Show I Utah tah Has Another Lesson On Protecting Watersheds I U had another experience with the possible disastrous I consequences of abuse of our mountain watersheds Down in Mt Pleasant the thc a afternoon of or Pioneer day Pleasant creek creck crossIng cross- cross Ing through the center of town suddenly went on a flood ram ram- page The creek swollen by mountain cloudbursts rose out of its ita bed and swept devastatingly through the town The terrific force of the water fore tore down bridges overturned overturned overturned over over- turned parked cars on Main street and carried them as far as five blocks It completely demolished one store and flooded others Streets houses and business structures were clogged with several feet of mud and debris The Denver and Rio Grande railroad tracks were covered with mud and boulders All together the sudden flood lasting only a half alf an hour did more than worth of damage acc according to the city's mayor Fortunately no lives were lost but the havoc was terrific Not a drop of rain fell in the valley itself but th the heavy rain which fell in much of Utah on Pioneer day deluged near-by near mountain slopes Probably those slopes have been overgrazed and burned in the past Abuse and carelessness have destroyed precious ground cover and there is l little to hold a sudden heavy fall of rain The result is that the water trickles down the eroded slopes lopes instead of sinking into well matted d and protected soil The trickles gather into little rivulets the rivulets merge into streams and the streams finally become torrents raging down gullies Mud gravel boulders and debris are picked up by the rushing water and the whole destructive mass churns down into a creek and converts it into a surging tide which sweeps down Into the valley vaIley to wreak its havoc That's how floods are born in this mountain country They spend Pend their force and do their damage down in the valleys bu but they have their origin way up on the mountain slopes They start trickles of water running off an eroded mountain slope N Not t only does docs the precious water go to waste it becomes a destructive de de- de- de peril Deril instead of a boon to man 1 We learned that lesson right here in Salt Lake Lak City last August We learn it again from this Mt flood We Ve have or or at least we should have learned have learned that lesson in Utah many t times 1 in the past We shouldn't need any more such lessons We Ve ought to know now from experience that we face a constant flood menace in inthis inthis inthis this arid mountain country unless we safeguard our watersheds unless we stop the trickles high up on our mountain slopes by stopping the abuse of our our watershed cover Those trickles can be stopped Weve We've proved that conclusively conclusively conclusively with watershed protection and flood control projects in Davis Davis' county and in some other sections of Utah We Ve know the problem We know the solution There is no excuse for continuing continuing con con- continuing to let our watersheds deteriorate to the point where we have more of these disastrous and costly floods |