WATER HAS ALWAYS BEEN AN ISSUE

Ever since the Utah Pioneers entered the valley of Sanpete, water has been a concern. From the History of Mt. Pleasant by Hilda Madsen Longsdorf we read about the early Mt. Pleasant fort, "The water supply was obtained from Pleasant Creek, which passed almost parallel east and west through the center of the fort. A large bridge was erected over the stream." "All corrals for the cattle were built to the north, just outside the fort, leaving a road-way between." At this time Mount Pleasant was a thriving community of about eight hundred inhabitants, with about 1200acres of ground under cultivation.(pp 51-52) The first entry about water in the History of Mt. Pleasant: "In an act of the territorial legislature approved February 20th, 1868, incorporating Mt. Pleasant, the following provisions were made: "All that portion of Sanpete County embraced within the following boundaries, to-wit, beginning at the mouth of Cedar Creek Canyon, thence running westwardly down the center of the channel of said Cedar Creek to the bridge of the road leading from Spring Town to Mt. Pleasant, as traveled at the present time, giving half the waters of Cedar Creek to Spring Town during the season of irrigation, and from said bridge running due west course until it shall intersect the eastern boundary of Moroni City: thence north along said boundary four miles: thence east¬ward crossing San pitch River to Birch Creek, thence up the center of said Birch Creek to the mountains, giving half of the waters of said Birch Creek to Mt. Pleasant, and the other half to Fairview, thence southwardly along the slopes of the mountains to the place of beginning shall be known and designated under the name and style of Mt. Pleasant, and the inhabitants therein are hereby constituted a body corporate and politic by the name aforesaid and may have and use a common seal, which they may change and alter at pleasure." (pp 13-14) Brigham Young encouraged the settlers to keep their settlements small: "I am satisfied that as a general thing, the sooner the streams are let upon crops after they leave their canyons, the more produce can be raised with a given amount of water. This is especially the case when the streams are small. By concentrating streams at much expense of labor and waste of water under a hot sun and in loose soil, a larger settlement can be made at a given point; but not nearly so many persons can be sustained in a given valley as by the mode of making smaller settlements, as they are large enough for safety at the nearest points where water can be applied to tillable soil." (p 58) Water from streams was used to power old fashioned water wheels: "During the late summer and during the fall and winter months, P. M. Peel and James Porter Sr., built a chopping mill on Peel's lot on Pleasant Creek, (northeast corner, intersection, Main Street and First West) where the stream had previously been taken out and used for irrigation purposes. Here the stream furnished the water power with which to run the mill. Owing to the distance to the nearest flour mill, this mill was a great assistance, and the people were glad to take their wheat there to be chopped. It was ground between two stones and came out quite black, but coarse as it was, it served the purpose and was used for bread. At about this time, a small Burr mill was built east on Pleasant Creek, a little south of where the Mount Pleasant flour mill is now, by John Fredrick Fechser and John Ellertsen, (Spring City). A whip saw was installed in the fort, on the banks of Pleasant Creek, by Wellington Seeley and Rudolph N. Bennett, and was operated by Thomas Dutton." (p 64) In 1861 we read: "Early in the spring, David Candland, who had recently' ar­rived from Salt Lake City to make his home in Mount Pleasant, located on some land south of the city and east of the cemetery. There was a spring on this land and on account of the scarcity of water, the people objected to his taking it. Later, a compromise was made, and twenty acres of land in the field was purchased and given him in exchange." (p69) "Five creeks contribute their water to irrigate the land. Pleasant Creek is made to turn machinery every few rods, and so strong and rapid is the current that mills could advantageously be located along the stream very near to each other. We have good peace here and the usual spirit of industry is manifested."

'No pent up city controls our powers, The whole mountain Territory is ours.' (p 70)

taken from a letter to the Deseret News by David Candland; June 8, 1861

Disputes A dispute came up among the settlers over the water. This was later settled by Orson Hyde, who decreed one-half of the water of Cedar Creek to Mount Pleasant, and the remaining one-half to Spring Town. Birch Creek water was divided likewise, one-­half to Mount Pleasant, and one-half to Fairview. (p 73) On account of the scarcity of water, a meeting was called and it was agreed to dig a canal from Fairview down through the field. It was surveyed by Abraham Day and companies of ten were organized with foremen appointed to oversee the work. The water was taken out just below Fairview, the terminus of the canal was in the field south of the country road leading to Moroni and crossing at a point less than a mile below Mount Pleasant. The using of the Sanpitch water was later discontinued on account of the objection made by the settlers of Moroni. The upper part of the canal in 1914 furnished the water power for the Fairview Roller Mills, located on the west side of the highway about two miles south of Fairview. The other end of the canal is now used for diverting the water south from Pleasant Creek. (p 80)

City Water Works

Mt. Pleasant business district was steadily being improved, and fire protection was discussed by the city council. The thought was expressed that although the treasury was "in a very depleted condition." some steps should be taken to secure a water system for domestic purposes and for extinguishing fires. The following is copied, "How to accomplish it was the next question, whether to borrow or let the revenue pay."(p 168)

"In March 1903, while George Christensen was mayor, the city voted a bond for water works, but not until 1905, during H. C. Beaumann's term, were contracts let for installing the system. In due time, the system was installed, and with its completion. the settling barrels with their prickly pears, which had been used at most every home for the settling of the roily water, disappeared."

"June 13, 1894, the city council met in special session to con­sider the proposition of constructing a waterworks system. The petitions of Jonas H. Ericksen et. al. and William Zabriskie et. al., praying for a franchise to erect a system of city waterworks were read, and was, after considerable discussion, referred to the city attorney."

A committee was appointed to canvass the taxpayers on Main Street, in order to obtain their sentiment as to bonding the city for a waterworks system. If results there were favorable they were to continue throughout the city, otherwise it would be dropped. (P175)

Windmills

"Many wells had been dug, and in a number of places pumps installed, yet it had been a common sight to see people carrying water from wells where the water was thought to be extra good. A number of wind mills had also been erected, the first being the one by J. B. Hunter on Hoo Doo Hill. Mr. S. E. Jensen and J. H. Seeley, with the wind mill pump installed a water works system in their homes, while for the Ferdi­nand Ericksen home a hand pump was used. "(p183) "While John Carter was mayor for two years, Plat "C" was added to the city. An estimate of the cost of building a water­works system was made at $20,949.64." (p241)

"The flood gave W. D. Candland and his associates financial and other troubles. A $25,000.00 bond issue was voted for the purpose of piping pure spring water into the waterworks system."

And so the water saga continues. ..... Current administrations have had to deal with many problems concerning the domestic-use water system, as well as the current irrigation system which is used to water our lawns and flower beds. But with the influx of more people wanting to build homes and wanting to have nice manicured lawns and landscape; we always seem to run out of irrigation water. The amounts of snowmelt the last few years has been very low. Somewhere down the line, something will need to be done to conserve our water resources. Perhaps a building maratorium will need to be issued. Maybe we can learn to recycle our water, rather than let it go to waste. Perhaps we can forego the nice lawns and follow the landscape techniques used in other Southwestern communities like New Mexico and Arizona. Too bad Sanpete Valley wasn't blessed with giant aquifers like are found under St. George and other Washington County communities.