Salt Lake City’s Old Water Conveyance Systems

From open ditches to cast iron pipes, early water conveyance systems (1847 – 1909) allowed Salt Lake City to grow and expand its municipal infrastructure.

LeRoy W. Hooton, Jr.

June 23, 2007

Ditches and Canals

The 28-mile Jordan & Salt Lake City Canal conveyed up to 150 cfs of Utah Lake water to Salt Lake City in 1882. View taken at 12th South & 11th East.
In the early years of Utah, the most common method of conveying water was through open canals and ditches. The Salt Lake valley pioneers diverted the water from streams into a network of ditches from which the water would be delivered onto the irrigated fields. In Salt Lake City open ditches traverse each city street providing irrigation water to individual lots for irrigation and domestic use. Large scale agriculture endeavors took place outside the city lots. In the Big Field Survey, 5 and 10-acre plots were irrigated by a network of open ditches.

Later larger canals were dug to convey larger volumes of water to irrigate larger areas of land. The earliest recorded diversions out of the Jordan River were in 1850 by the Bennion Mill at 5 cubic feet per second and the Gardner Mill Race at eleven cubic feet per second. In 1853, the North Jordan Irrigation Company extended the Gardner tailrace to a point near Taylorsville, enlarging the canal to carry 125 cubic feet per second to irrigate 8,000 acres of land. The canal was completed in 1881.

In Salt Lake County, the first canal dug for municipal purposes was completed in 1882. Salt Lake City constructed the Jordan & Salt Lake City canal with a capacity of 150 cubic feet per second. The 28-mile canal provided irrigation and municipal water to Salt Lake City. Later the canal was used by the City to exchange its Utah Lake water for the farmer's mountain water.

Pioneer Bored Log Pipe

There is evidence that there were early attempts to convey culinary water through bored-out wooden pipes. In a letter on file with the Department of Public Utilities dated November 14, 1962, C. E. Painter (Vice President, Construction & Engineering Water Works Equipment Company) wrote about talking to Water Department assistant superintendent Dow Young (Superintendent 1948-1952) about the Department finding bored wood logs around City Creek. Mr. Young said he did not know who owned them as there was no record in the Salt Lake City minutes regarding bored wood logs.  C. E.

Walter Eli Wicox developed a method of boring wood logs to convey water to the Endowment House. The pipes would connect by forcing the tapered pipe on the right  into the larger end of the pipe on the left.
Painter continued in his letter that information found in the autobiography of Walter Eli Wicox indicated that in 1854 Brigham Young requested that Mr. Wilcox devise a machine for boring logs to convey water to the Endowment House. Mr. Wilcox was successful in constructing a machine to bore the logs, and about a quarter of a mile of bored logs was laid before Brigham Young ordered the work to cease and be abandoned. 

Moreover, according to C.E. Painter’s letter, quoting from Mr. Fairclough, the grandson of Mr. Wilcox in a history of his grandfather, “He also made a pipeline of logs that carried water from City Creek at North Temple down State Street to the Knutesford Hotel at Third South.” The pipeline conveyed water to the Salt Lake Theatre, stores and homes along State Street. This log pipeline also failed because pine and resins in the logs affected the taste of the water.

Despite these early failures, as written by his grandson, “…Eli still deserves credit for

The hole on the side would be the point that would allow water from the pipe to be diverted to the point of use.
making the first water pipe for distribution of culinary water in Utah.”

Salt Lake City’s Piped Municipal Water System

In 1871 Salt Lake City began considering the construction of a piped water distribution system when the City Council passed a resolution to investigate the possibility of such an undertaking.The City Council hired and paid $1,000 to Herman Schussler, Civil & Hydraulic Engineer, to design the water system to convey water from City Creek into a piped system to the business district of the City. 

In a report given to Brigham Young, Mayor Wells, and the City Council members on August 12, 1872, Mr. Schussler, wrote:

"The City Creek has for the present & many years to come an abundant supply for Salt Lake City … I found the creek to deliver in the neighborhood of ten million gallons per diem of 24 hours, which amounts is far in excess of the water required.  The average daily consumed through the largest cities in the United States & Europe is 45 gallons per head.  Salt Lake counting about 20,000 inhabitants, and a good deal of water being required for irrigation gardens & sprinkling streets, I will assume a daily supply of 100 gallons per head, that is for every man, woman & child, this aggregating a total daily supply of two million gallons.  In order to make provisions for the future growth of the City, I propose to construct the pipe system of the City of such dimensions as to be capable of supplying five million gallons per diem.”

Salt Lake City constructed its first municipal water system in 1874 from City Creek to the downtown business district.
The report goes on to specify the length and size of pipe, fittings and fire hydrants.  In regards to the type of pipe, Mr. Schussler noted at this point that the City had already decided to use the laminated wood pipe (approved by the City Council on July 13, 1872), which he noted "is as fully strong and more lasting than Cast Iron, provided the joints are properly secured and made." 

On August 24, 1872 the City and the Rochester Laminated Pipe and Package Company of Rochester, New York entered into an agreement to secure the pipe and fittings for the City Creek water system. It’s not clear what the flaw was in the use of the laminated wood pipe, but this first attempt to construct the pipeline failed.  

Two years later, on March 24, 1874, Waterworks Superintendent McKan was authorized by the City Council to dispose of the laminated pipe to the Deseret Agricultural Manufacturing Company Society, in the best terms possible.  The next day water superintendent McKan was authorized to go east to find suitable pressure pipe.

On the100 year anniversary, a section of the first pipe was dug up to varify the date of installation and to inspect the condition of the pipe.
In 1874, the City Council’s Committee on Waterworks made a recommendation “…to take the earliest step to obtain the right-of-way to lay pipe for conveying water from the waterworks tank (constructed in 1872) in City Creek Canyon to the streets in the City and to arrange for the purchase of sufficient pipe of twenty inches in diameter to reach from said tank to Eagle gate to the center of South and East Temple Streets…and then 12-inch pipe to reach two blocks south from said center.” 

During the next six months the City sought out pipe manufacturers in the east to supply pipe for the water works system, finally negotiating with the firm of Dennis Long Company of Louisville, Kentucky to deliver cast iron pipe to Salt Lake City at approximately $70 per ton.  The first 20 carloads of 37 arrived in the City on August 3, 1875. Other firms that provided material to install the water works system included David, Howe & Company for fire hydrants; L.J. Rumsey & Company of St. Louis for service pipe and plumbing tools; the Boston Machine Company for water gates and stop and waste cocks, and the Boston Sead Company for tin-lined water pipes.

Work began on the piped system during August 1875 and was completed and placed into operation about a year later, sometime during the summer of 1876.

The piping of water from historic City Creek was a significant milestone for Salt Lake City. It was fitting that City Creek, which provided the Mormon Pioneers their water supply, would later be diverted into a pressurized pipe and distributed to the City’s downtown area. It signaled the beginning of modern waterworks practices and the conveniences of a “piped to the house” water supply and more importantly, it improved water quality and public health of the City’s inhabitants.

During the Water Department’s centennial celebration in 1976, the original pipe laid in City Creek was excavated to verify its existence and determine its condition. The excavation took place one-half block east of the LDS Church Office Building, just off Second Avenue on Canyon Road. This original section of the 16-inch cast iron pipe was in excellent condition and bore the letters, “D.L. 1875,” which verified that it was purchased from Dennis Long & Company of Louisville, and manufactured in 1875. The original pipe still provides service and judging by its condition, will continue to be an integral part of Salt Lake City’s water system during the next century.

Sanitary Sewer Pipes

Worker with feet and hands showing sits inside a sewer pipe being laid during the turn of century.
Just like most American cities, Salt Lake City's sewer system began in the business district. The City's first sewer construction began in 1889 when 5,229 feet of 24-inch sewer main was constructed on Fifth South between the Jordan River and Third West and 4,749 feet of 20-inch main eastward on Fifth South to Second East.  The sewer continued in the downtown area on Main Street from Fourth South to North Temple with 3,979 feet of 8-inch sewer main on the east side of Main Street.  During 1890, sewer mains were installed on First South from First West to Second East.

By 1903 the sewer system had expanded from the central business district outward with 240,599 feet (45.57 miles) of pipe installed. In that same year, the City Engineer recommended an intercepting sewer be constructed in the western part of the City, and a pumping plant located at Ninth North for pumping sewage to the Gravity Outlet Sewer that had been completed earlier in 1897. The Gravity Outlet Sewer began at Fourth East and Ninth South passing the southwest corner of the City and County Building and thence west and north to the Sewage Farm located on property that today is at about Redwood Road and I-215.

In 1909 most of the sewer collection system was constructed with vitrified pipe. Larger outfall and intercepting lines were mostly made of concrete or brick and concrete.

Salt Lake City First Poured-in-place Conduit

One of the most important water projects of the early 20th century, the construction of the Big Cottonwood Conduit, ushered in a new era of water development. On February 5, 1907 the conduit conveyed the waters of Big Cottonwood Creek to Salt Lake City.  The diversion was made possible through an exchange of water.  The farmers exchanged their

In 1905, the Big Cottonwood Conduit was completed to convey the waters of Big Cottonwood Creek to Salt Lake City.
mountain water for a more dependable source of irrigation water from Utah Lake, delivered through the Jordan and Salt Lake City Canal. Starved for additional municipal quality water to serve a population of nearly 100,000 inhabitants, the City gained an invaluable source of water supply.

Nearly 5-1/2 years after submitting Engineer Kelsey's preliminary report, the City entered into the first Big Cottonwood exchange agreement with the owners of the Hill Ditch on June 27, 1905, followed on the next day with the Big Ditch and Lower Canal farmers. The Big Cottonwood water supply was described in the Annual Report of the City Engineer for the year 1907, "As the largest of the several mountain streams in Salt Lake County, (and) its waters are always cold and pure."

The conduit was designed to flow by gravity (not pressurized) and to carry 60.5 cubic feet per second of water.  It traversed the eastern foothills, following the hydraulic gradient above Wasatch Blvd., a distance of 7.23 miles from the Big Cottonwood Creek diversion point to the mouth of Parleys Canyon. The water was then delivered into Salt Lake City's water distribution system through a 36-inch supply main to the Thirteenth East Reservoir (located at 1300 East First South). The cost of the Big Cottonwood Conduit was $427,000.

Wood stave pipe in City Creek Canyon and early sanitary sewer system

Employees Jim Lewis and Zee Smith inspect a section of wood stave pipe located at the Public Utilities office.
Wood stave pipe was used during the late 1800s and early 1900s  to convey water from open ditches to city lots and businesses.The Department of Public Utilities has two sections of wood stave pipe on display at its administrative office building.  It is believed that these pipes were found in the vicinity of City Creek and the avenues.

Although there is no found information about the use of wood stave pipe in City records, the use of wood stave pipe is recorded in the a passage in the book Heart Throbs Of  The West, where Ezea T. Stevenson writes, “The first mains were made by winding spirally in pitch, strips of wood sawn thin enough to have easily round and round. Wooden couplings were made to join the ends.” Stevenson was referring to strips of wood bound together to form a round pipe, bound by a metal strap to hold the pipe together. The pipe sections would be coupled to form a longer pipe by a wooden coupling. The section shown in the picture included in this article and is on display at the Public Utilities Office is constructed with tongue and groove edges for strength and water tightness. The pipe is wrapped with a continuous spiral steel band.

Located in upper Memory Grove is an exposed section of 8-inch in diameter wood stave pipe on the west embankment below Bonneville Blvd. The section of wood stave pipe is located approximately 1,000 feet south (down canyon) of the City Creek Canyon gatekeepers residence. It has been obscured by a growth of scrub oak and sheet grass and is difficult to see from the Memory Grove road. This wood stave pipe may have been part of the evolution of water pipe used prior to the installation of the cast iron pipe in 1876. It is

An exposed section of wood stave pipe running parallel to a cast iron pipe in City Creek.
parallel to a municipal a 12-inch cast iron pipe installed in 1900. It’s speculated that this wood stave pipe was the conveyance pipe for the 20th Ward diversion, which was located near the gatekeepers home. Based on this theory, it was installed sometime between 1875 and 1892 and replaced in 1900 with the cast iron pipe currently in use today. The 20th Ward diversion was abandoned in 1953.

It appears that the only wood stave sanitary sewer pipe used within the City’s sewer system was constructed, in place within the trench, in 1908. The 4,525 linear foot-24-inch in diameter Wood Stave pipe was constructed on Ninth North between Eighth West and Fourth West, conveying sewage from the pumping plant lacated at the southeast corner of Eighth West and Seventh North streets to the Gravity Outfall sewer at Fouth West. At some unknown date the pumping plant and wood stave pipe were abandoned.

Although a common type of pipe a hundred years ago, as other pipe materials reached the market, the use of wood stave pipe was replaced with other pipe materials. However, in a search of the web, there are still firms producing wood stave pipe for use primarily for hydropower purposes.

The North Temple Aqueduct is the first major waterway enclosed in an aqueduct in 1909.
Urban Stormwater Conveyance - North Temple Aqueduct

As a means of controlling the high run-off flows of City Creek, in 1909 an aqueduct was constructed on North Temple Street from the west side of the viaduct that is midway between Fourth and Fifth West Streets to the Jordan River. The reinforced concrete conduit, seven feet in diameter circular section, cost $65,000. Stormwater pipes convey waters of the canyon streams of City Creek, Emigration and Parley’s creeks through the city and urban run-off to the Jordan River. 

According to the 1909 City Engineers Report, in 1908 the City initiated a stormwater infrastructure program. “Last year the first storm sewers were built and plans started for installing a system for the entire city.” Before this stormwater was carried by natural watercourses by street gutters.

In time drainage pipes and curb & gutter on each City street provided urban drainage systems. Next year the Stormwater Division will have its 100th anniversary.