26 SALT LAKE COMMERCIAL CLUB 



DRAINAGE A FACTOR IN THE FUTURE GROWTH 

 OF SALT LAKE CITY 



BY 



R. A. HART, SUPERVISING DRAINAGE ENGINEER U. S. DEPARTMENT OF 



AGRICULTURE. 



It may sound antithetical to say that one of the most important 

 factors of the future growth of Salt Lake City, the acknowledged 

 capital of the arid west, is the drainage of agricultural lands, yet such a 

 statement is capable of proof and it is the purpose of this article to im- 

 press upon the public generally the vital importance of this phase of 

 reclamation work. 



We must admit that agriculture is the fundamental basis of our 

 existence and is the foundation of both manufacture and commerce. 

 Utah is primarily an agricultural state and with all due respect to our 

 mining and other allied industries, we are compelled to acknowledge 

 agriculture as being the one stable producer of private necessities and 

 public wealth. 



Science is doing much to assist in the utilization of lands beyond the 

 reach of irrigation water but "dry farming," as we choose to call it, must 

 for the greater part be confined to the production of annual crops such 

 as the grains, while hay, sugar beets, fruit, berries and garden truck 

 must continue to be grown on irrigated lands. A wise Providence has 

 made it possible to grow grain on the hilltops and the lands above the 

 highest canals; reserving the bottom lands, where water may be more 

 easily and cheaply applied, for hay, beets and vegetables, and the slopes 

 for fruit and berries which require less water and better air and soil 

 drainage. 



The importance of artificial underdrainage may be realized when it 

 is known that the amount of agricultural land in the state of Utah now 

 unproductive or given over to wet pastures, for want of drainage, is 

 equal to at least a fourth of the amount of land in the state actually being 

 irrigated. 



Much of this injured area has been productive and has been brought 

 to its present condition through a too liberal use of irrigation water. A 

 considerable area has always been in the condition in which we now 

 see it. Much of the land in Utah that is in need of drainage does not 

 present the appearance of a swamp to the eye. In truth much of it is 

 dry on the surface and is covered with a deposit of powdered or crystal- 

 lized salts, known popularly as "Alkali." These salts, however, indicate 

 that for a part of each year at least the ground water reaches a danger- 

 ous proximity to the surface, such that through the action of capillary 

 attraction and evaporation the salts are brought to and deposited upon 

 the surface of the ground. 



These salts are, of .course, injurious to plant life as is indicated by 

 the barren condition of the soil, or by the presence of certain alkaline 

 resistent plants such as salt grass, greasewood, alkali heath, etc. It is 



