Salt Lake Tribune | 1913-10-05 | Page 22 | $1,000,000 Project Now under Way in South Fork Canyon Will Greatly Increase Ogden and Weber County's Water Supply

$1,000,000 Project Now Under Way in South Fork Canyon I ii fe -A5 -Jit .J$ ' Al Jfi v5S Will Greatly Increase Ogden and Weber County's Water Supply PHOTOGRAPHS taken of the new Ogdon -waterworks project, (1) iTho crystal waters of South Fork which will ho stored for the use of Ogdon citt- 1 zeus and tho Irrigation of Weber county lands. (2) South Fork canyon oast from tho dam sito. This canyon for a distance of two miles will form tho reservoir. (3) Near view of trench construction, showing bedrock uncovered at the bottom. (4) Sito of tho South Fork dam, looking acroBs the can- I you from the north end of the foundation trench. 1 ' , ni . i I i i Additional Flow Also Will Be Used for Irrigation Purposes. Special to Th Tribune. OGDEN, Oct. 4. Tho accompanying accompany-ing pictures are tho first published pub-lished photographs taken at the site of tho South Fork dam and reservoir project, which is being developed, devel-oped, at a oost of $1,000,000. Approximately Approxi-mately one-third of the project will be completed within tho next twelve months, at a cost of $350,000. With the expenditure of $350,000, the project will furnish Ogdon City with an unlimited Bupply of water for municipal munic-ipal purposes and also furnish 10,000 acre feet for tho irrigation of Webor couutv lancL Concrete construction on the 600-foot dam has been started and it is the intention of tho city officials and officers of the Ogden River Roser-yoir Roser-yoir company to complete the structure in time to. impound the flood waters of South Pork river in 1914. Conceded to be tho moat Important project of northern Utah, the South Fork dam and reservoir will also be one of tho largest water-impounding plants of the entiro Btate, Wedged in a graceful arc between the rocky walls of the South Fork canyon at a point about twenty miles east of the city, the 000-foot dam constructed, as in- . tended at this time, to a height of 120 feet above tho river bed, will impound approximately 10,000 acre feet of water, wa-ter, which is equal to more than 400,-000,000 400,-000,000 cubic feet. Considering that thousands of acres of Weber county land are now supplied with sufficient water for irrigation, with the exception of two months of the year, it is readily realized what the storing of 10,000 acre feet of wator for tho dry period will mean to tho future of Weber county. At a height of 120 feet tho dam will back tho water for a distance of nearly near-ly two miles to the east. Eventually the dam will be constructed to tho full height of 200 f eot, when 25.000 acre f oet of wator will be backod into tho mouth of Beaver canyon, a distance of moro than threo miles. All plans and specifications specifi-cations havo been drawn for a dam of tho height of 200 feet, although tho agrooment between tho city and company com-pany provides for a 120-foot structure, which is to be an earthwork dam with a reinforoed concrete core to the full height of the barrier. Dr. Samuel Fortier, chief engineer for the United StateB department of agriculture, has approved the bedrock which has been oxpoBed for tho entiro ; distance across the canyon. In addition to this, he is of the opinion that an earthwork dam, with a concrete core, is the safest structuro for tho impounding impound-ing of water in South Fork. With a dam of this construction, according to his report, the coro wall may bo fractured frac-tured at several points, yet tho whole structuro will romain intact and absolutely abso-lutely safe. The slightest fracture in a dam of solid masonry impairs the whole barrier.