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Show OLD WATERWAY TO BE UTILIZED IN FLOOD CRISIS i .City Commissioners to Re-T' Re-T' open Pioneer Ditch Along , Bench in Effort to Relieve Situation in Southeast PRESENT SITUATION EXTREMELY GRAVE Only Freezing Temperatures Tempera-tures Can Prevent Large Section Being Inundated in Next Few Days, Belief ( The water will stsrt going svsr ths dim lats this afternoon, city officials ststsd. It wss ssid thst ths sold weather tonight would probably retard ths flsw a little. An Irrigation ditch built In pioneer days and later maintained by Salt " Lake City merely to satisfy ths watsr rights of a handful of shareholders In tha old Salt Laks and Jordan Irrigation Irri-gation district, will bs used to soften ths brunt of an impending flood, according ac-cording to plans being formulated by Street Commissioner T. T. Burton, who characterises ths present danger ss ths moat serious In ths history of ths community. Ths anclsnt ditch M eras In Its tlms ths greatest Irrlga-tlon Irrlga-tlon project ever attempted. It drew Its aUDDly from Utah laks and fol- . lowed the foothills around the east -.bench, finding a .final outlet In City Creek canyon at Main and North Temple- streets. From Sugarhouse to Its Junction with City Creek, ths old ditch was condulted several years ago and many residents of tha city did not know of its axtatence. To utilize this ditch In tha present emergency. Commls-aloner Commls-aloner Burton has converted Wilmington Wilming-ton avenue. Just south of Twenty-flret South and east of Eleventh East street. Into a stream bed which will connect ths Parley stream with the open ditch near the Highland drive power station. From that point ths overflow water will be carried to Crty creek, leseenlng considerably the volume of surface overflow, Commissioner Commis-sioner Burton estimates. Even with that provision, the street commissioner agrees with officials In tha waterworks department that the present situation Is extremely grave and that In no way will It be possible pos-sible to avoid one of the most damaging dam-aging floods In ths history of Salt Laks. LAKE LEVEL MENACES. Reports from Utah lake show the level there to be more than three feet sbovs ths compromise point agreed upon by court stipulation as ths high level to be maintained. This 1s ths highest register at the lake X sines litigation between Irrigation jrcompanlea snd lake shore farmers sJP 1 was terminated in the compromise L level snd residents In the threatened lake area are Insisting that ths big control dam be blown out to permit a free passage of tha water. To do this would only add to the alarming situation here. The Jordan Is within a few Inches of Its banks. The surplus sur-plus canal Is overflowing. Wster le backed up In the drain ditches ss far east as Klghth Weat street, and several sev-eral blocks of residences ars already eellarful with flood water. Only the cold weather of Saturday night and Inst night has delsyed the threatened flooding of a great portion por-tion of the southeastern residential eectlon. The Mountain Dell reservoir reser-voir at noon was within four Inches of tha spillway surfacs and will go over the top today. Mayor Neslen peuevee. unless an actual ireese sets. 1n tonight, ths preeent volume In Psr-ley's Psr-ley's canyon will be Increased by SO per cent tomorrow noon. It Is estimated. esti-mated. From Mountain Dell to the Jordan river, an area several hundred feet In width may be Inundated. STREET BECOMES DITCH. In preparing for this emergency. Commissioner Durton Is converting Thirteenth South street west of Stste street Into ons big ditch, ths bottom of which will be the traffic lanes on that thoroughfare. To do this he hsd constructed yesterda a high bank on ths north of the present storm sewer snd canal. Today he la ualng mora than 100 men to build a (Continued on page a.) OLD WATERWAY, (Cntlnudd from pag 1.) hank on th south aid of tha road, o that th Improvlaad livar baxJ will ba ready for uaa whan tha aurplua waters e pec ted bafora tomorrow noon reach that point. ISx pru In t ha waterwork a and treat departmanta today adjuatad Iheir eat .mate of whan h!fh wmter will ba rearhed to conform with tha rh aiign tn temparaturaa. lrnder thla revlainn. high water la expctM prob-nhly prob-nhly Htinday next, with a terrtfto flovr from all parta of ttia watershed fin- a period of at least ten day. In thnt Itn dsva, It la thought likely that a coneldernble portion of tha city will ba under water. Tho weat and so u t h ea at will su f f a r not on ly from the atreeima feeding through tha city property, but alao from back water due to thaws In tha Cotton woods. Mill Creak. Bingham and streams In Utah county racing down the channel of tha Jordan rirer t ' Great Salt Lake. REAL FLOOD LATER. "It will ba the highest water known Ihore In mrve lhan a generation, Com rn.baitncr 1'ui.on said today. "Tha wa!.jjo f'ir has been only from tha fnothlll" nnd when the deap mows "f lhi I ifet month tl nw. tha voluma vrH he !i :t ".! bryrnj present cal-CMlai.on. cal-CMlai.on. J'liaraoha. Qlen and Lamb 'a ran yon have not yet commenced to -slough., and other st reams will ba' filled he V ond capacity. All tha conduits con-duits and flood ditrhea ara filled ta capacity now. There Is no placj for additional water to go but over tha surface," he said. Mayor Nslen likewise expreeaed a belief thnt nothing further could ba d'ine but to wait, and hope for a ' severe cold spell. Complaint that dams at various points near tha mduth of the Jordan were obstructing tha si ream led Comm in.' oner Burton to declare that If anything could ba dona at this time to bring any material mate-rial relief the city .commission would not hesitate to Issue necessary or d era. |
