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1996 AND THE FUTURE
One hundred years after Utah's statehood was granted and Carbon County was created, the economic future of the county is uncertain. As in 1894 when the county was created, energy resources continue to be a dominant economic factor. However, there are both positive and negative indicators which make any prediction about the future of Carbon County controversial. In January 1996 the Sun Advocate quoted analysts who believed that the slump in the coal industry had bottomed out and that the industry is currently facing a slow, steady rise in production. Larris Hunting, manager of the Utah Job Service office in Price, stated, "We've stabilized the last two to three years and now we're seeing modest growth."1 In 1996 Coastal States Energy Company planned to begin developing a new mine in Dugout Canyon just north of Wellington; but in September 1996 the company announced that it would postpone work on the mine until the spring of 1997.2 In 1995 the CyprusPlateau Mining Company acknowledged that it had less than ten years of mining left in the Star Point Mine at Wattis and said it would 388
