The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-11-23
THE TOWPATH.
. Plea in Favor of Using the Canal
Bank for the Railroad Grade.


Jordan Canal:
The canal bank, you are aware, is very
uneven, untidy, unsightly, and at
divers times and places very unservice-
able. You also know that it is COW
cred with noxious weeds, the seeds
from which are annually carried in
great quantities in many directions by
wind and water, to the serious menace
and detriment OF farmers and gardeners.
Aside from the unsightly appearance OF
the canal embankment it IS constantly
being h0neyCOmbed by muskratS, which
lets Out the water on the farms and gar
dens below, and keeps it from flowing
into the city, for whose benefit
it was built The seepage and
muskrat-h0le water running at tbitUm
on the farms and lots below the canal,
annually cause immense damages,
much yeXatiOn and some profanity.
Annual freshetS, TOO, are also a serious
menace. The cost to the city for re-
nairs and patrol duty on the anal
must amount to quite large am of
money. I am told that muskrat-
menace has been so formidable as TO
cause the Watermaster tonoffer a hand
some reward for their destruction
No doubt, II the franchise prayed for
bv the Salt Lake and Fort Douglas
Railway Company is granted, the weeds
" Il be kept down, and the baneful
effects from their spreading seeds will
be te minated; the canal embankment
will be widened, evened, and
m de solid and comparatively
mdeStIucuDIe by the elements,
and muskrats viii be banished
by the trains and section men (whoSwill
police and patrol the canal the entire
length OF the road which will be run
ming every few hours, daily, over the
road. This service alone viii save to
the city a large annual outlay, and it
will be rendered absolutely necessary
for the good of the railway company
also, which must have a solid and relia-
bic rOadbed and clean banks to traverse.
As to the untold benefits which would
accrue to the 900 families living on and
in the vicinity of the canal, in dollars,
comforts and cOnYenienceS, it would be
extremely difficult to estimate even APP
prOXimately. Suffice it to say that,
with here and there an exception, the
people on the entire route, I'M
derStand from persons thoroughly
the enterprise and wantit for numerous
cOgent reasons, among which may be
named cheap transportation for all
manner Of supplies, including fuel and
building materials, which can be dis
tributed along the line as cheaply as
they are sold in Salt Lake City, and the
cheap, speedy, warm, clearly and ready.
mode of travel it viii amply afford for
the people to gettO and from the city on
all occasions. How nice and inviting it
viii be to board the train at BrintOn 5,
for instance, and run to the city and
back home FOR the paltry sum Of twenty
five cents! Who would think of per-
forming sucn a journey by team
through the mud and cold in winter, or
dust and heat in summer, with such
cheap and comfortable facilities at hand
And If coal lumber and general sup
plies and materials are delivered at the
different stations by the railroad. at the
same prices they can be bought in the
city, who would dream of freighting
them by team as It Is now done at big
annUa, outlay to the consumer?
Again, the railroad can perform reci-
prOc2l duty. iOing south, the train
will carry supplies, ETC., from the city
to the people Of Sugar House Ward
including the wooden factories and the
Greek, East Mill
Greek, Big Cottonwood, Union and But
Ter Wards; also TO the paper mill /
which had been built at cost Of some |
$4,000, and which, it is estimated, viii
need some sixteen tons of materials and /
supplies every day-and to the saw
mills, mines and people of Big Cotton |
wood canyon; and on its return bring |
TO the city lumber, ores. Yege-
tables, baled hay, milk and a /
thousand more products of the |
rich soils skirting the canal on
either side. No doubt regular mar
zet trains will be established which will |
be another convenient feature. With /
such easy facilities at hand many tour |
SITS and families from the city viii spend |
much time each summer recruiting in
he canyon and at.Big Cottonwood Lake. |
At convenient distances, / suppose /
stations will be established and supply
iepots be made, while passengers will
De taken on and let off at their pleasure /
The same as the street cars do. These |
are not nearly all the benefits that will
accrue to the general public in and out /
Of the city. a chief one not noted above |
S the cheap and ready facilities it will !
offer to the poor people of this city to
SDldAu SOl1ALOA ldDlC HllUuIDdL nOluOSr a
little distance out of the city poor work /
ingmen and others can purchase two or
three acres of land as cheaply as he
could buy small building spot in the
city. He can have his COW, pig, chick
ems and plenty of room where his chill
dren may be reared away from the de-
praving influences o. city life He will
more than save the cost of transpOrta-
ton in city and poll and water taxes i'm
posed within the city limits. With such
cheap and convenient facilities, not
many years need pass before thousand
happy homes viii be established near
the railroad on either side of its track.
The foregoing pictures are neither
rOseate nor misleading; much more in
the way of beneficial results, than what l
have outlined, may be reasonable ex-
pected from the railroad. if established,
and that too in the very near future.
Respectfully submitted for your con-
SlderalOn by Nor A STOCKHOLDERS.
P. 81 viii further add that the
readiest way to stop the seepage from
the canal, on the cultivated fields. and
lots below it, TO say nothing about the
damage to houses, cellar, ETC.. so bitterly
complained of by the people along its
course, will. be to puddle it with clay.
The railroad can bring and deposit the
clay just where it is needed at a merely
nominal cost to the city.
It is intimated that an extensive sugar