not of practical value for this county; we also went up Clay Creek, where a small lake might be reservoired, but not to any direct advantage to us. On our way back we examined the head of Sevier Cañon, below Marysvale, but owing to the limited time at our disposal we could not make thorough examination of this place, but estimated that a dam 10 feet high would back the water of Sevier River 2 miles up to the lower end of Marysvale Valley; average width one-fourth of a mile. We also prospected in Clear Creek Cañon and some of its tributaries, but in our limited time did not find any suitable sites in the Dry or Fish Creek branches; came on down and measured the Sevier River above Joseph Canal Dam and found a flow of 70 cubic feet per second. We would recommend a further examination of the branches of Clear Creek Cañon. The foregoing is respectfully submitted. JAS. M. PETERSON, To the Judge and members of the county court of Sevier County. Committee. PARTIAL REPORT ON TOOELE COUNTY. The several sources of supply are very much scattered and far apart, and in dry seasons, through seepage and evaporation, fail to reach the proper channel, which difficulty could be obviated by the use of pipes or flumes. The inhabitants of this county would receive more direct and immediate benefit from the construction of flumes or pipe conduits to convey water lost by seepage in the mountains than from any other means of conservation or storage, as the main difficulty is in conveying the water over the porous soil to the lands suitable for agriculture. The amount of arable land in Tooele Valley is 100,000 acres, of which 5 per cent. is under cultivation. The amount of arable land in Rush Valley, Tooele County, is 200,000 acres, of which 1 per cent. is under cultivation. The amount of arable land in Skull Valley, Tooele County, is 300,000 acres, of which one-half of 1 per cent. is cultivated. The total area of Tooele County is about 5,000 square miles, containing a population of about 5,000 inhabitants. In this area is to be found a very large portion of the Great American Desert, and is therefore drier than most other counties, and its citizens have a harder struggle for existence and to obtain a livelihood than those of more favorable localities. A great tax is annually levied upon the people for the construction and maintenance of a large system of irrigation canals and ditches in the different irrigation districts. It is recommended that a geological survey be officially made by the General Government of the several irrigation districts of Tooele County, and a sufficient appropriation to cover the expense of piping and collecting the water from the various sources of supply. CHARLES A. HERMAN, Committee. REPORT ON UINTAH COUNTY. There was very little irrigation in Uintah County prior to 1878. Pardon Dods, the first settler, used the first water for irrigation about the year 1874. In the spring of 1878 there were scattered along Ashley Creek about a dozen ranches, some with a few acres of oats and small gardens, but depending mostly on stock-raising and trapping for a living. Among these were R. Veltman, Pardon Dods, John Kelly, R. Snỹder, A. Taylor, T. Taylor, A. Beatie, W. S. Powell, John Fairchild, George Thorn, sr., James Reed, William Brit, McFarley and McNight, Charles Lyons, and William Graham. Jeremiah Hatch, sr., David Johnston, Joseph H. Black, Alva Hatch, A. Johnston, and William Clark settled near the present site of Vernal in April and May. After making several trips for their families' supplies, etc., they began taking out the ditch now known as the Central Canal. This company was soon strengthened by others, among whom were James Hacking, Nelse and George Mercley, Alford and S. Johnson. The ditch was ready for use the next spring, and good crops were raised. At this time there were more settlers along the creek than on the bench. About one fourth the water was taken on the bench and the remainder run down the creek. This was not sufficient to reach the lower settlers, and at this early date many lost their crops. It was soon discovered that it took less water to run through the Canal than through the creek-bed. At the present time the water is divided at the mouth of the cañon into three equal parts, one running down each of the canals and the other down the creek. Springs have broken out in many places along the foot of the bench and large streams of waste water are continually flowing down the waste ditches of the creek, but this will not reach the lower settlers during the month of July, and many of them annually lose their crops. The land owners of Ashley Valley have organized into a company, termed the Ashley Consolidated Irrigation Company, for the purpose of constructing reservoirs, increasing the flow of Ashley Fork, and building weirs at the mouth of the cañon to more evenly divide the water. The result is seven fine reservoirs with an average depth of 5 feet and containing 100 acres. Each reservoir has a gate that can be raised by one man. There are several other lakes that will be converted into reservoirs in the near future. Dry Fork or the West Fork of Ashley, a stream nearly as large as Ashley, sinks in the rocks of Dry Fork Cañon. This could be brought out in a flume 6 miles long. Besides there are several very fine reservoir sites on this stream. The average depth of snow in the mountains is about 6 feet, though on the highest mountains it is much deeper. In the south part of Ashley Valley is a tract of land of nearly 9,000 acres that could be used with but little trouble with an increase of water. On the east side is another fully as large. On Green River is another, containing about 3,500 acres, all of which would make good homes by a little care and means. Hay land, pastures, orchards, and farming lands are included in the acres irrigated and the farming lands are again reported as acres cultivated. The calculations are made from the size of our water boxes-21 square inches-flowing at the rate of about 7 feet per second, from the 1st of May till the 1st of July; if properly handled will produce 40 acres of small grain on the sandy soil of the benches. The clay soil bakes quickly, and must have water every few days till the crops are high enough to shade the ground. Grass and lucern do well on clay soil with about the same water as on sandy soil. Corn can be produced on clay soil with the same water as on sandy soil by an extra amount of cultivating. Wild hay and pasture require but very little after high water, but lucern must have water during the entire season to produce three crops, though any or all the arable land in the county could be made to produce one good crop of lucern each year with the high water, of which there is a very great surplus from the 1st of May until the 25th of June, when it falls very suddenly about 80 per cent. By summer fallowing the land and putting in fall wheat, or waiting till spring and putting in early spring grain, good crops can be raised from the high water. By this means many thousands of acres of land which now belongs to the public domain could be made to produce extra good crops every other year. JAMES HACKING, JOHN GLEMO, Special Committee to Collect and Compile Irrigation Information. WATER SOURCES, LAND AREAS, DISTRIBUTING WORKS. 115. ་ Acres irrigated and duty on water in Uintah County-Continued. Cu.ft. Cu.ft. Cu.ft. Cu.ft. Cu.ft. Cu.ft. Ou.ft. Cu.ft. Cu.ft. Cu.ft. Acs Acs Acs 22. 750 25, 500 28, 436 11, 000 11, 000 44, 700 255, 000 50, 000 11,000 11, 000 15 22, 750 25, 500 28, 436 11, 000 11, 000 44, 700 255, 000 50, 000 11, 000 11, 000 300 300 100 22, 750 15, 000 25, 000 11, 000 11, 000 20, 000 22, 000 25, 000 9, 000 9,000 18 30 55 30 20 11 220 3 * Pasture. REPORT ON UTAH COUNTY. The county committee find the average depth of snow in the mountains in the winter 4 feet. The number of cubic feet of water necessary to produce 1 acre of crops, 40,000. Field land should be watered every fifteen days and orchards once a week. All the water is owned by priority of appropriation and is not of record. During the winter and spring months there is water goes to waste that could be stored in reservoirs on the east side of the valley, sufficient to water all the land on the east side. Artesian water could be had for all the land on the west side of the valley. The land is owned, however, in 5, 10, and 20 acre lots by people who are unable to build reservoirs or drive experimental wells. · |