The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-08-26
WATER MURKED
BY CL0UDBURST
Wave Down Mountain Dell Canyon
Sweeps Debris Into City Supply.
SCARCITY is AT AN END
CONDITIONS BETTER THAN FOR
SOME TIME.
SCARCITY is AT AN END

A cloudburst high in Mountain Dell
canyon about 8 o'clock Thursday night
was responsible for the chocolate coll
ored fluid that was distributed instead
or water to citizens whose homes are
supplied by Parley's canyon. There was
some water in the fluid. beyond a doubt,
but the distinctive feature was the
great amount of rich, canyon loan that
was borne through the water pipes.
Many househoiders did not know what
was coming to them until breakfast
preparations were begun and IL was
found that instead of bright and
sparkling mountain water. their taps
delivered a dubious brown substance
closely resembling strong coffee that
had been allowed to stand over night.
Those who ''let the water run a while
in the hope of clarifying it just wasted
that much time and in the end had to
hunt a we'll somewhere or take a chance
on the mixture.
Officers Are Powerless.
Naturally. complaints poured in dur
ing the day Frank l. Hines, superin
tendent of waterworks and Ben d.
Luce, land and water commissioner,
frankly confessed their Inability to stop
cloudbursts. but expressed willingness
TO retire in favor of somebody who
in the mountains
What made the cloudburst particular
ly unfortunate at this time was the
fact that much debris lay along the
banks of Mountain Dell creek Mr..
Luce had men at work widening the
channel for several days and much
of the material removed by them was
washed back into the stream and sent
TO the city reservoir when the great
wave of water rushed down the can
yon
The cloudburst and the rain combined
gave an ample water supply, but, IN
happily, it was an undesira BILE sort of
water. The Thirteenth East street res
ervoir was filed TO a depth of over thir-
teen feet This water. of course. dirty
Rs IL was, was distributed through the
pipes. Mr.. Hines. in an attempt to cor
rect the condition. shut off the supply
from Parley's creek about s O'Clock
yesterday morning and endeavored to
maintain the system by the supply from
City creek and the Capitol hill reser-
voir, but this was found unsatisfac-
tory and the water from Parley's can
yon and again turned into the mains
Men continued at work in the canyon
all day yesterday. The water showed
some Improvement in color in the after
neon and will steadily improve-barring
CLOUD Sursts-although it will be several
days before all the debris is cleaned out
% the creek.
Lawns Favored With Soil.
Last night was one of the periods al
lotted to lawn sprinkling in the lower
district and much of the dirty water
was drawn off and distributed on lawns
II should have been of great benefit 70
the lawns. which are always improved
by an application of soil from the
mountains.
Users Of City creek water Jared bet
ter than those who were forced to rely
-on Parley's creek. The City creek
water, while a trife murl1y as a result
of the rain, was not sufficiently affect
ed 20 make il unfit for use as was the
case with the water from ParIey's
Thursdays rain is reported to have
been OF much more benefit than the
showers earlier in the week. especially
IL Parley's canyon. where the rainfall
was heavy. The weir there showed a
measurement of thirty-six inches YES
terday morning, equivalent to almost
100000 gallons of water in twenty-four
hours.