x ! . . , , - .-. ' vv - 1 y i . " - - . . :- I ' ' ,'v: " I r.-vr-, , . ..::-if:i '. , 1 ..... r- 1 ' L - I .-"'V ;''''';.''- ' ' -A V.,. r. ' .'- : : :. 't ' -'- .' rn-r ' . ! ,, ' - , v . ,s r i L h : IW1mt there Is a city there la smoke. From about 1918 on, many jitimmoky rtfiwi hsve been advanced by aumeroiM sealoua pro- Iponenta aa a cure-all to the evIL But k turvey ot Salt Lake City's I rooke-fl fitting history Indicates the problems seem to be almost unconquerable. To solve this puccle, to eliminate the menace to I health and beauty. Illustrated by the smoke pouring out of these chimneys! of homes,, one thing Is certain: a smoke abatement program must be continuous, vigilant and aggressive to succeed. By WILLIAM r. McNEANT Editor's note: This U the first In a series of articles dealing with Salt Lake City's smoke problem (U history, causes and , proposed remedies. At the beginning of Salt Lake City's history, the founders who decided that "This Is the Place" stood on an elevated spot from which they could gate out over vast stretches of plains and rolling roll-ing hills, with the mushrooming city of some 173,000 souls that was to become the heart of Utah then only an Idea, a dream, mostly a hope. The Invigorating mountain air, the fresh, clean sweep of winds from the peaks, the bright sunlight all these things swayed the early settlers heavily In favor of beginning begin-ning life anew on this spot and the start of a city was begun, whose Industry, commerce and the complex business of life was to bring smoke, smog, soot and dirt to the once pristine . spot, kept sparkling by nature.' One hundred years ago, the dauntless Youngs and Smiths and Ogdens were not concerned with a smoka problem -their mora immediate im-mediate needs were the necessities of life, and providing for their families. It was much later that their own descendants, with thousands thou-sands of jther native Salt Lakers, saw that as part of the cost of building a great city, they would have to pay the price of enduring an accompanying evil smoke. Fart of Progress Where there Is progress, there Is commerce, Industry, transportation, transporta-tion, fuel all integral parts that make up the. whole of a modern, forward-looking city. Smoke, it appears, Is. a necessary neces-sary companion to the mills of progress, and from Salt Lake City's own smoke-fighting history, It would seem unconquerable, for the most part Aside from generally practiced methods of reducing smoke, undertaken un-dertaken successfully In all major cities of the world, Salt Lake cannot can-not lay claim to having produced a revolutionary method of smoke abatement although there have been, times In the past when it looked' like zealous proponents of several antlsmoke schemes were on the verge of discovering a panacea to end all smoke "cures." While the city grew in increasing increas-ing strides from about 1900 on, people became uneasily aware that something was going to have to be done about the swelling smoke cloud which hovered over the city. Discussion and mostly Ineffectual Ineffec-tual abatement measures characterized charac-terized this period, until about 1913, when determined public-minded public-minded citizens began to call for efficient large-scale abatement methods. Even then, it wasn't until 1921 that an ordinance was written, writ-ten, -to provide the first official impetus toward eliminating smoke 1 from the city. - Started In 1918 , j The pioneer antlsmoke campaign cam-paign actually started back In the winter of 1918, when the city, along with the rest of the nation, was struggling back to "normalcy" "nor-malcy" following 18 months of war. Reconversion then, as now, was a headache to most but obstacles obsta-cles were pushed aside in a cooperative co-operative effort and the city's foremost operations mining and railroading soon regained a prewar pre-war footing. It wasn's long before Salt Lakers, Lak-ers, already blanketed with almost two years of war-increased soot were ready to face the fact that smoke was no longer just something some-thing to put up with without a struggle, but was a definite menace men-ace to health and well-being In the city, and should be curbed. In 1918, Sen. Reed Smoot famed Utah statesman with a progressive pro-gressive spirit obtained a federal appropriation of 315,000 for the use of the school of mines and engineering at the University of Utah In conducting an Investigation Investiga-tion and extensive study of the smoke problem. In cooperation with the U. S. See Page 18, Column 7 Citys Smoke Problem Result of Expansion was reflected in a report made oa June 1. 1925, by H. W. Clark and Austin Gudmundsen, covering four and one half years of smoke abate-ment. abate-ment. An encouraging report on the Initial efforts of the smoke-curbing smoke-curbing proponents, It also brought out that the total expense of the antlsmoke campaign had involved a per capita coat of only 10c to taxpayera. A remarkable achievement in many ways, the campaign proved that a great municipality which had been founded originally out of sheer faith and a "determination to make the desert bloom as the rose" now had cleared the path to overcoming the possibly even more terrifying blight of modern industrialism. indus-trialism. Efforts Slackened After this heartening beginning, an almost inevitable period of indifference in-difference set in among the general gen-eral populace and the administrating administrat-ing officials ss well. Feeling their task had been well accomplished, the city fathers decided to end their supervisory participation in the campaign, and withdrew their efforts at the end of 1923. The immediate effect was profound. pro-found. Within a mof th, the city had slipped backward four years In smoke-abatement achievements, to such an extent that 1927 was . as bad as five years previous, when the program was just beginning to take shape.. The lessons learned from thla alackenlng-off period helped convince con-vince the city commissioners that to be effective, a smoke-abatement program must be continuous, vigilant vigi-lant and aggressive. With this in mind, a redirected campaign was thrown into motion, with Increased efforts and mounting mount-ing public Interest that was to extend on through the coming 29 years. Continued from Local Page bureau of mines, the city and state worked together making a survey of the smoke, and also brought about the organisation of a city department of amok Inspection and abatement. The bureau proposed pro-posed the j antlsmoke ordinance which was later to be adopted by the city commission In 1921. To determine exactly what provisions pro-visions and i needs were to be Incorporated In-corporated In the city's original antlsmoke law, a city-wide Investigation Investi-gation was conducted In the heating heat-ing season of 1919-20, into the following summer months. Authorized Au-thorized by the city commission, the investigating group was made up of prominent engineers, heating experts and consultants. Among them was Oaborn Mon-nett, Mon-nett, a consulting fuel engineer, whose report of the survey has become a standard guide for similar simi-lar Investigations in other cities. The investigating group found, among othef things, that most of the industrial planta located within Salt Lake were producing annually 35 of their total smoke capacity. Study Results All coal-consuming smoke producers pro-ducers in the city were tabulated In the report, which showed how much each classification was responsible re-sponsible for1 In adding to the size of the soot cloud: j Percentage Industrial large heating of total plants . . . i 44.S8 Residences J 21.83 Railroads . . J 18.38 Small heating plants 9.04 Miscellaneous consumers . . . 6.17 The result of this report waa the creation of the department of smoke Inspection, to be headed by a city commissioner, and the passage pass-age of the j city'a first smoke-abatement smoke-abatement ordinance. Immediate and extenslv were the results of the ordinance. Before Be-fore the end of the year, 100 plants had been altered, with smoke devices de-vices and arrestors applied to fuel-consuming fuel-consuming equipment; in 1922, there were 118 altered, 75 in 1923, and 60 altered In 1924. By the end of 1924 the commission reported re-ported that every plant in Salt Lake City is in shape to operate with a minimum of smoke." Find Progress The enthusiasm with which businessmen (and industrialists supported the antlsmoke ordinance