OCR Text |
Show 210 IRRIGATION INTESTIGATIONS IN UTAH. The measured discharges of the river at various points are given in the following table: Gauginga qf Virgin River, 1902. Date of gauging. 1902. March 7 ... March 20.. March 31 .. April 3..... April 23 -... May 19 ..... June 1...... June 20..... June 21___ June 21..... June 23..... June 23..... Julv2...... Place of gauging. j Discharge. 500 feet above St. George and Washington Field Dam................................. Sulphur Springs, La Verkin Bench........................................................ Junction of Zion Creek and East Fork (streams gauged separately, Zion Creek having a flow of 45.84 cubic feet per second, and East Pork having a flow of 42.93 cubic feet per second). Sulphur Springs, La Verkin Bench......................................................... 400 yards below lower narrows and 3 miles above Littlefleld............................. Sulphur Springs, La Verkin Bench....................................................... On north and south line in center of sec. 32, T. 42 S., R. 15 W............................ Sulphur Spring's, La Verkin Bench.......»................................................ Below Virgin City Fields........................,......................................... One-fourth mile above head of Upper Farming Land Ditch, Virgin City................. ......do.................................................................................... Above Kockville South Ditch........... East Fork, 300 yards above Glendale Dam Cu.fl.pertec. 143.78 104.06 88.77 89.61 111.02 79.71 8.12 31.69 36.18 42.04 61.18 49.71 7.39 THE SETTLEMENT OF VIEOIN RIVER BASIN.0 The spirit of colonization so pronounced with the leaders of the Mormon faith, coupled with a determination to make their new empire self-supporting, led them to push their borders 300 miles to the south within ten years after the}' first entered Salt Lake Valley. Freighters from Salt Lake to southern California in 1847 had returned with stories of an unused river to the south, passing through green valleys and surrounded by wide expanses of fertile desert land. They told also of the Indians who awaited the uplifting touch of civilization-possible converts to the new faith. Two years later Parley Pratt, one of the leaders, explored the district under commission from the provisional State of Deseret. In 1854 missionaries were sent out, under Jacob Hamblin, to prepare the way for later settlers. .'.-Iambiin spent several months among the Indians along the Santa Clara, and gave them their first lessons in irrigation. In the fall of 1854 Hamblin and his associates set to work on a dam across Santa Clara Creek, a few miles above the present town of Santa Clara. During the next few years increased attention was given to the southern field. In 1856 the first settlement of Santa Clara, about one-half mile above the present Santa Clara, was established by a few farmers. In 1857 Washington was settled, and the first water for irrigation taken from Virgin River. The land watered at th«t time wus from 75 to 100 acres on the right bank of the river. In 1858 an experimental cotton farm was started at Heberville, now Price, a few miles below St. George, and cotton raised at a cost of $3.40 per pound. In 1859 the farm was continued and the cost price reduced to $1.90 per pound, when the settlement was «The data relating to the history and settlement of the Virgin Basin were obtained principally from the records of the court of Washington County, from Mr. James G. Blake, clerk and historian of the Mormon Church at St. George, and from conversations and interviews with pioneer settlers. |
Source |
Original book: Utah exhibits [of the] State of Arizona, complainant, v. State of California, Palo Verde Irrigation District, Imperial Irrigation District, Coachella Valley County Water District, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, City of Los Angeles, City of San Diego, and County of San Diego, defendants, United States of America and State of Nevada, interveners, State of New Mexico and State of Utah, parties |