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Show April 2001 crops, and by 1850 a surprisingly Jordan continued from page 1 and game. Early Mormon pioneer accounts reported that the south side of Mill before complex system of canals had been established in the Salt Lake Valley. From the beginning of settlement which retards the current and permits silting along most of its lost in the Great Lake, is the Jordan River, a stream that gives beauty -course: and the. Surplus,,.Canal; which has: been deepened below 21st South, drained “was: nel washed out. This clogging necessitated the recent dredging to enable the river to carry the precip- “a itation favorite camping spot for Indians. John McCormick, in The Gathering Place, reports that because the Salt Lake Valley claimed ‘by thes. Utes the Scone back to 1690 expedition here, the people 6f the Jordan. River Basin manipulated the river to suit their own needs for survival in an otherwise arid land. In the earliest years of Mormon settlement the Jordan River was the western limit to the Salt Lake City, with residences extending to about 6th West. Lands from there to the River were primarily in community ownership for agricultural uses. In Tales of a Triumphant People, there is an account of a home built at and wealth to many parts of the valley through irrigation channels.” | Ke | In 1890, C.W. Lockerbie, then 11 _at 1700 South. Lockerbie in later years was a respected ornithologist and early member of the Audubon Society. cles In-one of a series of arti- for Audubon Magazine in and alteration of the “undemeath all of the usual city noises, the subdued trickling and swirling noises of a river are River extensive Prolonged abuse and the failure to address the ecological has caused destruction. consequences of that abuse have. led to a degradation of the river's natural value. The Jordan has had its course straightened and many Residents have avoided the river length. _ Fortunately, due to a current pop- ular trend in environmental educa- tion, and the exciting prospects of been recreational uses of the river, much is being done to improve the ecological conditions of (or, more accurately, to counter-act some of the ecological damage that has the Jordan been done For example, to) the Jordan during River. the past decade, there has been an increased interest Kimball. to the Middle Eighth river flowing from a "fresh water fertile valleys to a The pioneers sacred meaning in the river. found a Emily Hart, in an April 1997 article for Catalyst Magazine wrote: "This place they had found was, indeed, The very geography dupliLand in the east." considered a valu- able natural resource by settlers for irrigation, fishing, etc. in wetlands and wildlife habitat restoration. Furthermore, federal agencies, such as the EPA, Eastern river of the same name, which drains from the freshwater Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea; a boating, rem- marshes _and it was fenced along much of its Kimball noted the _ Jordan River's resemblance ming, the homes have been built on the aban- the Jordan. river was Road, doned original riverbed. For many years in this century, businesses along the river have dumped industrial waste directly into its waters. in 1847 by Heber The White, extensive Jordan pio- cated their Holy once his grandparents... The family settled in a house on the Jordan River utilized by people of the region for «their own diverse purposes. The river was Zion. of Redwood barely audible” by lake through Porter's, Even now, in the spring, there are years old, moved to Salt Lake City with his mother and sister to join ment in the Salt dead. sea". at 35 Over a period of about 150 years, places. Since the time of early settle- GC: Farm, manipulation “appearing in many shapes and named Western and in the along the Jordan River. "es ereceneere, with the Salt Lake has pounds and pools were measured Church west ‘Lake. The unnamed connection between the two bodies of water in these maps is the Jordan River. These maps show a distorted geog- River inches nants of through Utah Lake in 1776 resulted in maps which show’ Lake Timpanogos as the name given to both Utah Lake and the Great Salt neers, trout of 2-3 ponds dotted among fields, farmhouses and industrial buildings Dominquez-Escalante the Mormon handle a. western half of the city's outskirts." Eenccmnnanaas dating Valley species, eighteen as were based on inforfnation given by Native Americans. Almost a hundred years: "later. “the Lake or Walker's and Beck's which "once dotted a semi-circle around the area, Mormon raphy Great storm feet deep. He describes lakes such holding Valley a river which was both and pioneers _ settled along the Jordan with little opposition from either tribe. E Maps of the Salt Lake from spring flood." Lockerbie describes a-river of his boyhood with a variety of bird Shoshones, — but with neither tribe securely so that there is too lit- tle water current to keep the chan- Canoeing thie : into the Jordan River north of what is. now’ Seventh A Seen seen from. some eminence, until it is Creek, it South: = thread’ as overviewing Name Your Newspaper — hunting, swim- Almost imme- diately upon arrival, the Mormons —egan diverting water from local streams and rivers for irrigation of South and Eighth West: have stepped in to minimize further "For years, the only way one could 1949, Jordan Lockerbie described the as it was in 1890: "The get Jordan River to the.Rushton Farm was by boat. carried much more damage. tions State and local organiza- such as The Provo/Jordan River Parkway Foundation and Utah Society for Environmental Latera boardwalk, about a water'then, and consequently had a foot and a half wide, was built on broader and more sharply defined Education have been established to piles out to Eighth South...West of — channel than today. The banks on protect. > and ~-revitalize~ “river the river was a tract of land known the undercut slope were generally resources. A new attitude is being as the Fifth Ward pasture. It was vertical and unvegetated, whereas fostered and taught to community later used as a horse race track. the opposite side was covered with members, young and old alike, to The Donner Party had _ passed sand bar willows...Factors conbe aware of the profound human through this pasture. The first trail tributing to this change are: impact (both environmentally to California came down Second impounding of all Utah County's sound and unsound) upon the West to Eighth South, then west spring run-off in Utah Lake, to be Jordan River. With community care over the river." In 1887, an essay diverted through various irrigation in Salt Lake. projects about the south end of Salt City Illustrated described the Lake Valley; the diversion of nearJordan River: "Fringing the westly all of. the Salt: Lake County ern limit of the city and winding its streams to city water mains or irrimeasured way through a large porgation canals; the construction of a. tion of the valley, like a silver succession of dams along the river and continued involvement from outside entities, the Jordan River will remain one of the West-side’s greatest assets. Part l continued in next issue | |
