Show - The A14 Herald Journal Logan Utah Sunday September 29 2002 open the headgates them- -' selves and guesstimate how much water was trickling onto their property “You’d look down and say ‘Well that looks about like three second-fe- et of water” he recalled “That’s about all you could do” Hansen had his problems ' with people watering out of turn But there were no raised shovels no shotguns and no ts he said Rather the Smithfield man sat back in his chair peered down at the table and remarked “I don’t want to pin any bows on myself but I didn’t make any enemies” As the years have passed Hansen has seen life change along the canal It used to be that people worked more closely together to keep die canal flowing he said “Years ago when we said we needed to clean the canal all the farmers turned out with their shovels and high boots” Hansen said “We did it all by hand But not today Nobody shows up We have to rely on people with heavy equipment to clean the canal” For almost three decades Hansen has served in some capacity along the ditch At times hie has tread die canal bank as watermaster At others he has stood as president of the canal company In those years he has seen flood irrigation replaced by way clean Now they spend half a day ' doing it with a tractor he chuckled Continued from A1 The ditch remains much the sarnie as it was in 1946 Even field to plow some more theheadgales outside Buttar's Farm life was not unfamiliar Trenton home are the same to the Clarkston boy nor was ones he dealt with as water- the canal which provided the master to his fields But as the yean have Buttars was a young man of passed change has appeared 27 when he was called upon with technology Tractors to be watermaster of the West have replaced horses asphalt Cache Canal It was 1946 the has replaced dirt roads and war in Europe had ended and chemicals have replaced Buttars found himself moving chains in ridding the canal of to Trenton with his wife of six moss years Today's watermasters have ' it easy he joked Day after day he drove the canal bouncing along the ' From flood to sprinkler rough ditch bank between Cornish and Newton Don Hansen bought his fint “The canal wasn't very farm in 1947 It was 38 acres smooth in them days” he nestled on the northwest corsaid “There were no bulldozner of Smithfleld which the ers to go along and level it off young World War II vet So I'd drive slow all the' time bought for just $10500 and bounce right along with Hansen worked the soil at it" night and on the weekends It Buttars now 84 smiled was hard work particularly His children had loved to go while holding down a daytime along for the ride They would job at a local gas station sit on his lap take the steering It wasn't until the 1960s wheel and jostle along the that the Smithfield man found ditch bank with him his way into the canal busi'They loved to be with their ness filling the shoes of dad" he said watermaster along the Logan For more than a decade the Northern Canal ' Trenton man spent eight hours T took interest in the irrigaa day on the ditch and sometion company because I was times more repairing the farming” he said “It was a matter of looking out for your hcadgales monitoring water use and making sure tree own resources and your own branches weren't blocking the livelihood” ' At the time every farmer waterway : It was a lot of work he said! along the ditch used flood irri‘ Then with a pause he ' gation It was imprecise and butit did the spoke of two days when problems on the canal delayed his So landowners would job breakfast until 8 pm That-wa- s before he learned to eat IHave before leaving the house ButLa Beau'i Back tars mused But there was another chal- - Canal life-blo- labor-intensi- '' V" - Trashing the waterway The canal was all open ditch when Arnold Taylor built his Island home He had acres just enough space to raise two steers for his winter meat supply But as the years passed he watched open fields turn to : apartment buildings subdivisions and residential homes Curb gutter and sidewalk were built atop the former waterway Today almost half of the ditch is piped Taylor has watched the change for 35 years as of the Logan Hollow Irrigation Company He’s tired He’s frustrated! But the work goes on “It’s a headache” he said “My wife says give it up but nobody else will take it” In all his years of fishing debris out of the canal being threatened with lawsuits and battling with developers over pipe sizes for the canal he two-and-a-h- : -- water-mast- will ' BeautMkil A Compute(Jltchet Monday- - Saturday fk7 Monday- - a Buck Save Ihc caa'i tack far i La any aandwfch ’': 1 v C : 8:00 ajn- - 530 pjn Saturday 830 Maamk Homl Me HI MMtawi MHtawy Me (If - Hyni Cor Comtacfo 7 the loading hours PLEASE CALL jCatfeau’s — I Schedule your appoinlment wOT "'-- 757-646- G 2250 North V V'A1--- today 8am-5p- m Main in No: Logan 753-320- 0 ErTY ilipirfM theTublidWCome'M’brtd fI i b Jwom from f Shop- " ’ Fen Phen users for — M-- F A chorigc to by lima —-- uai uauly of oofcinal bnndi & dytu UComplta iraof oatomtx&nak vH- pjm ipf)ointrronlyTbmahe(appokmfbrloa(M)odchra)nippst or hamburger Vf "???! V 1st 53-3200 jam wpariNioa in La IdkJun cabinM industry Ron can halp)feu dsign your dmam Idtchan ajnIOO pm A'' IdMpjniOO 'r-- ‘ -7- ml i 20 " New loading hours: fleose note that starting Nowmber QfV CSS ' vv v Ron -- tf Design Coll New hours: ‘v Styflst ES® IfcnfI3I3 8 v-- tL “““r But still today the water-maste- rs stand as a reminder of the valley’s agricultural past when the Mormon pioneers carved a community into the Cache soil Available In Oak Maple Hickory Cherry A Whites start dosing one hour earlier for the winter r IkS Baal 1400 North -- opment er 1" OCT fa ht and-a-ha- LOGAN CITY LANDFILL ra ' larger-scal- same items from a culvert with a 2x4 But the attitude goes beyond throwing trash in the canal It also appears in late-nigphone conversations when residents complain about clogs in the canal In the early years they would call only after trying and failing to fix it themselves Taylor said But times have changed ' Now they demand that die watermaster do it he said From the first turn of soil in 1859 the landscape has changed for watermasters like Buttars Hansen and Taylor For some it was technology For others it was urban devel canal company “They can’t get anyone cheaper” he mused So Taylor continues his weekly trek along the mile-lf canal And die midnight calls continue to ring into his Crockett Avenue home reporting clogs and flooding Taylor has seen the ditch change significantly during his tenure but what disturbs him is the change in attitude toward the canal “This new generation has no respect for the ditch" he said ' “They throw all their grass clippings plastic bags bottles and everything else into it They don’t care about keeping it clean” He finds himself fishing yard waste diapers or even basketballs from the canal bed each week or dislodging the ve JSu 10-fo- ot hasn't drawn a penny from the fist-figh- a Sandwichl Icnge — moss The plants would crop up every spring bringing the anftl to a virtual standstill With two horses on either side of the ditch and a chain draped between them Buttars would spend four to five days dragging the water- - sprinkler systems He has seen farms of 40 to 50 acres evolve e into operations of several hundred acres Hansen is part of that change From his first farm of' 38 acres the Smithfield man has amassed 500 to 600 acres from fanners who were retir ing or moving And he too has followed the change from flood irrigation to sprinkle irrigation I If you ecialty Hospital and Northern Utah Incontinence Center Fen Phen you may ! are offering free incontinence screening to men and women took 5 'v Jr have sustained serious heart valve damage The ONLY WAY TO KNOW IF YOU HAVE HEART VALVE DAMAGE is evaluate incontinence OSSlISlI Q? fTi)ii t a urine minute painless undergo a echocardiogram screening You must have your echocardiogram completed by January 3 2003 to assert a claim or you will be forever barred 5-- 10 Free screening involves: questionnaires to to Qp check ‘infection bladder scanning with to $ mu f ultrasound to evaluate p IliSJaSUUI the ability to empty the bladder - ' (J© 0© ITiiwillTiriMa 0733 FREE SCREENINGS NOVEMBER 30 2002 isllll Call i To i ' i END schedule your free 1-866- CHECK -WE to schedule a free appointment Be 1 screening call 753-- 1 171 smart f Check your heart Northern Utah Incondnence Center Screening sponsored by the law firms of Harris Preston and Braunberger Boud & Draper PC Phone 435-752-35- & Chambers PC 51 " i tfudiiisddl — " i t k 1 ' y |