| Show MORE WATER increasing the depth of the jordan river biver it is generally understood that work is being done on the jordan river kiver with a view to increasing the flow of water in the various canals which are supplied by that stream but the nature and extent of the work are not so well understood with a view to giving the public full information upon this subject a reporter accepted an invitation vi from city chas H wilcken to take a drive to those points on the river where work is beins being done mr wilcken and the reporter started from the eity city in the formers buggy shortly before nine yesterday morning the drive along aloas the state road gave opportunity to note the rapidity with which that section has been settled and improved during re cent years old residents formerly daml familiar 1 ar with it but who have not got seen it lor for some som e years aou would id be astonished to view it now fine residences prolific orchards and fertile farms occupy the land which was so recently a waste FRIEND WILCKEN FLYERS emad excellent time and the point of the mountain was reached before soon noon here we the buggy turned to the right and by a circuit circuitous Aus route made its way downto down to the flat on which stai stands its a house occupied by a mr goodman in III this flat is a slough semi ctr circular eular in form which used to be the channel of the river when the D R G W was being constructed a fill was made straight across this horse shoe which forced the river against the west side of the hollow and of course into a new ob channel annel this new channel is not as deep as the old one above and below the horseshoe horse shoe and consequently a riffle existed here about tp 5 yards lots work was begun on this riffle july 23 five men being employed on aug 6 the force was increased to eight men A tent was provided for this camp for the men to sleep and oat cat in and it was pitched near the bank of the river on fi ibe le flat above spoken of with touching I 1 1 expression P OP OF DISTRESS on his bis countenance one of the men described to the reporter how bad the mosquitoes were it wasa was useless seless to drive the tent stakes more firmly into the ground or to bank up the lower edge of the canvass with dirt with a view flew to barricading barri cading against the winged masto donsT into the tent they would come nothing short of cannon proof naval armor would serve to keep them out probably this man did not intend to be untruthful he looked to be an honest patient hardworking hard working fellow but as his bis account of the capacity sa sire etc i of the jordan mosquitos would seem too unreasonable for belief to most of I 1 our oar readers unfamiliar with the fauna of the region referred to it is not cot hire here hi re reproduced the statement that the only way in which ane ruen men coult could acia little sleep was by sinking I 1 in the rh er out of of their ia tor mentors and occasionally coming to the surface for air is however given for what it is worth it would seem that sleeping in the bed of a good sized river would be fraught with grave rave danger THE METHOD of deepening the channel here is as ag follows A plank runway is extended nearly across the stream which is bout about forty feet wide two men f alki a wheelbarrow each on this thi is ay and three other men stand in the water on each side of it and shovel the gravel mud etc into the barrows ten hours a day themen the men stand working thus in the water the bottom here is covered with a layer of gravel a few inches thick under which is a hard tough clay very difficult to handle it is too bard to dig easil easily yet too soft to blast the men however have made good headway and it was expected that the work at this point would be fin finished dished last evening the work covers an area of about 13 yards wide the width of the river by about 75 yards long the length of the shallow place the average depth of water over this area has been in creased to about 34 84 inches it was only from six to ten inches deep when work began the dam 0 of f the salt lake ci city t y canal is but a short distance below here the reduction of this rillie has lowered the water above it so 80 as to make another rillie on what is known as the OLD INDIAN FORD about one fourt IN of a mile further up the stream it is said that long ong ago the indians made a dam 0 of f roc rocks Where here in order to catch fish it was at this point that the old camp floyd stage crossed the jordan it will not be abig big job to deepen the channel here sufficiently two or three days work will do doit at before work began becan in the riffle below the water here was nearly three feet deeper than it now is work was to have been begun here today by the eight men who give have been working at the thae D B R G W fill about one mile above indian ford a force of seven men under israel ev evans ans ettli of lehi each with a team a ither a plow or a scraper had jus just fished w shed removing a riffle 0 on which the force have been at work three and a half days this riffle is at a flat on which the people of farmington Farming tOB built a sheep cor corral and camped at the time of ate he move among amon the debris brought ashore here wa was s a buffaloe buffalos buff alos horn hor partially petrified I 1 As mr wilcken and the reporter approached pro ached this spot the entire force started up the river after going about yards the teams ENTERED THE STREAM and commenced plowing and scraping the bed here is a shallow place about a fourth of a mile long which will require from two to three weeks work to reduce when this riffle is removed however the result must be erable increase in the volume of the river as according to surveys that have been made there was only seven inches difference between the level of the water here and on the bar at t the he lake across the head of the river which has lately been dredged down considerably in other words when this allis jog last las named large riffle is reduced the jorl dan will virtually be an arm of utah lake town down to the dam a distance of nine miles hitherto a wind blowing up stream over these rif fles has impeded the flow flew of water to a marked extent on the contrary a down stream wind has increased it somewhat the removing of these riffles fiffles will make the how flow steadier the water in utah lale lake is lower now than was ever before known except in 1879 and it is ia believed that it will go as low before the season is over ove rasit as it did that year IT HAS RAPIDLY since work began on the rif fles fies otherwise there would be considerably morle more water in the jordan than there is the lake has bas fallen eight inches in the last three weeks fish gather around where the men are at work in the river probably to feed upon the ohp worms etc which are turned up the horses ili ih plowing and scraping in the river tra trample ale on ana an kill numbers of suckers 1 there here has been some blasting done and this has killed quantities of list fish but it was unavoidable few trout are met with the native fish in the jordan consisting almost entirely of chubs or mullet and suckers the expense of making these improvements prove ments will be divided between salt lake county the canal companies of north south and west jordan drs per and salt lake city each paying one sixth when the work now under way is completed about IS 18 inches more of the water of utah L lake k w it ill ba brought into this county than would otherwise have flowed into the jordan this means that i A SHEET OF WAT ell i a foot and a half deep five miles wide and 25 miles ion long longeill be spread over thi city and the farms of this county minus some loss in distribution the farthest point visited by mr wilken wilen and the reporter i was 27 miles distant on the return home a detour was made to visit the farm of president angus M cannon where men were at work cleaning but bat the salt lake city canal removing from it a species of 01 grass that grows very abundantly in greatly it impeding the how flow of water two men were wading down stream side by side and each with a short scythe was mowing the grass which floated on ahead of them to be caught on a grating and thrown t onto lonto the bank by two men a short distance below this grassis very bulky when growing in the water but upon being thrown upon the bank and allowed to dry shrinks to almost nothing and in a few days is reduced to powder it is a GREAT NUISANCE and the men above referd referred sd to were removing the third crop of it which has been th thrown ro wn out of the canal th this is year ear three times each season the c canal ana has to be cleaned of this grass after g giving ivill necessary directions to t the he men w working ri ing here mr wilcken h beaded III bis a team tor for home T the e k kind d of horse flesh he drives may be known know by the fact that the last five miles of the sixty which the team traveled that day was made by the horses with heads and tails up and an eagerness that could only be restrained by a strong hand on the reins the parties to the eap exp expense ense of in making aking the above improvements in the jordan have done well in reposing the 8 er 1 in intend tendency ency of the sape same ka VL the hanY handsy hands 0 mr Wilc wilcken kea his experience and other qualities well qualify him to super supervise v ise the work |
