Show The Herald Journal Cache Sunday April Clifton's most vociferous booster John Sant works for the Preston Citizen stance sand e completely new 100000-gallotank was constructed Both projects greatly modernized the water system In 1982 the city purchased property from the LDS Church said Blanche “The chruch demolished an old chapel and built a new building on a portion of the property The city developed a park area adjacent to the new building at the same time" she said “The community is very proud of its new park and a lot of people use it during warmer months of the ihurch year n those ances it said H the ten an e time i LDS Dgnize sident rist of lifton early d was i was riifton )xford ” said of his is the g him ent in nLDS me for he i" in has in the f has rs ago itional Jay ped a large ration Blanche Henderson keeps expanding" Blanche Henderson who served for 44 years as Clifton city clerk and treasurer said she has seen a lot of progress in Clifton since 1942 when she took over her duties She started as clerk and treasurer on Oct 1 1942 and served until 1972 when she resigned She said she was persuaded to resume her position in 1973 and served until recently “1 served under seven mayors including Quince Rice Jake Choules Dennis Ralphs Jack Wood Lavon Porter Julian Dansie and Ronald Long" she said “When 1 took over there were 40 water connections and now there are 77 and many new homes have been built” In 1983 at the July 24th celebration the Clifton Lions Club presented Blanche and her husband Howard an award for community service Howard has served as a City Council member off and on for 30 years Blanche recently received an award from the State Clerk and Finance Officers Organization for serving 44 years Blanche said all dirt roads in the town have been asphalted during the past 45 years which has greatly improved the area A well was dug in 1955 to supplement spring-fe- d water for the community In 1974 a water-storag- Howard said keeping on top of the water system delinquent water bills and road repairs has been the biggest challenge for the council during the past four decades “During the 1940s I remember the city replaced wooden culinary distribution pipe in town with cast-iro- n pipe The wooden pipe had been in the ground since 1915” he said “All the trench work was done by hand About the same time a new stainless-stee- l supply line from the city's springs was installed to the Clifton school High school boys were elementary-hig- h hired to dig the mile-lon- g line” he said Two years ago a new US Post Office was built he said “The post office for years and years was housed in the Clifton Market the town’s only store The market used to be a real gathering place in the community I remember kids and adults used to hang around the store a lot to neighbor" he said “Residents still congregate there but not like they used to” Howard said the Clifton School was constructed in 1939 and built as a high school-grad- e school Clifton had its own school district before West Side High School was built and consolidation took place about 1947 he added Henderson who is a farmer and a member of the Clifton Irrigation District said the irrigation district was formed with about 30 stockholders several years ago “We get water from hills to the west and in order to improve the entire system a gravity flow sprinkling system was installed in 1978 It was a tough financial project for the stockhold- ers to handle but everything has been paid for” he said proudly Speaking of irrigation Henderson said the Twin Lakes Canal Company is a “West Side” concern because that’s where its greatest influence is felt — in the irrigation of lands in Clifton Dayton Linrose and Weston The northern part of Cache Valley was unfavored by nature in the distribution of irrigation sources Streams are few and intermittent and from the very first days of settlement the northern part of the valley suffered from a lack of irrigation water In the horse-and-bugg- y days at the farmers in the Clifton area organized a company to bring water all the way from Mink Creek across the valley to irrigate lands on the west side Two dams were built across the mouths of two ravines east of Clifton The two dams — known ry 3 1988— Page 15 |