JORDAN RIVER
Early photograph of Jordan River near Salt Lake
The Jordan River is the northward-flowing, forty-mile-long waterway
connecting Utah Lake on the south with the Great Salt Lake. Returning from
California in June 1827, Jedediah Smith crossed the Jordan with some difficulty,
noting in his journal that he was "very much strangled" in his
attempt. This was probably a reference to the annual spring flooding of
what normally is a rather slow-moving river; an occurrence which has been
a matter of periodic concern to the area's inhabitants since the founding
of Salt Lake City and surrounding communities.
The river was named the "Western Jordan" in 1847 by Heber C. Kimball,
soon after his arrival in Utah. He noted its resemblance to the Middle Eastern
river of the same name: a river flowing from a "fresh water lake through
fertile valleys to a dead sea." "Western" was soon dropped
from the river's name.
During construction of the Salt Lake Temple, granite blocks were floated
down the river to the city. The Jordan was again used to float construction
materials in 1869, this time floating logs and ties for use on the Central
Utah Railroad.
Almost from the beginning of settlement, the communities of Utah and Salt
Lake valleys have used the Jordan to carry waste and sewage away to the
Great Salt Lake. This created an understandable, albeit occasional, concern
for the sanitary and aesthetic qualities of the river. After the river overflowed
its banks in 1952, Salt Lake County built a diversion dam and the Army Corps
of Engineers enlarged an already extant surplus canal. There followed a
program of dredging and straightening the river channel to reduce the damage
caused by periodic spring floods.
Throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s the Jordan continued to be used
as a waste disposal canal for area slaughterhouses, packing plants, mineral
reduction mills, and laundries. In 1973 the Utah State Legislature created
the Provo-Jordan River Parkway Authority to establish programs to enhance
the natural quality of the river and to develop park and recreational facilities,
water conservation projects, and flood control measures. By 1976 the Salt
Lake Tribune was noting improvements in water quality and decreased
industrial pollution, although some areas of the river still needed to be
improved.
Since the 1980s the Jordan River and its environs have come to be thought
of as an urban oasis, offering a variety of recreational activities such
as the International Peace Gardens, jogging and equestrian trails, fishing,
canoeing, a water slide, a model airplane park, golf courses, and other
attractions.
See: Atlas of Utah (1981); Richard Poll, ed., Utah's History
(1978); Dale L. Morgan, The Great Salt Lake (1986).
Kevin B. Hallaran
