LeRoy W. Hooton, Jr.
March 16, 1999
The Jordan River is an important waterway to Salt Lake City. It provides the means of exchanging Utah Lake water for the use of Wasatch Canyon stream water, providing drinking water to thousands of county residents; it is a major flood control system; and it provides environmental and recreational amenities for public enjoyment.
Utah Lake and Jordan River Hydrologic Basins
The Jordan River traverses the Salt Lake Valley, conveying the waters of the Utah Lake and Jordan River Hydrologic Basins to the Great Salt Lake. The 3,039 square miles of watershed includes all of Utah and Salt Lake Counties and portions of Wasatch and Juab Counties. Within the Jordan River Basin, the Salt Lake Valley is bounded on the east by the Wasatch Mountains and on the west by the Oquirrh Mountains. The Utah Lake Basin is bounded on the west by the East Tintic Mountains and drains areas as far east as the western slopes of the Uinta Mountains. Various streams flow into the basin in route to the Great Salt Lake. The 50-mile Jordan River is the centerpiece, dividing the Salt Lake Valley nearly in half. Its contribution to the successful settling of the Salt Lake Valley cannot be overstated. Water diversions from the Jordan River, fed by storage in Utah Lake, irrigated thousands of acres of farmland, providing the necessary food and grains for the early settlers to survive in the semi-arid valley boarding the Great Western Desert to the west. Later Utah Lake water was exchanged with the farmers who appropriated the Wasatch Canyon streams, providing municipal water supply for a growing Salt Lake City population.
Utah Lake and Jordan River water diversions
The Jordan River flows south to north following the lowest contours from Utah Lake to the Great Salt Lake. In order to irrigate the upward sloping lands on both sides of the river (bench lands), it was necessary to go up-stream to make diversions and construct long canals to convey the water to the farmlands. The first dam built on the river was in 1859, when Ferimortz Little and others were granted the right to make a dam across the Jordan River at a location about 3 miles south of Salt Lake City. This first dam and diversion fed a small ditch extending about one-mile westward.
The larger canals are headed at the Jordan Narrows, where the elevation is such that there was sufficient hydraulic gradient to reach the far reaches of the valley and bench lands. Salt Lake County built the first dam in the Narrows in 1872 at the Jordan Narrows to divert water to the Utah and Salt Lake and North Jordan Canals. This dam was a source of contention between the Utah County landowners surrounding the lake and the water users in Salt Lake County. The next spring water was high in the lake and the two county courts met to resolve the problem. No agreement was reached, and as a consequence during the winter of 1873-74 according to court records, "the head gates washed out, being helped by persons unknown." That spring Salt Lake County rebuilt the dam. Subsequently, an agreement was made between the two counties lasting to 1880, when the dam was raised to store water in Utah Lake. This raised tempers in Utah County, and in a mass meeting held in Provo on June 25, 1881, a resolution was passed to remove as much of the dam as would be necessary to honor the earlier agreement. In 1884 a committee of prominent citizens lead by President John Taylor of the L.D.S. Church arbitrated the dispute. A compromise level of 4515.799 feet City datum was agreed upon, and this held until 1983 when the lands around the lake were flooded from record precipitation and snow melt flows.
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The water rights in Utah Lake were adjudicated in the 1901 Morse Decree, followed in 1910 by the Booth Decree.
The Surplus Canal was constructed at 2100 South in 1885 for flood control along the Jordan River as it flows through the populated area of Salt Lake City adjacent to the river. The Canal flows in a northwesterly direction to the Great Salt Lake. The North Point Canal connects with the Surplus Canal and covers a large area of the level lands lying between Salt Lake City and the lake. The record flow conveyed through the Surplus Canal was 4,410 cubic feet per second on June 1, 1984.
Today Utah Lake and the Jordan River continue to be an important water supply for irrigation in Salt Lake County. They also are used in exchange for high quality mountain water from the Wasatch Canyons. Beginning in 1888, Salt Lake City exchanged Utah Lake water through the Jordan and Salt Lake City Canal and later, in addition, East Jordan Canal irrigation water was exchanged with farmers who had appropriated the canyon streams. The City in turn uses the Wasatch Canyon waters for municipal uses. Today 450,000 people rely on these exchanges for their drinking water supply.
Historic Events
The history of the Salt Lake Valley is chronicled with events on the Jordan River or on its banks.
Etienne Provost, (1782-1850), hunter, trapper and guide, was one of the first white men to frequent the Salt Lake Valley between 1820 and 1830. Provo City was named after him. In 1824 Provost and a ban of other trappers met at the Jordan River with Shoshoni Chief Bad Gocha. In a gesture of peace, the trappers laid down their firearms to smoke the peace pipe with the Indians. However, apparently in retaliation for the murder of a Shoshoni Chief by a member of Peter Skene Ogden's Hudson Bay Company party, Bad Gacha's braves killed everyone except Provost and two of his aids.
In 1846, while following Fremont's Trail to find a new route to California around the southern shore of the Great Salt Lake (Hasting's Cutoff) Langsford W. Hastings, explorer and adventurer got side tracked in the marshes and tall grass and tulles along the Jordan River.
On September 3, 1846, the famous Donner Party crossed over the Jordan River and encamped on its banks, near the site of the Utah State Fair Grounds. This doomed party traveled essentially the same route from Fort Bridger to the Salt Lake Valley as the Mormons did the following year. Perhaps if they had stayed on the banks of the Jordan, they might have avoided their misfortune in the Sierra Nevada that winter.
On August 22, 1847 Brigham Young named the stream connecting the two great lakes, "Western Jordan." Later, by legislation it would be changed to the Jordan River. In March 1849, the first bridge was built over the Jordan River.
On August 12, 1850, Captain Stansbury completed the survey of the Great Salt Lake, Jordan River, Utah Lake and several tributaries.
During the settlement's conflicts with the United States, there are recorded a number of times that federal troops crossed or camped on the banks of the Jordan River. On June 26, 1858, General Albert Sidney Johnston's army marched through Salt Lake City and encamped on the Jordan River west of the city in route to Cedar Valley. Several years later, Colonel Patrick E. Connor was appointed to head the Third California Volunteer Infantry into Utah. In October 1862, Connors marched his troops across the Jordan River at the White Bridge (at about North Temple).
Jordan River Essays
The history of the Jordan River has not always been a proud one. The following two articles on the river were written in the "1922 Municipal Record."
History of the Jordan River, by Alice Willey and Winfield Cannon
A long, long time ago, before there were any white men or Indians here, these valleys were entirely covered by a deep inland sea known as Lake Bonneville. For a long period the level of this great lake rose and fell and at last drained so low that it left a lake in Utah Valley and one in Salt Lake Valley.
Before Lake Bonneville had settled, it had formed a great gravel and sand bar at about the dividing line between the two valleys. As the water level lowered the lake in Utah Valley, being higher than the one in Salt Lake Valley, formed an outlet by cutting a channel through this bar. The channel became deeper and wider, and the water level kept lowering until it reached its present level. The channel from the upper lake to the lower one gradually changed its course, form year to year, and became more winding.
Before the white men came here the Indians frequently crossed this river and probably camped on its banks. When the Catholic fathers came to visit the Indians in this region they perhaps saw the river. Without doubt the traders, trappers, and explorers knew of the river and its general course.
When the pioneers first gazed on the river, clumps of willow here and there marked its winding course. Even the pioneer, it is said, rolled his wagon and sometimes pitched his tent along the murky stream. Although the water was not good for the pioneers’ use, the oxen quenched their thirst and cooled their feet in its swirling eddies. Along its banks the pioneer found it cooler in summer and warmer in winter.
It did not get the name it now bears until the pioneers of 1847 came here. Only a day or two after they arrived in the valley an expedition was sent out to explore along the river and the country near by. They bathed in the river’s waters and washed their dusty clothes.
When they found this river so similar in its connection to the River Jordan in Palestine which also flowed from a fresh water lake, they decided to give it the same name.
Later some of the most fertile farms were developed along its winding course, at places where the soil was free from alkali and clay.
The waters of the Jordan, in the summer time, irrigate many farms, and the mountain streams feed it. Since early times, the Jordan River has helped to build up this country by supplying it with water for irrigation and power for flour mills.
Thrifty farmers have taken canals out on the east and the west side of the river for irrigation. Although it is good for irrigation it is not good or used for household purposes, for the water from the canyon streams are used for irrigation, but it is quite out of the way, while the “Jordan” is quite near at hand. Because of this they use the “Jordan” to irrigate, for it carries much fertilizer with it, and is warmer, thus making it better for irrigation.
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Saltair is one of the greatest bathing resorts in the United States. The fact that the water is so salty that it will hold a person up is one of the reasons why many tourists come to see Salt Lake City and its surrounding points of interest.
Utah Lake is also a great pleasure resort and a financial asset to the people of cities near to it. Although Utah Lake is not as widely known a Great Salt Lake, nevertheless, it furnishes pleasure to all who seek it.
Taken all in all the Jordan River is a great asset to this city and the state.
Autobiography of the Jordan, by Jennie Holden
My story begins when the greater part of old Lake Bonneville found its way through the Bear River to the Snake River and from there to the Columbia River into the ocean. Of all this vast expanse of water two lakes, one a fresh water lake, the other a salt water lake were left. It served as the outlet for the fresh water lake and the inlet for the salt water lake. The country around me was an uninhabited wilderness, except for the Indians, until one day a Spanish Priest; Father Escalante camped on my shores to civilize the Indians and to teach them how to farm.
A very long time passed before another incident happened which is worth while to relate. A French fur trader by the name of Provost, established a fur trading post on my banks. Several Indians came later bringing hides and pelts of animals to trade for articles.
As the years rolled on and people gradually began to move into the valley I became known as the Jordan River. For a few years my only duties were to keep the outlet open from Utah Lake to Great Salt Lake, but later on my waters were used for irrigation by farmers who lived near my course. Dams were built to keep back my waters for this purpose while small pumping stations were used for the truck gardens. Later on as settlements began to increase along my course, and manufacturing began to thrive, the city began to use my course as a dumping ground for refuse and rubbish, but the citizens around my banks complained and it was stopped.
To create a larger interest on the west side of Salt Lake City, to beautify to still greater extent my natural beauty, and to try to make my course a benefit to the citizens of Salt Lake City are the main reasons why I have told my own story.
The Jordan River as it is at present, is a detriment rather than a credit to our city. The undesirable sections are numerous, but there is a possibility of making the Jordan a clean and attractive river. With half the amount of money it took to build the boulevard around the eastern mountains, the Jordan could be made one of the most beautiful rivers in the west.
Compare the banks as they are at present, covered with a growth of weeds and willows, to terraced banks that slope gently toward the river. Trees instead of willow could border the banks, thus giving shade to pleasure seekers.
Think how much enjoyment could be obtained by making a boating course on the Jordan. Boating is something that almost everyone enjoys, and the Jordan would be an ideal place for such a sport.
Probably nothing would improve the appearance of the west side as much as an Ideal Jordan River.
Can one person alone do this task of making the Jordan a beauty spot? No, it requires the help of all. Public sentiment is the ruler in this case. Let us hope that the citizens of Salt Lake City will see the possibilities of a public playground along the only real river we have near our city. Think about it and talk about it to all your friends, after you have decided what you wish to do - Act. When these steps have been taken to make the Jordan a cleaner and more beautiful river, it will be an accomplishment of which the citizens of Salt Lake may be proud.
Clean Water Act
While the first article avers the beneficial assets of the Jordan River, the second one by Jennie Holden touches on some of the problems associated with the river. Historically, the Jordan River suffered from inattention and the effects of pollution. For many years the river was known for its unsanitary conditions and impaired water quality. The areas along the river banks were unkempt and a dumping ground for trash.
Today these conditions have changed. The quality of water flowing in the Jordan River has improved since the passage of the 1972 Clean Water Act. Municipal waste from wastewater treatment plants, stormwater runoff and the regulation of industrial discharges have reduced the concentrations of pollutants being discharged into the river. The Jordan River Parkway provides recreational opportunities for thousands who use the riverbanks for recreation.
According to Steve Jensen, Program Manager, Jordan River Sub-Basin Watershed Council, “The Jordan River has improved in both chemical and biological quality since the Clean Water Act came into effect. He adds, “Today the majority of the degradation is from urban run-off.”
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Question regarding this article can be directed by e-mail to: leroy.hooton@ci.slc.ut.us