Arbon Valley's wheat growers organize for the Farm Board, 1930
Arbon Valley wheat growers began organizing a Farm Board grain local in February 1930, and several of the same names later turn up on the New Deal's AAA committees.
From the Old Papers
Stories of Arbon Valley retold from the newspapers that reported them: the American Falls Press and other papers of the homestead years, and later ones. Each quotes the paper and links to the original page.
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Community blog · 2010–2020 · original publication order · stories from the old papers added since 2026
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Arbon's wheat road across the reservation, 1934–1939
From 1934 to 1939 the papers followed the effort to rebuild Arbon Valley's worn-out wheat road across the Fort Hall reservation, from a governor's inspection in 1934 to a senator's request in 1939 for $240,000 for a highway through the valley.
Frank Phelps of Arbon, Who Froze to Death in 1934
Frank Phelps, an Arbon Valley farmer in the papers from 1915, froze to death in 1934, and his son Bud, then 14, left school to run the family farm.
Roy Lindley of Arbon and Idaho's war on the golden eagle, 1937
In April 1937 Roy Lindley of Arbon protested when Idaho's new game warden called off the state's drive against the golden eagle.
An airplane sows grass seed on the range near Arbon, 1938
In late 1938 a Pocatello pilot sowed crested wheatgrass from the air over 8,000 acres of rough range between Arbon and Rockland, on land leased by Carl Rudeen.
Between stakes: the Arbon Ward from Curlew to Pocatello, 1940–1951
When the Curlew Stake was dissolved in 1940, the Arbon Ward moved to the Pocatello stakes; church notices follow it to its discontinuance in 1951.
John R. Breeze: a rescue at Guam and a Silver Star on Corregidor
In 1942 the papers twice named a Marine whose father lived at Arbon: John R. Breeze, honored for a 1940 rescue at Guam and then for bravery on Corregidor, where he was taken prisoner.
Arbon Valley men in uniform, 1941–1946
Enlistment lists, Logan society columns and a B-29 crew's mission log follow some of the young men of Arbon Valley who went into uniform in the Second World War.
Hazel and Glenn Andersen of Arbon in the war years, 1942–1945
Hazel and Glenn Andersen of Arbon married in Utah temples ten weeks apart in 1942 and 1943, and the papers followed her Spanish-costume reception and his air corps years.
The Stinson plane found from the air near Arbon Valley, 1944
In December 1944 a Stinson cabin plane bound for Salt Lake City crashed in deep snow west of Kinport Peak, killing all three aboard; two men in a search plane over Arbon Valley found the wreck.
Arbon Valley wheat farms in the want ads, 1946–1959
From 1946 to 1959, Utah want ads offered Arbon Valley dry farms of up to 1,600 acres, with combines, granaries and wheat allotments; one asked $160,000 in 1957.
Skis, a weasel and a stuck plane: Crystal in February 1949
In the blizzard of mid-February 1949 a Rattlesnake rancher skied nine miles and telephoned that about 60 families had no new supplies, and a weasel brought a sick man out from Mercer Creek.
Standard Oil comes leasing in Arbon Valley, 1949
In November 1949 Standard Oil Company of California applied to lease state land west of Arbon, and by January 1950 it held state leases in Arbon Valley.
Three Pocatello fliers killed near Rattlesnake Creek, 1950
On a rainy night in November 1950 a light plane from Pocatello crashed near Rattlesnake Creek in upper Arbon Valley, killing a flight instructor and two students.
Contour strips and hillside combines on Arbon's slopes, 1952–1965
How valley farmers worked steep dry-farm ground: Ross Saxton's contour strips in 1952, a hillside grain saver praised by Arbon men in 1960, and a combine that overturned in 1965.
Twayne Austin killed returning from Arbon Valley, 1952
Twayne Austin, Pocatello's Continental Oil agent and president of the stake that took in Arbon, was killed in 1952 when his tank truck crashed on his way home from the valley.
Frozen fog on the Arbon Valley power lines, February 1954
In February 1954, after about two weeks of freezing fog, frost and ice weighed down the power lines around Arbon until 12,500-volt wires sagged nearly to the ground and poles broke.
A Stolen Pickup, a Death and the Valley Vigilantes, 1954
In 1954 a pickup stolen at Lava Hot Springs and a Pocatello man's body were found in Arbon Valley; that fall twenty ranchers formed a winter patrol.
The search for Gene Bailey, Arbon Valley, 1954–1955
Gene Bailey, 17, a grandson of Arbon's Lorenzo Bailey, left the family ranch in May 1954 and was seen walking toward the mountains; a valley rancher found his body sixteen months later.
Clyde Jenson's "del Gesù" violin and the Utah Symphony, 1955
In November 1955 Clyde Jenson of Arbon Valley lent a violin described as a Guarneri del Gesù to the Utah Symphony's concertmaster for a recital and a Tabernacle concert.
Sod Williams of Arbon and his quarter horses, 1956–1966
For ten years Utah papers followed Sod Williams of Arbon and his quarter horses, from Poco Star's placings at Ogden to the clinics where he was billed to teach reining.
The Williams family of Arbon in the arena, 1958–2025
From Sod Williams's prize quarter horse in 1958 to Wade Williams's rodeo title in 2025, the papers followed an Arbon ranch family through the show ring and the arena.
David Stohl, three, killed in a grain auger at Arbon, 1959
In October 1959 three-year-old David Earl Stohl was killed by a power grain auger as his father loaded grain from a granary on the family farm at Arbon.
Lloyd Brower's small range war, told to a Senate hearing in 1960
In 1960 Arbon Valley cattleman Lloyd Brower told a Senate subcommittee at Twin Falls how a range quarrel with sheepmen put his cattle on the forest, and protested a 40 percent cut.
A pilot killed near Bannock Peak, northwest of Pauline, 1961
In a rainstorm on March 24, 1961, a Utah pilot who had just taken off from Pocatello was killed when his plane came down near Bannock Peak, about five miles northwest of Pauline.
Joseph Roberts pulls a crop-duster pilot from the wreck, 1962
When a crop-dusting plane crashed and exploded in Arbon Valley early on July 21, 1962, Joseph Roberts pulled the pilot out; the crash set off a range fire.
Floods cut off Arbon Valley, March 1962
In late March 1962 snowmelt floods washed out the roads into Arbon Valley, the power and telephone failed, and mail carriers crossed a broken highway on planks.
Two charter planes lost: the Aztec on the Hayden ranch, 1963
Two Pocatello charter planes were lost on a stormy night in March 1963; one crashed on the Ben Hayden ranch north of Crystal, killing its pilot and passenger.
Richard Christensen killed when his combine overturned, 1965
Richard S. Christensen, 47, a Brigham City dry farmer, was killed on September 24, 1965, when the combine he was running tipped over on a hill in Arbon Valley.
A Snowville mother and her boys snowbound in Arbon Valley, 1967
In December 1967 a Snowville mother and her two boys, stuck in a drift in Arbon Valley, sheltered overnight in a house they reached on foot and rode home after the snowplow came through.