Shady Acres is located in the middle of town, and three years ago, Corrigan spent $10,000 on billboards on each end of town to advertise the place, about the same time as the former Amoco station decided to purchase gas from the Silver Eagle refinery in Woods Cross instead of converting the station to a Tesoro Corp. station when the Amoco brand was discontinued.

"We decided to do that so we could have even cheaper fuel," she said. "The fuel is the same, but when you go with a branded fuel, you're obviously going to pay a little more. We decided, looking into the future, fuel seemed to be on the edge of skyrocketing, and we decided to go with nonbranding."

Not being affiliated with an oil company brand has freed Corrigan to advertise how she wants and offer the 3-cent-per-gallon discount to cash-paying customers, she said.

With no end in sight to the rising oil prices, gas-station owners are looking to such strategies to compete and survive. Doug Olson has a hard time contemplating closing shop. His grandfather, Slim Olson, began the company in 1937.

"Hope is what keeps you in it," he said.

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com