| Show BIG irrigation SCHEME weber county to be the beneficiary fi v davis and weber counties canal company will build a storage reservoir the salvation of a farming community an advertisement asking for bids tor building big storage dam has tea in TUB for several days past and has persapa been scarcely noticed by the people most interested the building of storage reservoirs marks a new era in the farming and irrigation history of weber cooney and northern utah perhaps not la the history ol 01 farming or irrigation has tho necessity of the husbanding hus banding of water been BO strongly impressed upon the farmer as during the present evaeon he has seen bis own crops and these ot his neighbor burning up because of tho scarcity of irrigating water and the lack of rainfall he haseben big neighbor arrested for larceny of water the takane of that which waa necessary to keep his chopa from being ruined or blasted by the heat and drouth he hag eean one after another of the irrigation companies camp anies drawn into litigation to protect himself or others ot the stockholders and water takers of those companies and yet what has he done to help matters with the exception of thia one case there is not a known effort on foot which tends toward any of the present situation when irrigation was first practiced in weber there were companies urbanized there was a operation cooperation co of individuals there was a banding together all for mutual benefit bober was divided but than there was plenty ot water for everybody because the people were not many each year the number of people the number of farmers who mantej water and whose land and crops were entitled to water haa grown and with their growth has come an increased demand for water for ten years yes for fifteen years past the people have wanted the winters snows in the mountains and were as pleased over a heavy storm in january or february as they would have been ai a heavy rain in july because it assured a plenty of water for summer and with plenty of water good crops and a prosperous year in the early fifties the people banded together they organized irrigation and canal companies there was no talk ot prior righta then everybody had all the water they needed all the year round but now each and every irrigation company is for every drop of water they can get this one A has a prior right B has the next one and C comes third the water beets low and 0 ia told to shut down bia gates and A and B get their water while C has jonethen no water becomes more I 1 scarce and B goes without water but A still has plenty of water then 0 arranges to ret As water for a week just aa a sort of humane proceeding to save their crop and B jumps into court and enjoins them from giving C water and all three are in court co operation was a grand thing when they were individuals who were cooper co oper abing but the reason operation cooperation co of companies would not be just as good why do not the individuals acting ai corporations realizing the great benefits to join hands and work together tor the good ot all individuals and companies the only salvation for weber county today is in tho farming it is not a mining country it is not a manufacturing community what is it it is a farming community the vegetable fruit and grain industries are the business of the people and now what kind of farming it ie not corn or wheat bat it is the finer crops it is fruit peaches peara cherries grapes etc and it is toma beets nd lucerne enose are the chopa which must have water all through the evaeon in order to properly mature those are the crops which pay the farmer and what ia tho result this year city and weber county wilt tea the sufferers because abo tomato crop will be a 4 to of a yield taft suar factory stockholders will be disappointed because the beet crop is blighted they have not had water sufficient to mature them hay will be more scirce thia year because there is a greater demand corstin and there will be only a half and perhaps a lees second crop this year A quarter of a million dollars would not cover the loss by the scarcity 0 j water this year in weber county the ff carmera under the davis and webar canal tha wilson the beater ille hooper plain city and other ditches have chopa suffering tor want of water and look nt the cure the cure ia to husband the water fa the when there as water going to bead it off build reservoir biava that which la and yon prevent 0 crops by drouth thy davie and weber counties canal company ia abo first to take a alep in this direction it has aures under it the officers are L B adams ilent JC kye secretary and treasurer and they with T J steed E P J 0 child J M smith wm binford and C F middleton form the board of directors W M ig the companas comp anys engineer and baa charge of the building of the bg dam the reservoir to be built by the davit weber canal co will cost at it ia located about 12 garom morma to the south and through which w laget edra ol 01 t ab ono ot t batt W 1 reservoir f nd oyer two bw spent in securing the site from the US government and demonstrating that the plan was feasible one that work done was spent in putting in a masonry foundation and thia was done last winter the site ia an idea one the creek runa through what is known aa the narrows whore the canyon at the creek level is bat 63 feet in width the walls are precipitous being bat 83 feet apart at the top of the dam or 68 feet from the creek level the walla diverge BO that the reservoir will bo at the 69 toot water level about three quarters 0 a milo across and one and a half miles long duaine the month ol 01 april the reservoir can be ailed in lees than two weeks and not interfere with the amount of water necessary nece esary for irrigating purposes the present plans are for a dam sixty eight feet high it will be built with a riveted bacel beart wall with asphalt concrete packing on each side and will be about feet deep at the bottom gradually ta paring to fifteen feet wide at the top the outlet of the reservoir is by way of a tunnel feet long through the solid rock near the conter of which will be placed two 30 inch valves the capacity ot the reservoir will be at the 58 foot level cubic feet and at the foot level cubic teet this cubic feet of water will flow through the foot tunnel which is through the solid rock ol 01 the mountain down ioto the bed of baet canyon creek in the weber river bed near morgan and down the weber until it reaches the bead of the dails and weber canal co gates and from there out over the land otherwise parched and dry and make it to blossom like the rose all the season instead of only a part of it abis cubic feet will provide a flow of 50 cubic feet per second for pix weeks and that will be sufficient to five to the davis weber canal stockholders half a flow of water during the latter part of the season the dails and weber people have been the first to suffer from water shortage and their euprey has been curtailed some jears as early as juno and as late as AUK 15 but the shut down aimea some time and the crops suffer here alter they will have water after all others have go nedry and it is simply forethought a break that brings it about it is placing themselves where they can figure to a certainty what the value of their crop is it is a guarantee of an increate in the value of their land it is an insurance against drouth nd rain ago thou and do likewise the plana ot the dam and reservoir are each that the dam may be raised to a height of feet which would increase the capacity at feet by about six times in words a foot dam would creata a reservoir capacity of nearly forty billion cubic feat of water that would supply thia whole valley no matter what the conditions of the weather the darn will not be built higher than CS feet unless other irrigation or canal companies wish to contract for water and in that way help build it the next fifty feet can ba built tor less than i the cost of the first dam nd each additional dit ional foot will husband more water than any previous one cooperation co operation of corporations now is is wanted to anke irrigation a success in weber county just aa operation cooperation co of individuals wag necessary in the early daye are other good sites and they can be secured of abo government look to it that you ara placing you relf where there is a certainty of success and not risk boar labors each year upon the tern ol 01 the weather vane orthe falling of a drop of water |
