reef, approximately 15 miles northeast of St. George.

By this time, there were five mills and more than three dozen profitable mining operations, in addition to dozens of smaller mines. The town had a mile-long main street with many businesses, including a Wells Fargo office, the Rice Building and the Cosmopolitan Restaurant.

Silver Reef was also home to six saloons, several assay shops, a newspaper ‘The Silver Reef Miner,’ other restaurants, hardware/general merchandise stores and even a Chinatown.

Social life in Silver Reef also benefited by the booming economy now sweeping across Southern Utah.

Among its eclectic mix of retail, residents and visitors enjoyed a spirited tune from the town’s brass band, fellowship meetings at the Masonic fraternity hall, a shooting enthusiast’s club known as the Silver Reef Rifle Club, and a baseball team — the Silver Reef Dirty Stockings.

Seeing the potential for continued growth, Woolley, Lund & Judd opened a store in Silver Reef. With stores in St. George and Silver Reef, the firm would go on to play an important role in the region’s economic growth.

“I married Mary Lund during this period,” Thomas Judd said. “During this time, improvements were made in the quality of the various fruits (of Dixie). I had charge of (showing) the fruits and vegetables at the National Exhibits at St. Louis, Portland, Seattle and San Francisco. Also the Irrigation Exhibits held at Ogden, Boise, Sacramento, Albuquerque, Omaha, Chicago, and New York.”

The horticultural entries proved so successful that they brought home an array of awards. Among his life’s greatest works, the LaVerkin Fruit and Nursery Co. was Judd’s “greatest undertaking” and provided the “greatest amount of good.”

“When this work was started, there were no homes that were permanent south of Toquerville. Now we have LaVerkin and Hurricane with up to date homes, farms, waterworks, electric lights, grist mill and a splendid school house at Hurricane with many other little conveniences coming along,” Judd said.

In 1897, after 18 years as Bishop of the St. George 1st Ward (1879 to 1896), Judd was called by Wilford Woodruff, then church president, to Eastern Nevada and become the man in charge of the White River Colonization Project.

“He left Salt Lake City by train, was met at Frisco (a town west of Milford) by Earl Ashworth and they continued their journey to Nevada by wagon,” said Dixie Judd Burgess, Thomas’ granddaughter. “He had been made manager of the Nevada Land and Livestock Company. This had been formed to implement the colonization of three ranches in White Pine County – Murry Creek – later known as Georgetown Ranch (Ely, Nev.) – Maddox Ranch (Preston) and Tom Plane (Lund).”

Judd and Ashworth arrived at the Home Ranch in Lund, Nev., on April 17, 1898.

“It was a beautiful sight as they came down the canyon and out into the beautiful level valley,” Burgess said. “They could see the ranch houses for 20 miles before they reached them. They found a family by the name of Black who were boarding seven ranch hands.”

The next spring, 1899, after selling his property in St. George and relocating his family to Lund, Judd bought the Home Ranch and nearly 100 acres of pastureland.

In 1870, prior to Judd’s arrival in the area, a new boundary survey confirmed that the settlements were in Nevada — not Utah or Arizona. Both territories had accepted payment of taxes in the form of goods, but Nevada officials wanted back taxes paid in gold or silver. Few settlers could afford this.

By early 1871, all but one Mormon family had left.

When Judd answered the call to White Pine County 27 years later, he was able to induce others to settle in the valley.

“About twenty years ago, I was sent out to White River to do some colonizing for the Mormon Church,” Judd said. “Things were in a demoralizing condition. Things were finally brought into shape and the Town of Preston was settled with about 25 families also Lund with about 75 families. Then Georgetown … with 25 families. I was then set apart as Bishop of these towns.”

Judd stayed in in the White River Valley for four years. Under his direction the settlements had grown and prospered, and the Mormon church throughout the valley was organized and functioning.

After achieving his goals, Judd returned to LaVerkin in 1902.

“Thomas Judd was deeply interested in the people of LaVerkin and did all he could to help those in need,” Burgess said. “His wife stood by him in all these undertakings, and was a very industrious and hard working woman. It was a common thing to see more than a dozen men who were assisting with this great reclamation project, sit down to her table to a good meal.”

By the turn of the century, Judd was well known and many of his friends and acquaintances traveling through, stopped by to partake in Thomas and Mary’s hospitality.

Between 1906-08, Judd could often be seen busying himself with activities in LaVerkin, business trips around Washington County. A round trip visit to Las Vegas and California, including Los Angeles, Pasadena, a balloon ride over several the beach towns of Venice and Santa Catalina Island were also in his journals.

Judd took his first, and likely his only, ride in a glass bottom boat during this time.

“I did not find Catalina as nice as expected,” Judd said. “Saw fish and marine garden Etc also seals. The trip was very interesting. Cost $2.75.”

Later, Thomas Judd returned to St. George and was mayor for one term, (1912 to 1914). At the same time, he was president of the Library Board when he sent a grant proposal to the Carnegie Library Foundation to build a library in St. George.

In 1915, St. George city officials received word of a successful grant proposal for $8,000, with a city match of $4,000.

The library was constructed between the St. George Tabernacle and the Woodward School. It was completed in 1916, in June of 1919, the St. George Public Library was renamed the Washington County Library.

Across the nation, a total of 2,509 Carnegie Libraries were built between 1883 and 1929.

“For years Thomas Judd had been a member of the State Horticultural Committee, and in 1915 he was asked to be in charge of the Utah Horticultural Exhibit in San Francisco,” Burgess said. “He was there for two months and then he and his wife … were taken on a one month tour returning home by way of the Panama Canal.”

Judd subsequently sold much of his interests in LaVerkin, including the Pah Tempe Hot Springs, and opened Judd’s Store. At this point in his life, Judd wanted to live in St. George full-time with his family while the children were in school. He also wanted a business for the boys to work in “so they wouldn’t get into mischief.”

Judd Store

The Bentley house, prior to Judd’s Store construction, was built in 1876, by William Oscar Bentley for his bride-to-be, Mary Ann Mansfield.

When Bentley proposed to Mary Ann, he promised to build her a beautiful Victorian home. She said “yes,” and construction began almost immediately.

According to her diary entries, Mary Ann enjoyed watching the construction and dreaming of the day when she would be the “mistress” of this elegant home. But, Mary Ann was never to have this privilege. Two weeks before the wedding, Bentley sold the home to his brother, Joseph.

“I almost called the wedding off, but decided I was getting married ‘for better or worse’ and I needed to learn that lesson right from the start,” Mary Ann said.

In 1908, Joseph Bentley sold the house to Thomas Judd.

In 1911, Thomas built the present Judd’s Store in front of the house, which was then used for office and storage space.

Instead of selling the treats it does today, the store first catered to the needs of the area’s cattlemen, sheepherders and farmers. Back then, it sold everything from groceries to hay and grain to Levi’s. It also carried groceries and dry goods, clothes, kerosene and fabrics.

Step into Judd’s Store and step back in time. The false front dates back to more than 100 years. The one room store has classic candy, old-fashioned sodas, sarsaparillas, root beers, grilled cheese, nachos, soup and ice cream. Particularly outstanding is the tin ceiling rescued from another historic business, Snow’s Furniture Store.

Tin ceilings originated in the 1880s as an affordable way to dress up a room’s fifth wall. Tin was not only an aesthetic upgrade, but it was also meant to emulate high-end decorative plaster. Tin also offered a measure of fire protection, a big concern at a time when home cooking, lighting and heating were largely done with open flames.

The store still retains some original items in the interior and boasts a gas pump made in 1946 out front. It’s not the original, but it’s in the same spot where a similar one once stood.

Famous for its thick shakes and malts, nostalgic candy, glass bottled sodas and mouthwatering food options, Judd’s Store continues to be a favorite stopping point for both locals and tourists.

When asked what she liked the most about Judd’s Store, 7-year-old Vanessa Smith replied, “I just love the ice cream. It’s the best ever.” When pressed to name her favorite flavor? The response came in the blink of an eye, “I like every one … and someday I will try them all.”

Vanessa’s mom, Cynthia whispered, “anything with chocolate mint. My daughter has it running through her veins.”

What patrons might not know about the store, located at 62 W. Tabernacle St., is that it’s the oldest ongoing business in St. George. Until its acquisition by Green Gate Village in the early 1980s, it was also the longest-running family-owned business in the city. One key to its modern-day success is its location.

“When you put a candy shop next to a school, kids will come,” Randy Judd said.

In fact, Judd’s seemed to have a symbiotic relationship with the school across the street. First the Woodward School, opened in 1901, which now serves as part of the Washington County School District Office, and later West Elementary, which stood where the 5th District Courthouse now stands.

Students from the two schools were regulars at the store during lunch. It was bedlam, Randy Judd said.

“I worked at the store a little bit,” he added. “When I was growing up it was a madhouse during lunch time. I couldn’t take it. At the time, you could see on top of the glass cases marks where kids would take their nickels and dimes and ping them to get dad (Tom Judd Jr.) to wait on them. This lasted from five minutes to an hour. It was a nightmare.”

Although the store’s employees were overwhelmed, a visit to Judd’s became a rite of passage for local youth.

“When I was in high school there was a pecking order. As soon as you became a senior you could go in, buy a Pepsi with some peanuts, and sit at the counter,” Randy Judd said. “This was a big deal. Everyone wanted those seats.”

Although a popular establishment, Judd’s was once on the brink of being demolished. In 1982, the city wanted to condemn the store and turn it into a parking lot. The store’s demise was avoided when Dr. Mark and Barbara Greene purchased the store and the Judd family home to inaugurate the Green Gate Village project.

A long period of restoration followed during which hand-painted doors and marble fireplaces were discovered. The original stove was also found under a collapsed outbuilding.

“There are several things that I wonder about,” said Randy Judd. “For instance, today when we write our own history we get into detail, but if you read this history, you never hear Judd talk about the church much … only its leadership, you have to read between the lines. He believed what he was doing was true. He also doesn’t say much about his wife or his family. The only clue that gives you insight on Thomas Judd’s life is through his successes.”

Thomas Judd died June 7, 1922, at the age of 77 in St. George. His wife, Mary, who was born in St. Louis, Oct. 23, 1850, died in St. George, August 3, 1923.

According to his death certificate, Judd died of kidney disease (Chronic Interstitial Nephritis) and had been ailing for some time. His death was not unexpected.

Shortly after his death, the Washington County News printed messages of condolence to the surviving family members.

Salt Lake resident John Wells embodied the collective loss everyone felt.

“Accept our deep sympathy for the loss of your father,” Wells said. “His life has been such an inspiration not only to his family but to whatever community he lives in. His passing away will not only be a sore trial to (the) family but he will be deeply missed by all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance in life.”

It was reported that at the time of his death, Thomas Judd left behind real estate holdings valued at $36, 493, and personal property worth $2,796.

He held part of controlling interest in Thomas Judd Store Co., Hurricane Mercantile Co., LaVerkin Sanitarium Bathing and Resort Co., Dixie Stock Co., Dixie Power Co., Moapa Valley Telephone Co., St. George Ice Co., Washington County Hospital, Virgin Dome Oil Co., St. George Oil and Gas Co. and Bettilyan Home Builders Co.

His combined net worth in today’s dollars would have been $718,020.

This is the final of a three-part series. Read the first two stories below:

Faith, perseverance and hope: A Mormon’s journey west to foreign lands

Faith, perseverance and hope: A Mormon’s journey west and new beginnings

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