- Reclamation
- Projects & Facilities
- Projects
- Ogden River Project
Ogden River Project
State: Utah
Region: Upper Colorado Basin Region
Related Documents
Ogden River Project History (43KB)
Related Facilities
Related Links
Pineview Dam
Reclamation's Upper Colorado Region Water Operations
Palmer Drought Index Map
Explanation of the Palmer Drought Index
Reclamation Water Information System
General
The Ogden River Project, in north-central Utah near Ogden and Brigham City, furnishes an irrigation supply to almost 25,000 acres of land lying between the Wasatch Mountains and the Great Salt Lake, and a supplemental municipal water supply for the city of Ogden. Project features include Pineview Dam and Reservoir, the reconstructed Ogden Canyon Conduit, the Ogden-Brigham Canal, the South Ogden Highline Canal, and the gravity-pressure distribution system constructed for the South Ogden Conservation District.
History
In 1850, three years after the settlement of Salt Lake City, Utah, the first diversions of water were made from the Ogden river to irrigate crops. Prior to 1900, 3,000 acres of land were irrigated from the Ogden River, either partially or fully. The fertile soil and the favorable climate made it possible to raise fruit and vegetables of excellent quality to supply the local market. However, as the diversions increased, the late summer natural flow was not sufficient to irrigate all of the developed land.
Construction
Construction by contract was started on September 29, 1934. Construction of the Pineview Dam and Ogden-Brigham Canal were completed in June 1937. The South Ogden Highline Canal and a distribution system consisting of 5.2 miles of concrete lined canal and a 35 mile pressure pipe system, were built during 1938-1941. Pineview Dam was enlarged to provide storage of 110,150 acre-feet as part of the Weber Basin Project. A full supply for irrigation can be furnished to 24,801 acres of land. The water supply has improved economic conditions in the area and has brought fertile land under cultivation. Principal crops are peaches, apples, apricots, vegetables, sugar beets, small grains, corn, and hay. Pineview Reservoir area is used extensively for camping, picnicking, swimming, boating, boat racing, water skiing, and fishing for trout, bass, and wall-eyed pike. Recreation facilities, greatly expanded under the Weber Basin Project development, are administered by the Forest Service. The number of public recreation visits in 1996 was 973,427. Flood control regulations for Pineview Reservoir have been developed by the Bureau of Reclamation and approved and issued by the Corps of Engineers as a comprehensive plan for flood control operation of Weber Basin Reservoirs dated November 1966 and a subsequent report dated July 1971. The regulations provide that when water is stored within the flood control reservation of the reservoir, releases will be as rapidly as possible without exceeding damaging capacities of the downstream channel. Pineview Reservoir (http://www.usbr.gov/dataweb/dams/ut10132.htm) has a maximum flood control reservoir of 110,000 acre-feet and 18,000 acre-feet of capacity assigned to flood control. The Ogden River has a safe channel capacity of 1,600 cfs below the dam. Releases shall be restricted, as much as possible, to limit flows so as not to exceed this channel capacity. The Ogden Project has provided an accumulated $9,587,000 in flood control benefits from 1950 to 1999. The Pineview Dam Hydroelectric Project was completed and began producting power June 1, 1991. The project was a joint venture between the Weber-Box Elder Conservation District and Bountiful City. The hydroelectric facility consists of one 2500 hp horizontal francis turbine with an 1800 kw synchronous generator. Water is diverted from the 75 inch Ogden Canyon Conduit through the facility and back into the conduit. It also has a river bypass where water can be diverted into the Ogden River. The operating flow range for the plant is between 120 and 300 cubic feet per second. The Ogden River Project, as with many Reclamation projects in Utah, incorporated existing, locally built, irrigation systems into a larger project. Ogden city began as an agricultural area in the mid 1800s, but did not boast a large agricultural base when Reclamation built the Ogden River Project. By the time of the project`s construction, the area`s agricultural tradition had given way to the railroad industry. Ogden, Utah is located in an unenviable position in Weber County, between the Wasatch Mountains to the east and the Great Salt Lake to the west. The city is part of the geographic area known as the Great Basin Desert. Large quantities of precipitation do not often grace the landscape. Temperatures can vary from twenty degrees below zero in the winter to above 100 in the summer. Though the agricultural base remained small, irrigation proved necessary to give it any survivability. The Ogden River Project is located in Reclamation`s Upper Colorado Region. The Project is fairly small, not encompassing a large area of land. Pineview Dam and Reservoir, the Ogden Canyon Conduit, the Ogden Canyon Siphon, the South Ogden Highline Canal, and part of the Ogden-Brigham Canal are in Weber County. Much of the Ogden-Brigham Canal stretches north into Box Elder County to Brigham City, Utah.1 Home to various groups of Native Americans for several centuries, Northern Utah first attracted Europeans and Americans in the early nineteenth century. Jim Bridger, the famed mountain man, was the first white man to see the Great Salt Lake. Peter Skene Ogden, a trapper for the Hudson Bay Fur Company, and the man for whom the city, river, and valley of Ogden were named, visited the area in the late 1820s. Captain Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville`s military party reached the nearby shore of the Great Salt Lake in 1832. Area tradition claims Father Pierre Jean De Smet, a Jesuit priest, entered the valley in 1841.2 After the influx of transient trappers, Miles Goodyear became the first permanent white settler in Ogden area in the 1840s. South of Ogden, in 1847 Salt Lake City, Mormon settlers first diverted water from nearby rivers to irrigate their crops. Within a year Mormons had moved north to settle Ogden and areas farther on. Ogden Mormons began diverting water for irrigation in 1848, setting the stage for water rights conflicts for years to come.3 Subsequent settlers to the area moved into Ogden Valley, ten miles to the east of Ogden city on the opposite side of the mountains, and the location of present day Huntsville. The farmers in the valley wasted no time in diverting the waters of the Ogden River for their use. This drastically decreased the amount of water available for the original settlers of Ogden and its immediate surrounding area. The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in May, 1869, changed the face of Ogden city from a farming community to the Junction City of many western rail lines. In further urban development, Utah Power and Light Company built Pioneer Dam on the Ogden River, for supplemental power, in the early 1900s. Ogden grew and with it the need for more water to provide domestic and agricultural uses.4 Ogden grew increasingly desperate for water. The city confiscated water from any available nearby stream for its uses. Ogden found its water supply could not keep up with its ever increasing needs. Ogden made plans to construct a storage reservoir on the Ogden River near the Huntsville. The plans fell through, according to the 1958 Project History, because of no funds, no bedrock, no enthusiasm, or all three. In place of the storage reservoir Ogden chose to dig artesian wells in Ogden Valley`s river basin. Between 1915 and 1925, the city dug fifty wells, further depleting the water supply of farmers in both the Ogden Valley and the Ogden city areas. Apprehensive Weber County water users searched for ways to fight the depletion of their water sources. The Plain City Irrigation Company filed a lawsuit in an effort to curtail the water losses. The impending conflict seemed certain to involve Ogden city, and most Weber County farmers in an ugly legal struggle.5 By the late 1920s Reclamation began making plans for storage dams on the Ogden and Weber Rivers. To ease their fears, Ogden area water users entered a July, 1929 agreement stipulating a seven year trial period. During the trial period Ogden city would receive the same amount of water it currently drew from the wells. The Ogden River Project did not come into existence for almost four years with the June 16, 1933 passage of the National Recovery Act (48 Stat. 195). Passage of the Recovery Act allowed Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes to authorize the project, and he allotted three million dollars to it in 1933.6 Surveying and testing commenced in 1933 for the Ogden River Project under J.R. Iakisch, Resident Engineer. Reclamation used most of the surveying to determine property lines on the border of Pineview Reservoir. Other surveys determined rights of way along canal and conduit routes. Reclamation surveyed new highway locations from Pineview Dam to the towns of Eden and Huntsville. Reclamation`s initial test of possible fill material for Pineview Dam yielded no viable selections. Reclamation crews obtained samples from a five mile area and eventually found suitable material for the earthfill portion of the dam.7 Utah Construction Company of Ogden and Morrison-Knudsen Company of Boise, Idaho contracted to build Pineview Dam. The contract encompassed construction of new highway sections as well as the dam structure. To deal with the workload, the two companies subcontracted much of the road and concrete work in the contract. Preliminary to construction of Pineview Dam in 1934, Utah Construction and Morrison-Knudsen breached Pioneer Dam. They excavated a channel from Pioneer Dam to Pineview Dam for removing water from Pineview`s foundation.8 Utah Construction and Morrison-Knudsen made good progress during 1935 concentrating on concrete works and the diversion tunnel. Work on the spillway, begun in 1934, encountered problems with excessive breakage in the excavation. Workers laid concrete at the upper end of the spillway to compensate for the breakage. The contractors finished excavating the spillway in December, 1935. Excavation of the diversion tunnel began in January, 1935. Work crews broke through in April. Work continued until August when the tunnel was ready for lining. Workers completed the concrete lining of the tunnel in September, 1935, except for the gate chamber.9 Simultaneous with spillway construction, workers excavated a cutoff trench. They drove steel sheet pilings in the trench for the cutoff wall. Crews began driving the pilings at the bottom of the dam site, moving to the south abutment. After completion on the south abutment they started from the beginning point and moved toward the north abutment. Driving of the pilings continued until its January, 1936 completion. Workers laid concrete on the slope of the south abutment, making a seal between the sheet piling and the rock.10 Utah Construction and some of the subcontractors advanced work on the highways in the contract. They completed excavation of the Eden road tunnel. Workers finished concreting the portals and timbering the tunnel, but did not start the concrete tunnel lining. On the rest of the road surfaces crews laid the gravel base and oiled the surface. The Emergency Conservation Works established a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp near Huntsville in 1935. The 235 workers from the camp cleared the reservoir site of buildings, brush, and fences, removed old 75 inch pipe, cleaned the steel trestles on the Ogden Canyon Conduit, and accomplished other work not specified on the contracts.11 The contractors diverted water through the diversion tunnel in early 1936. They remove a section of the flume originally diverting the water in order to finish driving the sheet piling. Anticipated heavy runoff caused the replacement of the flume section to handle the excess water. Heavy runoff in April topped the flume, breaking it in to pieces. The upper section stayed in place, but the lower section washed away, allowing part of the cutoff trench to fill with mud. This slowed down excavation of the cutoff trench. Workers cleared the cutoff trench during the summer of 1936.12 Utah Construction and Morrison-Knudsen began laying the earthfill portion of Pineview Dam as re-excavation of the cutoff trench neared completion. Workers began the earthfill portion by placing five feet of clay over the drains in August, 1936. Work on the embankment continued until the October 15 completion date. Air powered mechanical tampers compressed the earthfill. After completion of the embankment, workers placed rock on the upstream and downstream sides of the dam.13 Grouting of tile drains and springs at the dam`s foundation began the day after the placing of the earthfill finished. Laborers concluded installation of the high pressure gates in the gate chamber in the middle of October, 1936. Reclamation closed the gates and began storing water November 16. Workers continued excavation and concrete work on the spillway through most of 1936. They finished in October, 1936. Workers completed many of the smaller jobs by the end of 1936: grouting of a channel below the spillway, excavation and placement of riprap from the spillway to Pioneer Powerplant, construction of 75 inch pipe penstock and 60 inch discharge pipe in the diversion tunnel, construction of control works, and placement of radial gates and the gates` operating equipment.14 Even with the construction of Pineview Dam, Ogden refused to give up its artesian water supply. To prevent the loss of the artesian system Reclamation hooked pipes to the wells and placed them four to thirteen feet below the reservoir bottom. The pipes fed the water into a collector tank. Water then flowed through a 9000 foot long, 38 inch diameter pipe to a point below Pineview Dam where it connected with the Ogden city main.15 In 1937 enrollees from CCC Camp BR-12 completed cleanup work around Pineview Dam. CCC workers commenced excavation work for the concrete parapet on top of the dam in 1938. Adverse weather and late reception of construction drawings forced postponement of the work until the next year. Work on the parapet did not resume until July, 1939. The CCC forces moved quickly, finishing the parapet in August, 1939. The enrollees completed the curb wall in September, completing work on Pineview Dam.16 Barnard-Curtiss Company bid low and received the contract for the Ogden Canyon Conduit. The conduit consisted of a 75 inch diameter wood stave pipeline delivering water to the Pioneer Powerplant and the irrigation canals near Ogden city and in Box Elder County. The wood stave pipeline was comprised of wood slats bound together with steel bands. Removal of the old pipeline and the excavation for the new pipe began in summer of 1935. Placement of the pipe finished before the end of the same year. Work continued through the winter as weather permitted. Falling rock during the winter of 1935-36 and floods that spring damaged the pipe necessitating repairs. Workers from the Huntsville CCC camp aided in connecting the pipe to one of the system`s tunnels. Completion of the connection on November 20, 1935 finished the conduit construction.17 The Ogden-Brigham Canal starts its journey to Brigham City at the connection of the wood stave pipe of the Ogden Canyon Conduit and the steel penstock pipes of Pioneer Powerplant. J.A. Terteling and Sons Company, Utah Construction Company, and Morrison-Knudsen Company contracted the early stages of the Ogden-Brigham Canal in 1935. All contractors began excavation work in September of the same year. Work progressed rapidly, but the companies experienced some problems. Runoff from heavy rains floated part of the lined canal from its bed. The lining did not settle in its original grade causing it to crack. Workers repaired the damage with no further problems. Terteling and Sons completed their contract in August, 1936. Utah Construction and Morrison-Knudsen finished the following November.18 Terteling and Sons received the contract for the remainder of the Ogden-Brigham Canal in January, 1936. Terteling and Sons worked quickly without any major problems. They finished excavating and lining the canal with concrete by the end of 1936 with only work on siphons left to accomplish. Cold weather and snow suspended work in January, 1937 until more suitable weather returned. Work resumed the following March with good progress, but delays in construction material deliveries by the Government slowed progress. In spite of the delays, Terteling and Sons completed the remainder of the Ogden-Brigham Canal by June 5, 1937.19 J.A. Terteling and Sons contracted to build initial sections of the South Ogden Highline Canal in January, 1936 at the same time the company received its second Ogden-Brigham Canal contract. The company wasted no time in beginning the work after Reclamation gave the order to proceed. Clearing the canal route began April, 1936. Through the remainder of the year the contractor completed most of the canal excavation, siphon and culvert construction, and concrete lining of the canal. The cold weather which stopped Terteling and Sons on the Ogden-Brigham Canal forced work to halt on the South Ogden Highline Canal. Delays once again hindered Terteling and Sons as right of way disputes changed the canal`s alignment. Regardless of delays, the company concluded the contract work June 12, 1937.20 Work on Ogden-Brigham and South Ogden Highline Canals in 1938-39 amounted to little more than cleanup and additions. Both canals received trashracks on the inlets of unprotected siphons in 1938. Workers installed a concrete Venturi flume section at the head of the Ogden-Brigham Canal in 1939 with a covered throat to prevent the growth of algae. The Venturi flume contracted the canal`s width. The differences in the water`s surface levels, in the narrow section, indicated the amount of water flowing through the canal. Reclamation started a mile and a half long wasteway at the end of the South Ogden Highline Canal during the same year.21 Reclamation awarded contracts to several companies for construction of the South Ogden Highline Canal lateral system in 1940. Construction began in September, 1940 and continued into the next year. The contractors on the South Ogden distribution lateral system completed their work by June, 1941. CCC enrollees worked under pressure to complete the lateral turnouts of the canal in 1941 so water could be turned into the system for the year`s irrigation season. CCC forces began building equalizing reservoirs in 1941 along the South Ogden Highline Canal. These reservoirs were used to measure the water turned into South Ogden`s lateral system. The CCC constructed six equalizing reservoirs ranging from eight to thirteen acre-feet of capacity.22 Dan Teters Company contracted to build the Ogden Canyon Siphon in October, 1936. Reclamation gave Teters the notice to proceed the following February. Workers started pouring concrete for pedestals, support footings, and anchorages April 13, 1937, shortly afterwards they poured concrete on the north side tunnels. Teters started placing the 31-? inch plate steel pipe April 23, 1937, connecting it to the north side tunnels. At the same time workers commenced erecting the steel bridge which would suspend the siphon 200 feet above the canyon floor and highway. Workers placed the first section of pipe on the bridge on July 3, 1937 and completed the last section six days later. Teters completed hookups and leak repairs by the end of July.23 Upon completion the Ogden-Brigham Canal measured 24.2 miles in length with a capacity of 120 second-feet. The canal extends in a northerly direction to Brigham City. South Ogden Highline Canal travels south 5.2 miles, and has a capacity of 35 second-feet. The Ogden Canyon Siphon stretches 360 feet with most of its bulk suspended 200 feet above the highway traversing Ogden Canyon.24
Plan
Water for project use is stored in Pineview Reservoir. Irrigation releases are made through one of the dam outlets into the Ogden Canyon Conduit. At a point 4.7 miles below the reservoir, 35 cubic feet per second of the conduit`s flow is diverted across the canyon through a suspended siphon to the head of the South Ogden Highline Canal. This canal conveys water to a 2,687 acre area lying along the east bench of Ogden below the canal and extending into the cities of South Ogden, Washington Terrace and Riverdale. Approximately 0.25 mile north of the Ogden Canyon siphon diversion, the reconstructed Ogden Canyon Conduit terminates in a concrete and steel surge tank where the remaining 245 cubic feet per second of water is divided between valley and bench lands. Water for irrigation of valley lands is diverted through the Utah Power & Light penstock to their Pioneer Plant where it is used in their turbines to produce electricity. The water then flows through the discharge canal and is diverted to the several irrigation companies that deliver water to the valley users. The Ogden-Brigham Canal, extending from the surge tank approximately 24 miles to Brigham City, serves the higher lands adjacent to and below the canal. Distribution from the Ogden-Brigham Canal is made through facilities constructed by the Weber-Box Elder Conservation District and other private irrigation water user entities. The artesian wells owned by Ogden City were capped and abandoned. The city drilled new wells on the point between middle inlet and north fork. They are now housed in concrete block buildings and flow along the north side of the dam to the treatment plant. Pineview Dam is located in the Ogden River Canyon about 7 miles east of Ogden, Utah. The dam is a zoned earthfill structure. It was originally constructed to a structural height of 103 feet, forming a reservoir of 44,175 acre-feet capacity. The capacity of the reservoir was later enlarged to 110,150 acre-feet by increasing the structural height of the dam to 137 feet as a part of the Weber Basin Project. The overflow, channel-type spillway, controlled by radial gates, has a capacity of 10,000 cubic feet per second. The crest of the dam, elevation 4,908.0 feet, is 30 feet wide, 600 feet long, and contains a total volume of 418,000 cubic yards of earth, rock, and riprap material. The overflow, channel-type spillway, controlled by radial gates, has a capacity of 10,000 cfs. A 2,300 cubic foot per second capacity outlet works is located in a tunnel in the right abutment. It consists of a 72 inch pipe which leads into the 75 inch Ogden Canyon Conduit, and a 60 inch pipe which discharges into the spillway stilling basin. The 72 inch pipe has a wye which permits additional discharges into the stilling basin, and the 60 inch line has a 42 inch pipe connected to it to allow water to be delivered to the Ogden City filtration plant located downstream from the dam. Water from the dam is transported 4.7 miles through the Ogden Canyon Conduit, jointly owned by the Ogden River Water Users Association and Utah Power & Light Company, to the two canals for distribution. Water for the South Ogden Highline Canal is conveyed across the canyon in a 360 foot long, 36 inch diameter steel siphon suspended from the canyon wall. The South Ogden Highline Canal has an initial capacity of 35 cubic feet per second and extends south 5.2 miles from the intersection. It is a gravity pressure distribution system, constructed for the delivery of water under gravity pressure and on demand from the South Ogden Highline Canal. The Ogden Brigham Canal has an initial capacity of 120 cubic feet per second and extends north on the east side of the project lands. These two canals convey water to the water users through privately owned laterals under the Ogden Brigham Canal and through project laterals under the South Ogden Highline Canal. The project is operated by the Ogden River Water Users Association, except for the South Ogden distribution system, which is operated by the South Ogden Conservation District. The project works were formally turned over to the Ogden River Water Users Association for operation and maintenance on August 1, 1937.
Contact
Contact
Title: Area Office ManagerOrganization: Provo Area Office
Address: 302 East 1860 South
City: Provo, UT 84606-7317
Phone: 801-379-1101
Owner
Title: Public Affairs OfficerOrganization: Upper Colorado Regional Office
Address: 125 South State Street, Rm 7102
City: Salt Lake City, UT 84138-1102
Fax: 801-524-5499
Phone: 801-524-3774
Contact
Organization: Ogden River Water Users AssociationAddress: 471 W 2nd St
City: Ogden, UT 84404
Fax: 801-621-6558
Phone: 801-621-6555
