Telephone
service began in 1913 under a cooperative plan connecting Hanksville
to Fruita and other communities in the county. This service was updated
in 1960. Hanksville did not receive electricity until 1960; before 1960
many residents operated individual generators run on butane or diesel
fuel.
The
early settlers depended on culinary and irrigation water from the Fremont
River. Culinary water improved in 1933 when a well was drilled that
was financed by the Drought Relief Commission; a second well was completed
in 1939 by the Civilian Conservation Corps.
A
Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) airport was constructed five miles north
of Hanksville in 1945. This station still functions as an emergency
landing strip and provides current weather data to the busy Los Angeles
to Denver route utilized by commercial, private, and military air traffic.