According to the 1990 census, Blanding has a population of 3,162 people, over a third of whom are enrolled in some type of educational program. The College of Eastern Utah - San Juan Campus, established in 1977, provides a number of two-year degrees to an average of 500 students per year, half of whom are Native Americans. Many area people today refer to Walter C. Lyman's vision and believe it is still unfolding.

See: Cornelia Perkins, Marian Nielson, and Lenora Jones, Saga of San Juan (1957); Albert R. Lyman, The Edge of the Cedars (1966); and Gary L. Shumway, "Blanding, The Making of a Community," in San Juan County, Utah, Allan Kent Powell, ed. (1983).

Robert S. McPherson