CLEARFIELD — OK, you've finished your shift at the coal mine and swabbed the coal dust from your ears before baling some hay back at the ranch.
Taking a minute to watch a space shuttle launch on TV, you then change your car's oil filter and grab a bite. A hearty swig from a milk jug washes down the Gardenburger and doughnuts that give you the energy to shoot some hoops, play some tennis and snap on some ski goggles before heading down the slopes.
On the way home, you unwind further by riding a roller coaster's crests and valleys. You're plumb tuckered by the time you lie down on your nice, comfortable bed for the night.
Along the way, every activity had a connection to the Freeport Center.
A pulsing economic heart that sends products coursing along the highway and rail veins that crisscross the West, the huge manufacturing, warehousing and distribution facility personifies not only hustle-bustle but also cool, clean efficiency.
"A lot of companies want to keep a low profile, so unless you come in here to pick up a basketball standard, there's no reason for coming in," said Stephen L. Barrett, general manager of Freeport Center Associates, which manages two-thirds of the Freeport Center space.
Ahhh, the basketball standard, the hallmark of Lifetime Products, whose more than 1,000 workers make it the largest employer at the center.
But other common products with connections to Freeport are the amusement park rides from Arrow Dynamics, foam for mattresses and couches from the Carpenter Co., Daylight Donuts, Del Monte Foods, bolts and plates from Excel Mining Systems that keep mine roofs from collapsing, Gardenburgers, Fram filters from Honeywell, hay baling twine from both Poli-Twine and PGI, milk jugs from Quintex, ear swabs from Sentinel Consumer Products, truck trailers from Utility Trailer and sports rackets from Wilson Sporting Goods.
A well-known item with a Freeport Center tie is the reusable space shuttle booster. They are refurbished here after launches.
"We're happy to have so many tenants," Barrett said of Freeport Center Associates' roster of about 90 companies. "We don't have all our eggs in one basket. We're happy to have diversification, and manufacturing and processing tend to be pretty stable."
The Freeport Center's statistics are certainly impressive. Freeport Center Associates oversees about 6 million of the 9 million square feet of buildings at the center. Its companies pack in about 8,000 workers on 735 acres and pay about $1.3 million in property taxes annually.
Freeport West has about 25 businesses in eight buildings on 41.8 acres in the remaining portion of the Freeport Center, and the rest is occupied by the Davis and Weber school districts, the Internal Revenue Service and the General Services Administration.
The Job Corps occupies much of the south-central section of the center.
The facility has a distinctive look and history. Row after row of uniformly sized beige buildings are arranged in a tight grid easily spotted from airplanes. Rail spurs poke through, leaving each building with rail service on one side and truck docks on the other.
Why that layout? What would become the Freeport Center was built during World War II to be the Clearfield Naval Supply Depot. Far enough inland to be deemed safe against attack, the depot supplied the Pacific fleet through ports from Seattle to San Diego.
And it is that west-central location that makes it attractive to businesses. The center is no more than two day's truck travel time from the Pacific coast, Phoenix and Denver.
"That concept as a center of the Western states still is applicable," Barrett said. "That foundation is still in place."
"This is a good location for a number of reasons," said Susan Johnson, president of aluminum extrusion company Futura Industries, which has about 300 workers.
"The amount of railroad tracks you have to go over to get in tells a lot of the story. We buy aluminum from smelters in British Columbia and Quebec, and there is great rail access, which is important to us. And we're right next to I-15. And for the employment base, this is pretty centrally located to affordable housing in Roy, Clearfield and Layton."
Darcie Liptrot, communications manager at Lifetime Products, which occupies 1.1 million square feet, agreed.
"We have parts shipped in to us by rail, and we're what seems like five seconds away from the freeway," she said. "It's an ideal location to get things in and out. It makes great music, as far as efficiency."
Johnson and Liptrot said the "big box" buildings provide flexibility for companies. Liptrot said space can be arranged for offices, manufacturing, storage and other business aspects for companies such as Lifetime that are vertically integrated.
Chris Dallin, president and chief executive officer of the Davis Chamber of Commerce, said the Freeport Center's importance to the local economy cannot be underestimated. It has so many workers, there is an effort afoot to get the Utah Transit Authority to provide bus service throughout the Freeport Center.
"We're quite fortunate to have it," Dallin said of the center. "You take a Lifetime Products or Utility Trailer. I mean, anywhere you go in the United States, you'll see a Utility Trailer passing you. Not only that, but the companies there pay higher-wage jobs, so it all helps our economy."
Barrett expects the center to keep helping the economy for many more years. The center is evolving — rail traffic is now between 3,000 and 5,000 cars per year, down from 80,000 cars at one time — but the occupancy rate remains high. Both Freeport West and Freeport Center Associates have occupancy rates topping 90 percent.
"It's been a good run for us," Barrett said. "We've been in a boom since '92 or '93."
And Freeport Center Associates is constructing a new building just about every year, something that will happen for five to seven more years until the landlocked facility simply runs out of space.
Barrett acknowledged that industrial concentrations in Salt Lake City are competitors, as someday may be the former Defense Depot Ogden, which is now Business Depot Ogden.
"We'll just stick to our knitting," he said. "If we can get in front of people and let them know what we have to offer, we'll do OK."
E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com