The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-06-07
CITY SECURES
A BIG VICTORY
IN WATER SUIT
Contentious of Progress Com
pany 0VerruIed in DeCi-
sion by Judge Morse.
RIGHTS OF ALL OTHER
llTIGANTS ADJUDICATED
DECISION is OF HIGHEST I'M.
PoRTANcE TO SALT LAKE
WATER SYSTEM.

/ Decisive was the victory which salt
/ Lake won yesterday when Judge Morse
/ handed down his decision in the famous
/ Progress company suit involving the
rights to the water Of Big Cottonwood
| creek.
! Judge Morse holds that the claims of
the company TO a right prior TO that OF
the city in the waters OF the creek are un-
founded and gives the city undisputed
right to divert as second feet during the
low flow of the creek and q. 707 second
feet during high water periods.
If the contention Of the city had mot
Deen supported by the court it would
nave had 10 purchase this amount Of wa
Ter from the Progress company and other
I claimants at their own price, which would
PROBABLY have been in the neighbOrhOOd
OF s-V0Og0. and it was to force such a pur-
chase that the suit was brought in the
IlfsJ instance.
City Contracts for Water.
| As is generally known in 1904 the city
added 10 its rights in the stream bv en-
4 terlng INTO an agreement with the people
on tne Big ditch, Hill ditch and Lower
canal 10 exchange their rights for water
from Utah lake, which is conveyed
/ through this district by the Salt Lake &
Jordan canal These people owned ap-
\ %
and had owned it for years
! The Progress company controls the
rights IN three mill sites. one on State
/ street which is run by water flowing
I through the Gordon race: the old Miller
I mill two miles east. which is run by Lit
| lie Green river and Spring creek. and the
Anudson mill, east Of the Salt Lake q
JORDAN canal and near the foot Of the
mountains. This last mill had the most
important rights and it was upon them
That the company based its hopes.
Changed DiVerting Point.
It was contended bv the comnan,- that
the city had no right 20 change the Doiut
or diversion when IL secured the rights i'm
/ the three bitches named. Before the CITY
acquired these rights the creek was di-
Verted into these bitches below the Knud-
son plant and the water used bv them
flowed through knudsOn's mill race and
then eastward towards these bitches
I When the city opened the conduit this
/ water no longer came through the Knud-
I son race, but went into the conduit al the
/ intake. and therefore the flow of the
/ creek to the west was diminished by one
third.
Knudson Lost Rights.
KnudsOn claimed that he had right to
this water by virtue of a priority of APP
preparation, but Judge Morse says that as
knudsOn did not establish his mill until
after the city had begun active work on
the conduit and as he had not cOmDliel
with the statutes i'm securing his appro-
priatiOn. that he is not entitled To this
water. and although the decision does not
say so in as many words. il intimates that
I the knudson mill was constructed in or
der that suit against the city might be
brought.
As far as the rights to the flow Of the
stream for use at the State street and
Miller power plants are concerned. Judge
MORSE says that these plants have been
operated for twenty-five years with no
water from the creek. and that any prior
rights were waived when fin 1873 those who
controlled these mill races and the water
rights pertaining thereto failed 10 enter
into the arbitration agreement with the
other owners of the creek. The judge saws
that this indicates that even at that time
little creek water was used by these
mills and that most Of it was acquired
by the increase in the volume of the
flow of Spring Creek and Little Green
river.
The decision is most notable one and
probably affects more people than any
other decision ever handed down i'm the
district court of Salt Lake county. There
were approximately 800 defendants and
the rights to all the water OF the stream
are adjudicated
Decision Is Lengthy.
The decision covers nineteen pages and
contains history OF all the water rights
arising from the use of the creek for IT.
rigatiOn and domestic purposes since the
valley was first settled.
The first bitches were constructed In
lS4S and are now known as the Tanner.
Green and Big bitches. The Walker ditch
was first used in lS49 and the Hill came
next in 1851. The Farr and Harper, New
man. Upper and Lower canal. Brown and
Sanford. Lower Ellison, Butler, Bagley
and knudsOn, knudsOn. McGhie. Upper
Ellison. Harper and Taylor, SeversOn and
BagleY followed with period Of years in
tervening and the Bagley, the last ditch
to be constructed and acquire rights had
its beginning in 1884
In 1856 a race was constructed for the
purpose of taking water from the creek
to be used for power in operating a mill
located upon State street, and water was
taken through this race and conducted to
the mill during that year. At first all the
water coming into this race came from
the creek but during the past twenty or
twenty-five years the water has been de
rived from two streams known as Little
Green river and Spring creek. and both
empty into the Big Cottonwood creek at
a point above where the diversion Of Wa
ter from the creek TO the mill race takes
place.
Owned by Progress Co.
This mill race is now owned by the
Progress company, the plaintiff. and is
used by that concern to operate plant
located at the same point where the flour
mill was built in 1856. Much of the con-
troversy concerning the rights of the city
came from the contention OF the Progress
company that il had a right to the creek
water for this mill race and also the wa
ter from the smaller streams which have
virtually supplied it for twenty-five years.
Continued on Page 3.