Show E EXTENSIVE irrigating it Is well kno that in consequence of the entail amount of water that has been made available heretofore for irrigating the large tracts of farming land laud west of this city on both sides bides of the jordan no inconsiderable amount of which has been fenced and efforts have haye bein been made to cultivate most of the farms thus made have been to a great extent fessand less les sand gand land the amount of grain and other products of the soil grown on them has been quite limit limited ednot not sufficient to repay the husbandman baidman baldman for the money and labor expended in fencing I 1 tilling and ans endeavoring to make the soil soil productive at some seasons of the year the surplus waters of the mountain streams passi passing og through and near mar the city have been used to some advantage in watering the farms antha on thal thai east side of the river that were so n situated that the tha water after reaching the tew lew lands could be made to flow over them but in ia thie the season when most needed the amount amour of water thus obtained has hag ba been small and not at all sufficient to irrigate 0 the crops cro cre to 0 the extent required for their growth an and maturity t arity under these circumstances the farming interests in the vicinity of the city on the theowest th ewest vest have languished and several farms thab that tha t were made and fenced at a great ex pens enot having been paying t establishments have bave been abandoned some four or five years since those having pot pos possessions sessions sess lons ions on the west side of the river and north of the tooele thoele road by making some preliminary but not very scientific burve burye surveys y 9 became satisfied that by making a dam in the river a short distance above the bridge they bouldi take the water to their farms very easly easil yand and made application to and obtained permission from the county and city authorities to erect a dam and take out the water for that barp purpose ose arrangements were entered inid into by the parties interested in connection with some visionary or other schem schemes es having in ia view the propelling a of machinery to build the dam and di dig the required canals but eitner I 1 atom the m magnitude ab of the concern as planned the want of faith in its utility and consequent backwardness of some in paying up subscriptions or perhaps by some bome mismanagement mana ament ement of matters the work did not progress very rapidly and some two years ago wai wal was wholly suspended and what had bad been done from the dilapidation and waste that followed foll foli 0 wed became nearly valueless val uless some changes having 0 taken place and a new spirit of enterprise springing up surveys surreys were vere made early the past sprit by which it was ascertained that a much larger tract of land could be watered and brought into culli 1 vati on than had previously been by taking out the water of the river at the point originally contemplated arran arrangements em ants were made by persons having the energy and the means requisite to carry out their plans plan sto to j complete the darn dann that had been commenced and abandoned excavate vate tate the principal canal as originally contemplated only supply with ith water farms that had been previously fenced but butarin bring brin cultivation into thousands of acres of grassani grass gras sand and add farming land hitherto lying ring I 1 waste or used only for public grazing pur pure poses the work was commenced immediately on the maturity of the plan of operation and from present appearances success will goon soon crown their efforts on friday last in company with our kins man inan elder george A smith and bullock campbell and jaques we visited and I 1 made an ahi examination of the darrl darri that is being built and will shortly be finished under the i slon sion of alderman A hi raleigh of this city and of the canal ana and other works connected with this extensive irrigating enterprise ter prise which when completed will greatly conduce e to the interests aud and consequent b cakl call h naj nap fpx opt ly 0 of the parties immediately interest in andi and engaged in carrying on the work ark but to the w agricultural interests teresta in of great groat salt lake county cou nty and the wealth of the citizens generally the work is being done in a most substantial manner so a fan far as the erection of the main dam is c concerned ned and the structure cannot carnot fall to resist the action or f force orce of any flood that may be expected to occur in that zigzag and somewhat a sluggish lullis h stream the principal dam is b built ui it on a canal that has been dug across a bend in the river of sufficient width and capacity to con tain all the water of the stream if necessary into which the river is to be turned as soon as the dam which is so constructed that by a very simple process the water can be raised or lowered four feet easily and quickly is ia completed after which the old channel is to be closed up by a dam daa of a less lesa expensive and in our opi opinion nion ninn not of the most substantial nature altho aitho our knowledge of hydrodynamics is somewhat limited and we may have overrated the force that buch such an amount of water as will at times unavoidably bear upon it will exert the excavation of the canal which la taken out a short distance abo above the dam is far advanced and irwill it will be ready to receive the water and convy it to the land on which it is to be used by the time the othar works are completed A canal has also aiso als ais been surveyed on the east cast side of the river the construction of which in consequence of the inter intervening interlining of the creek and the unevenness uneven of the ground above the tooele thoele road will be attended with more expense than the one on we the west side as several aqueducts will have to be made but when completed as it is intended to be at no distant day nearly or quite every foot of cultivable land below said road can be irrigated and made productive the land now and tilled will be greatly increased in value and hundreds of acres of land that have been beer lying waste will be brought into cultivation adding materially to the amount of grain and vegetables ve geaL grown in this county the expense of making makin 0 the dam digging e the canals making 0 the etc wil wll 1 amount to no inconsiderable sum not less than ten or twelve thousand dollars but the profits resulting I 1 from the enterprise this year will f auly compensate comp coap those farmers who have assisted in doing the work works for the labor and money by them contributed for that purpose and the benefits that may be expected to accrue in years to come are incalculable when if ever the canal that was surveyed some years ago for taking the water out of the jordan at the rapids for the purpose of watering the jordan plains or prairie land landa will be constructed is uhl unknown but whether it shall ever he be dum dug or not nol such is the fall in the river after it enters great salt lake county that most ot of the water can be used for irrigating the lands suitable for cultivation alons along its banks and on OD the west side far back fro from m the stream by gout the water at differ different ent points and at an expense in no place as great as at erlat where a dam is ia now low being built it is ia true that in some instances the water would have to be taken a longway long way before it could be used extensively but by surveys that have been made it has been satisfactorily ascertained that if the canal conveying the water to the jordan mills was enlarged sufficiently to contain the entire waters of the river above the point where it is taken out all not required for propelling the machinery now in ia operation there could be advantageously bously used on as good good farming land as aa there is in this county and it certainly would be much more valuable for grain growing than grazing grazin 0 purposes etwas it was in contemplation last fall by some of the citizens of west jordan precinct to commence the tha work of extending the jordan mills canal this spring but bur no move in that direction has been made as yet yel if however the irrigating enterprise now in progress shall succeed to the full expectation of those engaged in idof which there is little or no doubt an enlargement and extension of the canals above may be expected and before m many any mare mar years eyears shall pass away fruitful fields and fine orchards will undoubtedly be seen on that side of the river where the land landis is now of but little value and measurably a desolate waste the waters of the jordan as m well mell ell eli as of every stream flowing into it from the mountains in great salt lake like valley should be made subservient to the producing of grain fruit and pore morg more value and having a greater tendency tend ency incy to increase in creasa the tho resources and wealth of th the e county than all the grazing grazin ranges in the valley |