The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-07-15

trouble and turmoil in and among Fhe
different departments of our municipal
government had ceased (and the vast
majority have so hoped and beiieVep
have been nursing a delusive nope
Our Republican mayor and Democratic
council cannot agree, and ii seems That
we are to be cursed with acrimonious
pickering during the balance OF the
term of office OF the present admins Ira
ton.
AT last nights session of the council
the mayor was present with ms war
paint on and his many filings with his
sharp tongue have left a. dark brown
taste in the mouths of the solons, and
hereafter they will not play with him
worth d cent You're another" seems
to be the main burden OF their discus
sions.
The council refuses persistently to
take heed of any of the suggestions the
mayor makes, either by word OF mouth
or written communication, and this IS
principally what has raised the mayor
dander at this particular time.
The mayors first shot at the coun-
Gil last night was over their action
in purchasing a carload OF red pine
timber. He said the council had fool
ishly paid SIG per 1000 feet when ne
had been offered the same quahty OIL
lumber in his private business py the
car lot at $14 per 1000 feet. Further,
he said the ordinances provide that
any contract for the expenditure OF
money before it goes into effect must
be presented to the mayor Tor ms
approval. He has never been consulted
about this, therefore the contract TO
purchase was VOID, notwithstanding
the lumber had been got and the Dill
was now before the council to be PAID
The bin was paid, however, and the
amount appropriated, something over
5000.
The next item of business that wor-
ried the mayor was the allowance OF
a $40 bill to A D. Cash for work that
should have been done by the city at
tornev. 1t will be remem bered that
the council held the city was without
an attorney, while the mayor held that
Mr. Wh3tecotton, his appointee whose
appointment was refused confirmation,
was the city attorney and Mr.. NhIte-
cotton continued to act and was pald
for his services-that this condition of
affairs kept up until july Z, when
Whitecotton's resignation, handed In,
not because of his conviction that his
stand was wrong, but because he and
his brother of the same political talth,
City Justice SaXey, could not work IN
the same harness, was accepted, and
the appointment of a sterling Demo-
crat-Hon. S. A. King-was resorted to
as a means of pouring oil on the very
fulfilled Republican municipal waters
of Provo City, and quieting them. Now
the mayor holds that the payment of
this SOL was an unwarranted squan-
dering of the peoples money, and the
whole fight was renewed and nothing
resulted only the stirring up of bitter
feelings that viii do the city nor the
men no good. The bill was allowed
There was nothing of general public
interest in the routine business trans
acted by the council.
THE POWER DAM.
A number of the members Of the city
council met with l. L. Num-, general
manager of the Telluride Power COM
pany and two of its principal stock
holders at the Hotel Roberts this morn
ing This company is constructing sew
eral power plants in the west. among
them the one in Provo canyon. The
capitalists named went north into Idaho
today TO see to the enterprise they
have under way to bring power into
Butte.
The object of the council in meeting
with them was to get a better idea OF
lust what is going to be done in Provo
canyon. Among goodly number OF
the residents of Provo serious fear has
arisen that if a large dam is allowed 10
be built in the canyon, it may break
some day and wash the town away.
Another fear is that an immense dam
in the canyon storing water ana caus-
ing increased evaporation will seriously
interfere with irrigation and the water
rights of the farmers. This latter fear
is groundleSs. No company can inter
fere with the prior rights Of the farm
ers in this respect, and no matter how
much evaporation there may be, the
company will be compelled to supply
the source of the various canals
during the dry season (the trouble at
other seasons is we have too much
water} each year the amount of wafer
those canals are entitled to at present.
Any more water the company may fur
nish of course, is theirs, which they
may sell to irrigators or allow TO run
to waste as they choose. The difficulty
is the people of Prove don't know how
much water they are entitled to now
The building of this dam may hasten
The trial of the big friendly suit that
has been long pending, to determine
this. It is knowledge that each irri-
gator, not only in the city, but in the
various canal companies should be in
possession of, and that should be of
official record.
The other fear is not so groundsess.
Provo city, as il now stands, is built
upon the sediment that has filed up
several old channels of the river, and
should a big SO-foot dam in the canyon
break. the flood would certainly wash
out one or all Of these old channels
and the whole city be washed away, a
second JohnStown disaster be repeated.
The representatives Of the Power
dam company were very affable with
the councilmen and went to no end OF
trouble to explain all details how the
dam would be built to be entirely safe
First, the company is to spend a mil
lion dollars in this enterprise and whar
completed the representation of all thai
money will be in the dam, and the
companys works below the dam. a
break would mean a. loss of all that
to Them A selfish interest nssls
them. to be careful in their construc-
ton of the dam. The same engineers
they have employed have built scores
of dams, several of them larger and
more difficult Of construction than the
Provo dam will be, and none of them
have yet broken and some have stood
for over twenty years. CThese dams
were named and cited.) The plan is tc
construct first 1000 horsepower plant
using a flume only. Next year the
power generated from this viii
be put to use constructing the
large dam for the permanent and
large plant The dam will be
eighty feet high and back water for
more than mile. The heft of water
will not lie on the dam, which Is to
1ol eli