THE HISTORY OF THE LITTLE AMERICA RESORTS

 As may be described in the Dream of Sheep Herder Stephen Mack Covey in the late 1890's, he was caught in a freezing winter at 40 below zero in the middle of Nowhere, Wyoming.

He thought of the same predicament of the exporters in Antarctica, and promised to himself if he survived, he would build a "Little America" that others may find themselves in. Forty years later the Covey Family herded their sheep off and built the small cabins; great and cheap food; pumped gas for cars at 19  cents a gallon. The cozy cabins became a Sanctuary for lost wanders. That first "Little America" was settled in Granger, Wyoming. When my brother-Hal Jones and I were part time truckers for ZCMI, delivering furniture to Wyoming, we always made a stop at Little Amerce and the Food Bar like the ones still at the Little America in the City of Salt. It was later sold to Earl Holding and his wife Carol and they made it a great team for a stop for Truckers and vehicles traveling along the road that would become a Freeway. To this writer, the Holdings weren't out to be millionaires, but only to Keep The Internal Promise the original Covey's wanted to do. That thought became a reality when I had the chance to meet Earl Holding during the Salt Lake Olympics of 2002. I was working as a Police Officer there and all Police and Military were supposed to be eating at a sector of the Little America. On a day, I was assigned to be at the Grand America -which were Hollywood folks stayed but most of my duty was at the Little America, which was heavily fortified as that is where the King of Norway  and the like stayed. On the day in question, I stood guard at the entrance to the more Swanky Grand America, I opened the door for a man I had recognized, which was Earl Holding. He directed me and a cohort officer to come inside with him. I wasn't going to bark back. He directed us to the food bar and told the Manager to permit us there. I promised Earl we wouldn't arrest any of the Wall\y World Critters. He then sat down by us and we conversed for a few minutes. We soon found out he was a great businessman, but a Christ like gentleman who treated all people with respect and humility. During those Olympics, their were some wanna-be folks that made it to Washington as a Politician, but during the Olympics, I saw first hand what a great leader Earl Holding was. He is now passed on to Greater Heights, but taught his kids well as the Holdings of the Holding family are now owners of several other places such as Sun Valley. And  by the way, at the time of his death, Earl owned all Sinclair gas stations and worth somewhere between 4 and 5 Billion dollars, and he and his wife worked hard for every penny they earned, at least more than any Politician that got it, one way or another.