Show WATER RESOURCES FOR UTAH hydrographic work of the united states geological survey in the year 1889 the united states geological survey began the study of the water resources of the state of utah stations were established on bear river near collinston collingston Col linston and on provo river at the mouth or the canyon the beha voir of these two utah rivers is pretty well known at the present time as a practically complete daily record of the flow in cubic feet per second has been kept for a period of twenty years with the exception of some scattering records kept by the army engineers very little data had been collected bearing on the water resources of the united states prior to 1889 but in that year a systematic study of the subject was inaugurated by the federal survey in several states and the work has gradually increased from year to year until at the present time the investigations cover practically every state and territory in the union including alaska and hawaiian islands in the study of its water resources the united states has been divided into districts the work in each district being under tinder the direction of a district engineer thus the state of utah is included in what is known as great basin district which comprises th the states estates of idaho utah and nevada E C larue district engineer has charge of the work in these three states on amount account of the limited federal appropriation pria tion only a small amount could be allotted for this work in utah and consequently ly the work has not progressed as rapidly as many people have wished however these investigations carried on by the government throughout the west have led to the construction of federal irrigation works during the last seven years costing upwards of the building of these large irrigation projects would of necessity have been greatly if not indefinitely delayed had it not been for the longtime records of stream flows showing the vast amount of water running to waste each year in these western rivers and also the amount of flow which could be depended upon undeveloped lands of utah thousands of acres of rich land in southern utah today lie practically worthless because they are without irrigation with the development of the available water resources the value of these lands will be raised top to several million dollars creating a magni magnificent ficen t asset for the state and the nation the preliminary to such development in every case must be a reliable record of the flow of the streams during the last session of the utah legislature a law was enacted authorizing the state engineer to operate cooperate co with and spend dollar for dollar with the federal government in the extension of hydrographic investigations to cover southern utah As a result the water resources e of the state of attah are now being carefully studied under the direction of E C larue district engineer for the TL U S geological survey and caleb tanner engineer for the state of utah the work in utah nearly doubled during 1909 at the present time a daily record in cubic feet per second is being kept on the following streams in the state bear river at collinston collingston Col linston beaver creek at minersville Miners ville blacksmith fork river at hyrum power plant race at hyrum box elder creek at brigham cottonwood creek at orangeville Orang eville diamond fork river at thistle escalante calante Bs creek at Elsea Bs calante lante perron ferron creek at perron ferron fremont river at thurber green river at elgin hobble creek at springville Spring ville huntington creek at huntington indian creek at strawberry valley logan river at logan logan hyde park and smithfield canal at logan muddy creek at emery Peteet neet creek at payson price river at helper provo river at forks san fafael at green river santa clara river at enterprise santa clara river at st george sevier river dt at gunnison sevier river at marysvale Marys vale spanish fork river at lake shore spanish fork river at spanish fork spanish fork river at thistle strawberry river at strawberry valley tail hollow creek at strawberry Str awbery valley U S R S power canal at spanish fork virgin river at virgin weber river at devils slide weber river at oakley weber river at plain city the records from these stations are published annually and may be consulted or obtained by writing the director of the U S geological survey washington D C or E C larue brooks arcade building salt lake city utah the 1909 records will be published in the spring of 1910 |