Uintah United

“One of America's Greatest Small-Town Stories”

In the last century Americans have built over four hundred hillside letters. These enormous roadside monuments identify high schools, universities and towns, but one has a story far more dramatic than any other. In 1922 a small Utah town was rocked with the news that the local school principal, had shot and killed one of his students. The student was a member of a gang of boys who had been responsible for threatening and driving out eight prior principals. Shocked and deeply divided by the event, the community of Uintah broke apart. Uintah United tells the remarkable story of the principal's successor, Golden Kilburn, who masterfully transformed the lives and behavior of these troublesome boys and healed a community. The lasting emblem of their inspirational tale remains as a giant letter U on the Uintah Hillside, built to stand for "Uintah" and "United."