The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-04-19
NEW IRRIGATION
SYSTEM IS OPENED
Provo Reservoir Company's
Big Project Formally Started
by President Smith.
TO SUPPLY LARGE ACREAGE
MANY SALT LAKE PEOPLE At
TEND CEREMONY.
(speeiaI 70 Ne Herald-Republlcan.l

Especial to The Herald-Repubiican.)
Provo, April 1S.-The Provo Reser-
voir company's irrigation system was
formally opened today in the presence
of about 500 citizens. Among those who
came down from Salt Lake and the
north were President and Mrs. Joseph
F. Smith, President and Mrs. John
Henry Smith. Heber ]. Grant, Mrs.
Susa Y. Gates, A. G. Giauque and w.
D. Candland of the state land board,
Mrs. w, ID. Candland, Mayor James T.
Gardner of American Fork, Mayor Ed
ward Southwick OF Lehi, Mayor A. E.
Cooper of Pleasant Grove, President S.
J.. Chapman. President Abel J. Evans,
DR.. G. L. Stuckie, w. S. Evans, George
A. Child and F. w. Kirkham.
Exercises on Hotel Lawn.
The exercises were held on the lawn
of the Heiselt hotel, President Joseph
b. Keller presiding. The B. Y. L. band
under the direction of Prof. Sauer, rem
dered several fine selections, and the
b. Y. q. choir, under the direction of
Prof. A. c. Lund, sang For the
Strength of the Hills We Bless Thee"
Invocation was offered by Abel J.
Evans, followed with singing by the
b. Y. u. choir. President Joseph r.
Murdoch then delivered an address, Civ
ing some of the history and purposes of
the undertaking.
Music was rendered by the B. Y. u.
band, and brief speeches, eulogistic of
the man who conceived ard carried for
ward the reservoir project to its present
stage of completion, and encouraging to
the benefits that would be derived by
the community through the work, were
made by President Joseph F. Smith, w
ID. Candland of the state land board
Heber j. Grant, Mayor James T. GarG
ner, Mayor Edward SOuthwick, Mayer
A. E. Cooper, Mayor Don c. Strong,
Morgan Evans, S. L. Chapman, ]. Will
liam knight. A. c. Lund George H
Brtmhall and Joseph B. Keeler. At the
close of the exercises the crowd moved
to the dam, about 800 feet below the no
tel, where the dedicatory prayer was
offered by President John Henry Smith
The headgate was raised by President
Joseph f. Smith and the water started
on its fructifying course and in twenty
minutes had passed through its mile
and a half of canals and tunnels
fumes and syphons and emptied into
the Blue cliff canal on the north side
of the canyon at Olmsted
Purposes of Project.
The Provo Reservoir company was
incorporated in 1908 with the following
directors: Joseph r. Murdoch, Joseph
B. Keller, Stephen L. Chapman, j.
William Knight, George H Brimhal,
Abel John Evans. James c. Jensen,
and David A. Broadbent.
The purpose of the company is to
supply water for the unirrigated lands
in the northern part of Utah county,
extending from the mountains south
of hH Of
westerly below the foothills to the
point of the mountain" at the Jordan
narrows, from which point the water
can be taken by gravity to Draper in
the south end of Salt Lake valley.
The amount of land that can be COW
cred by this project is about 10000
acres, a part of which is now used for
dry farming, but the greater part has
never been brought under cultivation.
Work Started Year Ago.
Work on the diverting dam or intake.
and the distributing system COM
menced September l, 1909. The intake
is opposite Carriers station, near the
mouth of Provo canyon, where a ce-
ment dam is constructed across the
river. The water is diverted to the
south side of the river, and conducted
down the canyon in an earth canal, |
ten feet wide at the bottom and four
feet deep, for a distance of 1000 feet;
then it passes through a rock tunnel
5xE feet for LOO feet, and from the
outlet of the tunnel through a steel
flume for 1000 feet into a 250-foot rock
tunnel. This acts as pressure box
from which the water is forced into a
5-foot redwood syphon which carries
it across the river to the north side OF |
the canysn, near Olmsted. The syphon |
empties into a cement pipe 200 feet |
long and from that into the old Blue |
Cliff canSk which has been secured by |
the company. This canal has been ex- |
tended and enlarged and carries the |
water two miles farther, along which |
distance it is distributed.
The cost so far has been about SIS, 000 |
and it is probable the system will cost, |
when completed, including the reser- |
voiring of the lakes at the head of |
Provo river, 100000