The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-09-14

TUNNEL Gates
THROWN OPEN
Water Now Pouring Through
the Wasatch Mountains
on Its Way to Thirsty
Lands.
IMPORTANT EVENT
IN HISTORY OF WEST
No Special Ceremony Marks
the Epoch; Engineer Lytel,
Who Built Big Tunnel,
OMciates.
BY c. j. BLANCHARD.
Statistictan of the United States Rec
1amatton Service.

Special to The Tribune.
THISTLE, Sept. 13.-The waters of
the Pacific drainage slope will be we'd
ded to the great interior basin by 5
o'clock Sunday morning. At 'clock
this afternoon the gates of the east
portal Of the great Strawberry tunnel
were partly opened to obtain the first
run Of water from the reservoir and
to test all the controlling works and
machinery.
At 1855 o'clock a wall Of water
rushed through the west portal, four
miles distant, and plunged down the
steep mountain side. In it's mad fight
it carried masses Of debris, uprooted
trees and quickly caused a steep.walled
canyon. The estimated discharge of
water was $4,000 cubic inches Sec
ond. From the west portal to Utah
lake the distance is about thirty five
miles, 80 that the water from the
Strawberry reservoir should reach the
great interior basin, of which the lake
is a part, early tomorrow morning
No Special Ceremony.
No special ceremony marked the
event, ono of the most important in
the history OF the United States recla-
nation service. Project Engineer J.
L. Lytel, the man who has directed
the boring Of the great hole through
the mountains and the building Of the
canals which will carry life-giving wa.
ter to thousands Of acres Of Utah's
rapidly diminishing desert, opened the
gates. He was assisted by s. w. Cater,
assistant engineer, and @. J. Blanchard,
statistician Of the service, with head
quarters In Washington, D. O. Others
present for the memorable event were
Fiscal Agent J, L. Segall, Assistant En-
gineers W.. M. Reese, L. NJ. Hammond
and o, @. Tretton, and William Schurtz,
E, It. Bush and R. Z. Lampon
Origin of the Idea.
The diverting Of the waters of the
Strawberry river into Utah valley was
first suggested by the officials Of the
Spanish Fork East Bench Irrigation
company in 1902. After the matter
was talked over the scheme was de-
clared visionary and beyond the possi-
bi1ities Of expectation or accomplish
ment. These men were not satisfied
with setting aside their dream, how
ever, 80 they secured the services of
Frank O. Keeley, Salt Lake engineer.
He made preliminary survey and, on
the strength of his report, the water
was filed upon for irrigation purposes
In 1904 committee Of farmers in
the valley was appointed TO confer with
the Utah representatives in congress,
and through the efforts Of the commit
toe the interior department at Wash.
ington was interested and surveys were
ordered At the same time, application
was made to the secretary OF the in
terror for permission to locate reser
voir site in Strawberry valley, the re-
quest being readily granted. Thus the
machinery of the reclamation service
was first applied TO this dream, which
became reality yesterday when the
waters Of the Strawberry rushed |
through the very heart Of the Wasntch |
range and into the great interior basin |
which Is without outlet to either ocean.
Means Much to Utah.
This great irrigation project Is ex-
pected to add to the wealth of Utah |
county two OF three times the cost of |
the undertaking Upwards Of 10000 |
acres of the most fertile land in the |
west will be redeemed from the tenaci |
Gus sagebrush, and made to produce the
abundance that is necessary For happy |
and contented people. After the gov
ernment took up the matter of boring
n waterway through tho mountain, the
Strawb berry Valley Water Users asso-
ciation was organized and incorporated |
under the laws Of the state, with cap
ital stock of $4,000 shares. Remarkable |
progress has been made since the work |
began, Besides tho boring Of the big
tunnel, upwards of forty miles Of di.
version and lateral canals have been
dug, While this work is all being done
by the government, the land owners to
be benefited Will, Of necessity, accord
ing TO the law, repay the amount in in
stallments. All Of tho land under the
system and which is TO receive the wa
tor has been pledged to the government
to secure the payment Of the cost Of
the project From the figures given
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