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Show v , THIS PROVO POST M 3CiLs ! Two Great Irrigation Projects Bring Wealth to Two Counties And Happy Homes to Hundreds of Settlers i from the time the first sturdy Utah RIGHT turned City Creek from its course to .irrigate the first garden planted in Utah, the people of this great state have realized that irrigation and the derelopement of our water resources to their highest beneficial use is absolutely necessary to the development of the state. The crude projects of early days serve well as beginners, for a system of irrigation of arid lands that has since been adopted in every developed arid region throughout the world. The people of Utah county followed in the footsteps of those who first led the water from City Creek to the virgin soil; and ever since that time the irrigated area of Utah county has been gradually increased, until today we have one of the hest irrigated valleys in the West. Thirty years ago the people of Utah county believed that our water resources had been developed to full capacity. Then government engineers began to plan for the greater use of the Utafi lake. But before they completed suggested projects, changes came, and for the time irrigation development was at a stand-stilThen came the birth of the Strawberry project in which prominent men of the county figured conspicuously and the government drove a tunnel the mountain and the through tapped A was reservoir Strawberry alley great built and a system of government canals has completely covered thousands of acres of land in the south end of the county, and the project is being constantly e .tended to fill the needs of farmers who are rapt Uy developing a great agricultural district in the south, and adding .cry materially to the v. ealth of Utah county-Thactivity of the men in the south end of the county stirred o.le to action and after ' years of study on li e ioo river, and noting the constant rise of i lakej Joseph R. Murdock,. Jesse Knight, J. William Knight, Abel John Evans, Joseph B. Keeler, George II. Brim-hall.Francis W. Kirkham, L. L. Nunn and others planned the development of two great projects. the Provo Reservoir company's project on the Provo river system and the Utah Lake and Irrigation company's project, which pumps the U,tlu lake. These twin projects, so to speak, have brought about a new era of irrigation development, which lias increased the wealth of Utah and Salt Lake cou'ntfes by millions of dollars. This season alone, denumkrated the value of the land irrigated, for the harvests amounted to nearly a half million dollars. The Pi o.o Reservoir company was organized in 1908, a. id in the following year the first " water from This source diverted from the I'rovo liver was deliered on Proo Bench and about lot 0 acres irrigated with it. This project diverts water from the Provo river about one mile up the canyon from its mouth and tiv a system of tunnels pipes and prcssureveonduits. conducts the water onto Provo Bench at the mouth of the canyon. From here the canal follows the contour of the Utah basin northwestward above the towns of Pleasant Grove, American Fork and i to the Point of the Mountain at the divide between Utah and Salt Lake counties. It is here syphoned across the Jordan Narrows to the west side to a point above Taylorsville within 15 miles of Salt Lake Uity. The main canal line over this course is approximately 40 miles from the Jordan Narrows and on the west side of the river a lateral canal is being constructed from the main canal to cover the lands-iUtah county on this side of the river "as far south as Saratoga Springs. Another lateral belonging to the Provo Reservoir system is taken fimu the Utah Lake canal near the Jordan Narrows, syphoned across the river to the east side and running southeasterly to Lehi City where it intersects the irrigation system of Lehi and the surrounding territory. It is through this lateral that an exchange of water with Lehi is effected; the Provo Reservoir company taking l. e . - wa-tcrfro- I Lc-h- long-Southwar- S. ,7 at the mouth of American Fork ean-vo- n and in return giving pumped water from Lehi water Utah lake. After crossing the Jordan river the Provo Reservoir canal is approximately 150 feet higher in elevation that the Utah Lake Irrigation company s canal and it parallels this canal at this higher elevation, the two systems embracing nearly all of the best lands in the Jordan basin in the twowounties, which have in the past been lying idle or unsuccessfully farmed. The Provo Reservoir system has grown from small beginnings. Although the general scheme - Utah Lake Irrigation Company The Utah Lake was iniIrrigation company tiated in lino, having as its object the pumping of water from Utah lake and the irrigating of lands along the Jordan river valleys in Utah and Salt Lake counties. When the filings were made on Utah lake considerable opposition was encountered principally from Salt Lake City and "anal companies which had beeu using water from Utah lake through the Jordan river. These companies, with the. support of Salt Lake City, fought an action through the courts to restrain the Utah Lake Irrigation company from water from the lake and perfecting its application. The outcome of this suit was that the Salt Lake county interests were limited to a duty of 70 acres to the second foot giving them a total of approximately 500 second feci, instead of 850, which they demanded as the only condition of compromise. On the final decision in this ease the promoters of the pumping project felt Justified in going ahead and construction work was begun on the canals, pumping plant and pipe lines early in the summer of 1912. This work has been constantly under way since that date until now the system consists of a pumping plant capable of delivering 115 second feet 100 feet highCanals approximately 50 miles in length and several miles of concrete lined conduit and pipe lines have been constructed to deliver water to the users. This system, in its present condition, will irrigate at least 10.OOO acres very nearly this acreage having been served during tide past season. The land embraced under the project is among the most fertile and productive in the state and the M cst Jordan sod ions are fast becoming eeogmzod as large prodpeciN of alfalfa and bods. Tile value of the crops alone on the iambs directly served by the Utah Lake tron company system for the past season could he conservatively put. at $500,000, with a total increased valuation of property, for which this vstem is directly responsible, of- at least pump-ing-an- y - su-g- ir -- $1,500,000. this development lias been consummated by the utilization of a resource of the state which lias not only been lying dormant, hut has become a menace to some of the farmers of Utah county, i.e: the waters of Utah lake. During the past .'ear, largly due to the increased use of water in tah valley, principally from the Strawberry All 1 valley project, the waters of Utah lake have risen to such a state as to cause fanners in affected districts to initiate means of relief. The water, supply from Utah lake is considered bv those in a position to know as one of the most dependable and constant in the state, he supply being as great in the summer months as in the spring or fall. The area covered by the project is out into tracts of relatively large size, especially for this part of the state- It is not uncommon to find from 80 to 160 aere$, and io one or two eases, fields of several hundreds acres exist. Two notable examples of these are Austin Bros. farm at Saratoga Springs and that belonging to Francis Kirkham at West Jordan. The Austin Bros., during the past season, harvested 90 acres of sugar beets, approximately 1000 tons of hay - of reclamation in its entirety was outlined in the beginning and surveys made and construction commenced, with the whole plan in mind, it was not without many doubts and misgivings that the promoters contemplated the almost insurmountable difficulties that they were sure to encounter in its completion. Reservoir sites were secured on the Provo river, water sheds and construction on these began almost contemporaneously with construction on the diversion works, conduits and canals. This work has been in almost continuous progress since it initiation until now nearly 10,000 acres are being irrigated from the system. with a possibility of irrigating several thousand acres more in the next few years. ,This will approximately double the acreage which was formerly irrigated by the Provo river. This water supply has been taken from the high water run from the Provo river supplemented by storage water from reservoirs and other low water sources obtained by the company. All this vast acreage has been reclaimed in the past eight years; lying contiguous to a community which has been developed ever since its settlement by the pioneers. The products of this acreage during the past year may be conservatively estimated at $750,000, and the lands which are irrigated from this source are easily worth $2,000,000. In the reclamation of this land the company has already expended approximately $500,000 and the work is far from being finished. The system at present is capable of deliver200 second feet of water to the headgates of ing its waterusers, hut this flow is not at present reached, except in the spring or flood period of the river. The company sells two kinds of war ter rights, the and the late- - and water rightsThe period on Provo river usualto continues some time in July and with this ly water farmers on the class of soil which is in the Jordan valley, are maturing main crops and two good crops of alfalfa. The promoters of this project are principally the same as those of the Utah Lake Irrigation company and the two projects were initiated for the same general scheme of reclamation. W lien completed the two systems will bring under iri'igation nearly 40.000 acres that ten years ago were producing little except sage brush and jack rabbits, and incidentally add at least 75 per cent to the irrigated areas of northern Utah and southern Salt Lake counties. The officers of the Provo Reservoir company are Jos.. IL .Murdock,-presiden- t and general manager; J. Wm. Knight, vice president; Jos. B. Keeler. A. J. Evans, Stephen L. Chipman, Francis W. Kirkham, George II. Brimhall, O- C. Beebe arid David A. Smith. R. J. Murdock is secretary and I. II. Jacob, chief engineer. high-wate- all-seas- - high-wat- er - and several thousand bushels of grain, while Francis Kirkham raised in the of 1500 tons of hay and several thousand bushels of grain- - The company has expended approximately $400,000 in development work to date and the syhteni is not much over 50 per cent completed. It is expected that at least SO.OOO acres will ultimately he reclaimer! under the project. With the many concrete examples of successful farming on all sides, the land owners are fast realizing the benefits of irrigation in this area as against dry farming and it will not be long before nearly every acre under ..the system will be irrigated. The officers of the company are as follows: Joseph R. Murdock, president and general manager; J. Wm. Knight, vice president; A. J. Evans, L. L. Nunn, W. R. Biersach, J. W. WFitzgerald, Stephen L. Chipman, II. R. Waldo and H. E. Smoot, directors. R. J. Murdock, secretary and I. II. Jacob, chief engineer. - ;v t y r-- y. w u t f t |