The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-01-10
NEED OF WATER RESERVES.

The mass meeting at the Commercial
Club on Wednesday evening pronounced
empbatically in favor Of the storage of
reserve supply of water for this city,
enough to make it secure against any
possible pinch or demand This pro-
nouncement was in direct line with the
recommendation of the special commit
| teo Of FIRE underwriters filed with
| Mayor Park the same day. Both united
in the proposition that there must be a
storage of water sufficient to meet any
emergency. The fire underwriters COM
mittee recommended great storage
reservoir on the east bench. capable OF
holding 10000 900 gallons OF water, for
emergency use. The Commercial Club
mass meeting declared in favor Of an
make the recommendation. as specific
as did the report of the fire under
writers; but its committee will doubt
less make specific recommendation. On
the general proposition Of the necessity
Of reserve water supply, both were in
exact accord
Doubtless it Will be quite feasible to
construct, at no very great cost. a
reservoir pretty high up on the east
bench. capable of storing the 30,0oo,O0
gallons of water recommended. And in
Difference to the opinion. Of the fire un-
derwriters, we should say that that
work ought TO begin with as little delay
as possible. BY complying with this
recommendation the effort making here
for the reduction on fire insurance rates
ought TO be successful, and that In it,
self is q desirable end. to reach
which the 30,000,000 gallon reservoir on
the east bench would be no great price
to pay. And so the city should take
means to provide that reservoir without
delay. Such reservoir, well cemented,
ought not to cost enough to seriously
hamper the city's finances.
But something more than that is
needed; something in the nature Of
great storage supply that would give
high pressure, would be sufficient for all
purposes, and would be an ample stand
by in any possible emergency. Such a
reservoir was much talked OF at the
time when Frank c, Kelsey was city
engineer, and by authority of the city
council Mr.. Kelsey made investigation
up Farley canyon and found an ideal
reservoir site at the old Hardy fats,
some fourteen miles from the city. There
is ample storage capacity there for a
great reservoir. There is plenty of
water in the creek, especially in the
abundant supply Of spring, to I'LL that
reservoir. and the capacity would not
be in tens of millions Of gallons, but in
hundreds Of millions Of gallons. Mr..
Kelsey's investigation found an excel
lent site for dam for this reservoir.
Bedrock was not difficult to reach, and
he did reach bedrock by shafts in diff
ferent places sufficient to establish that
it was bedrock. and that n continuous,
immovable foundation for the dam
could be easily reached. There are
projecting ridges on each side Of the
canyon, two coming pretty close to-
gether at point where he found the
bedrock for the dam. Those ridges are
high enough to impound immense
volumes of water. It would be easy to
raise those ridges considerably higher,
If necessary, and the dam could be two
hundred feet high with perfect safety,
for the dam itself would be short, and
the immovable hills themselves would
furnish the bracing and for the most
part the retaining dam.
Farley creek is large stream,
especially in the flood season. Immense
quantities of water could be spared
from it; in fact, the whole of the
stream could be devoted in the spring
to the purpose OF filing the dam, and
the water could be kept pure all the
time by the circulation of water in the
current.
We do not know Of any city in the
United States that has so perfect, so
convenient, and so commodious a site
for dam as this found by Mr.. Frank
Kelsey up Parley's canyon, at the
place indicated; and we bring TO the
recollection of the active agencies
now so justly jealous for an ample
water reserve, the recommendation and
investigations made by City Engineer
Frank Kelsey at that time. Doubt
less his drawings and reports arc all
in the city engineer office now. so
that there would be little difficulty in
ascertaining precisely the extent of the
work he did in investigating the matter,
the results he arrived at, and the ap-
proximite amount which he estimated