3. but must be given very high marks for their accomplishments. Recently I came across the minutes of the second directors' meeting held one year after the company was formed. The minutes record that the company earned $165, 000 in that first year on its original capital of $24, 000 and declared the entire amount out as a dividend, and I quote from the minutes, "payable on demand". At our last meeting I reported this fact to our Board and Arjay Miller, one of our directors, was quick to point out that the company's growth rate, yield, and return on assets has been declining ever since. Early in its existence the company won a contract to build the Western Pacific Railroad from Oroville, California to Salt Lake City, a huge undertaking in any age but the more formidable when 50 tunnels had to be driven through the Feather River route by men working with hand drills, sledge hammers, and black powder. Earth had to be moved with mules and Fresno scrapers and men had to lay track across the arid wastes of Nevada and Utah. The successful completion of the Western Pacific job launched Utah into the big time and the company occupied a position of dominance in the western construction field until the mid 1930's. In its first 10 years it earned a total of $1 1/2 million and this soared to $7. 6 million in the next 10 years. In 1919 alone it reported a profit of $1. 6 million and this record was to stand for the next 27 years. The second phase of the first 50 years are the lean years 1920 threw 1939. By 1920 the railroad structure of the United States was largely built and the company had to turn to endeavors to obtain other forms of heavy construction. It became one of the leading dam builders of the west but its financial results reflected a sharp decrease in earnings. In the 10 years ending in 1929 the company earned only $1. 8 million and even in the next 10 years