Provo River Project – Wallsburg UT

Description

The Provo River Project was initiated under the provisions of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) of  1933 (almost surely as a Public Works Administration (PWA) funded project) and approved by President Roosevelt in late 1935.  The Salt Lake Aqueduct was approved in 1938.  Construction began in May 1938 and built by the US Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) with the help of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Most of the features were begun during the New Deal but completed after the Second World War.

The key structure of the project, Deer Creek Dam, is located on the Provo River east of Mount Timpanogus in Wasatch County. Other major structures include the Duchesne Tunnel east of the Wasatch Mountains and the 42-mile Salt Lake Aqueduct, enlarged Weber-Provo Diversion Canal, Murdoch diversion dam and Provo Reservoir Canal enlargement on the west side of the Wasatch.

Much of the preliminary work conducted at the Deer Creek dam site was accomplished by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Between 1938 and 1941, CCC work teams cleared the dam site; did preliminary excavation for relocation of the Round Valley Highway; removed and reconstructed the Western Union Telegraph line which ran through the reservoir area; and conducted earth embankment work.

Work on the enlargement of the Weber-Provo Diversion Canal began in 1941. In August, the CCC and other Government forces began dismantling obsolete structures in preparation for enlarging the canal.  The project first began to deliver water in 1941 upon the completion of Deer Creek Dam.

The Salt Lake Aqueduct was started in 1939 and completed in 1951. It serves the Salt Lake Metropolitan Water District, created in 1935 to serve the area around the city of Salt Lake itself (which gets its water from other sources).

The project provides supplemental water for the irrigation of 48,156 acres of farmlands on both sides of the Wasatch Mountains, as well as domestic water for Salt Lake City, Provo, and smaller town around both cities.