The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1880-03-28
AN APPEAL FOR The CANAL

The question of borrowing none
to complete the jordan and Salt LAX
City Canal is, as You are aware, th
. Heading topic in the community. A
: kinds of opinions are being expresse
. upon the subject, and the probabil
I lies OF eyes" or mo" predomins
ting at the coming elscLion, when th
question Of the city's Indebtedness
TO be settled, yet hang trembling i
the balance of uncertainty. If 20
can accommodate the request,
would ask sufficient space to deliye
some individual views on this subject
There are but few who would not lik
| to see the canal finished, even at tn
| cost of every dollar OF the maximum
to be borrowed, providing that whel
finished it would prove success
| The investment OF a quarter Of 1
million in an enterprise OF 90 bene
fcenl a character, is not q drop in thu
ocean compared with the great geo.
to be accomplished if the project in
view is but realized. The bone o.
contention, therefore, is not the de,
STABILITY of the canal, for that Is
already conceded by more than q
nine-.enths majority, but it is the
feasibility Of the plao and the final
success of The undertaking. Those
who array themselves against the
borrowing project, are for most part
those who are skepIical on the point
of the moneys being expended to ed
vantage, though !here may be a few
of cslIbre small eLO1eh TO object on
the ground of being already supplied
with water, and therefore averse TO
taxation for the benefit of their less
fortunate neighbors. For the credit
of the city, let US believe that
these are but email minority of
her population. "What assurance"
says one citizen of the other
class, "have !, who have contributed
to other canals that were never COM
pleted but were pronounced failures;
that the one now being constructed
will meet a better fate. and that my
money will not again be wasted on
fruitIess attempt ?" The question is
certainly intelligent and important,
and as such should receive proper
Facts and figures
nave already been given relating to
his portion of the matter, so that
synopsis Of the came is all that is
at present. Water is a
necessity to the growth and
prosperity of this city, and that there
is an abundance of the element
within our reach, is sustained by
and reliable authority.
Utah Lake has for many years been
regarded as the natural reservoir OF
Salt Lake Valley, aud as asserted by
hose whose statements are entitled
10 respect, could be made to yield
enough waller to irrigst9 the entire
srable surface of the basin. II this
)e true land it has not yet been con-
uied) tle argument of limited
ource of supply, proceeds from an
understanding fer more limited. The
kept;c must seek elsewhere for res-
obs to sustain him in & cGBscien-
.ous opposition to tbs building OF
he canal. The geography of the
.erritoTy through watch the water
.oarse is to take its way, is next adj
Yanced as an insurmountable diff
,ulty in the way OF its success. 1t Is
toully affirmed that the required |
,rade cannot be established between
lis city snd the head of the canal,
o permit the water to flow down
lill," SIS of course it must in order to
each this place. With many this is
he chief obstacle in the way, and
consequently the leading objection ID
he further prosecution of the work.
Bot the surveyors, who have charge
If pre!iminaries. assure US that by
lctual calculation the natural
ncline between those points is
lot only sufficient for the |
equired purpose, but that there is |
.ctualy surplus fall of nearly |
wenty feet, in the very region where
t has been declared impossible for
he water to flow. The surveyor who
Jays this ia q man of experience, who
las grown grey in his profession and
made a specially of canal surveys for
he last thirty years. His opponents
ire men who have perhaps looked at
he ground he has walked over.
brown Il clod upon the surface bis
Instruments have measured and ex
pressed a dogmatiC opinion where he
las asserted q scientific fact. Others
ay the soil OF the country Contem-
plated for the bed of the acqueduct is
90 loose and sandy IN its texture to
contain water, and that seepage
would vie with piltering landowners
o render futile the efforts made to in
ure its successful operation. Fer
laps it is not generally known that
anal, twenty miles in length, is
successfully on the other side
# the Jordan, where the nature Of the
oil cannot be so very different to that
rom which it Is separated by less
han 100 feet of water surface; also
hat where the work ia now being
prosecuted the earth is so firm and
compact that double the labor is
necessary TO that required on any of the
oils heretofore encountered, go that
he route is net all through a sand
bed, as has been asserted, but which
seems to be less capable of
noldiug water than the canal II as
.umes 10 accurately represent. E7ap-
1ra,iou is next put forward as an I'M
pending drawback, as well Gs the
that the number OF those
to steal the water would be
lar in advance of the officers ths city
could afford to employ 20 prev Mt
them. That evaporation will en-
sue to some extent, during
the heated season, Is IN
dcubtedly true, and this has
been foreseen and provided against.
For what reason do the wise acres,
who insist THAT the canal should be
but half its present size, imagine its
capacious dimensions were deter
mined upon, If not to ALLOW for shrink
age from summer heat, and give the
stream the requisite size and force &c
send it through to its destination
despite of dIouth, water thieves,
grumbl5rs, or any obstacles ths'
might oppose its progress? The
Jordan River does not evaporaie, in
proportion, TO the extent predicted
for this canal, which Is almost a river
in itself, yet there are those who
would persuade us that the nemesi:
Of evaporation, after allowing the
Jordan ID glide sloDg peacefully t.