Describes study of boomtown characteristics of Park City, Utah, a rural community affected by recreational development since 1970. Finds that residents experienced stresses and social problems similar to those of energy-development boomtowns, including declining quality of life, higher cost of living, and family, social and drug problems. (LFL)

The decline of agriculture in the 1920s and 1930s was compounded by the subsequent collapse of the rural social community, leaving the rural poor without a community and thus exacerbating and prolonging their poverty. Present restructuring of agriculture in the United States may have a similar impact on rural communities. (JHZ)