This thirty-six box collection contains the papers of the Union and Jordan Irrigation Company.
Repository:
Utah State University. Special Collections and Archives Manuscript Collection
Merrill-Cazier Library Utah State University 3000 Old Main Hill Logan, UT 84322-3000 Phone: 435 797-2663 Fax: 435 797-2880 Email: scweb@usu.edu
Languages:
Material in English
Historical Note
In 1877 the Union and Jordan Irrigation-Ditch Company was founded in Cottonwood, Utah, with James Winchester appointed as the company's first Water Master (the name given to the president of the company). The Company's first project was to install ‘divide gates’ that allocated water through a series of ditches, which diverted water to or from Little Cottonwood Creek. The Little Cottonwood Creek flowed down Little Cottonwood Canyon to the Jordan River Plain and irrigated farms in parts of Salt Lake County, including such cities as Union, Midvale, Murray, West Jordan, and Sandy. Because the Union and Jordan Irrigation Company had access to regulate water from the Little Cottonwood Creek, it allowed the Company to economically flourish and hold a position of strength within local communities and business.
During the 1870s and 1880s various mining and smelting corporations built smelters in Murray, Midvale, and Sandy. These operations required large volumes of water to facilitate the refining process. By 1895 the Mingo Smelter Company had contracted with the Union and Jordan Irrigation Company (U & J) to furnish one-tenth of the Little Cottonwood Creek's flow for use in Mingo's operation. This gave the U & J the money it needed to expand and readjust financially.
In 1893 a dispute arose when the U & J reallocated local water rights without consulting county officials or farmers ‘down stream.’ These actions were deemed illegal by various area farmers and city officials causing the U & J to come under public scrutiny. In response to such complaints the Company contacted a Salt Lake City lawyer and the local Justice of the Peace, and organized an official allocation of water rights.
In 1901 the U & J began working in conjunction with local cities to supply adequate water amounts for town culinary water systems. In 1914 the U & J finalized an agreement to sell the city of Sandy water from the Little Cottonwood, which in turn provoked the city of Sandy to grant the U & J control of the town's water rights from other water sources, giving the U & J a 25 percent increase of water control in the area. Thereafter the U & J began purchasing canals and water rights from other canal companies, such as from the East Jordon Irrigation Company. These new acquisitions diversified the U & J's holdings and increased the complexity of the Company's involvement with the surrounding communities and businesses. This business expansion burdened the Company with financial problems and legal obligations, and various legal suits were brought against the Company. Over time the Company slipped into debt in attempt to maintain its holdings. Over the course of the next half century however the U & J continued to operate and was involved in numerous irrigation projects, canal constructions, and other similar ventures.
By the 1960s the Company was working to keep itself from internal collapse due to share owner dispute. Although the U & J appeared to be in good fiscal shape, some of its shareholders doubted its future. In a stockholder meeting held in February 1968 the president of the U & J stated that the company was worth $2,000,000 dollars, but a share owner angrily arose and questioned the honesty of such a statement. By 1969 the Company was exploring ways to disband. In the early 1970s the U & J began selling its holdings and redistributing funds to shareholders. In December 1974 U & J officials met for the last time and the Company was officially dissolved.
Content Description
This thirty-six box collection contains the papers of the Union and Jordan Irrigation Company. These papers span the period of 1877 to 1974 and consist of meeting minutes, correspondence, legal papers, financial papers, blueprints, reports, and other similar papers. The materials in this collection document the entire lifespan of the Union and Jordan Irrigation Company, a near one-hundred year period of irrigation evolution.
At the time this collection was donated, most of its original order had become jumbled. A preliminary attempt to process the collection took place after its initial donation. A final, more detailed processing took place in 2003. At that time an attempt was made to preserve whatever remnant of original order that still existed while placing related segments of the collection together. The materials in this collection have been organized into seven Series.
Collection at a Glance
Series 1: Minutes/Records
Series 2: Business Records, Financial Documents, and Reports
1. Agreements and Amendments
2. Water Rights
3. Sandy City Records
4. Financial Records
5. Reports
6. Miscellaneous Records
Series 3: Balance Sheets
Series 4: Public Service Commission
Series 5: State Tax Commission
Series 6: Business Correspondence and Financial Records
Series 7: Stock holders/ Stock certificates
Series 8: Plats and oversized materials
Use of the Collection
Restrictions on Access :
No restrictions on use, except: not available through interlibrary loan.
Restrictions on Use :
It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.
Permission to publish material from the Union & Jordan Irrigation Company Papers must
be obtained from the Special Collections Manuscript Curator and/or the Special Collections
Department Head.
Preferred Citation :
Initial Citation:
Union & Jordan Irrigation Company Papers USU_COLL MSS 253,
Box [ ]. Special Collections and Archives. Utah State University Merrill-Cazier Library. Logan, Utah.
Following Citations:USU_COLL MSS 253,
USUSCA.
Administrative Information
Arrangement :
Arranged in subject headings.
Processing Note :
Processed in January of 2006
Acquisition Information :
The materials that comprise this collection were donated to USU Special Collections & Archives by John and Mary Crawford in 1994.
Bibliography : Sources
Alexander, Thomas G.,"Interdependence and Change: Mutual Irrigation Companies in Utah's Wasatch Oasis in an Age of Modernization, 1870-1930,"Utah Historical Quarterly, Vol. 71, No. 4 (Fall 2003). (USU SC&A call # 979.206 H629)
Union & Jordan Irrigation Company Papers, Coll MSS 253, Box 3; Minutes 1941-1974.
Detailed Description of the Collection
Series 1: Minutes/Records, 1877-1974
(3 boxes, 9 folders and 12 books)
Container(s)
Description
Dates
Early Company Papers
1877-1949
Box
book
1
1
Minutes
1877-1895
1
2
Minutes
1895-1926
1
3
Stock Holders Meeting Minutes
1895-1916
1
4
Director Meeting Minutes
1913 January to 1914 January and 1954 December to 1958 December
Series 6: Business Correspondence and Financial Records, 1921-1980
(3 boxes, 54 folders)
Container(s)
Description
Dates
Box
Folder
17
1
Correspondence and documents (1895-1924)
1921
17
2
Record Book
1922
17
3
Advertisement and minutes of Joint Council of Midvale Meeting
1923
17
4
Agreement between Sandy City, Midvale City and Union and Jordan Irrigation Co. (pipeline construction)
1924
17
5
Agreement and Letters
1926
17
6
Letters, price and Rules Sheet
1928
17
7
Correspondence
1930
17
8
Correspondence and estimate for Gad Valley Dam
1931
17
9
Correspondence
1933
17
10
Correspondence and Measurements of Little Cottonwood Creek
1934
17
11
Correspondence
1935
17
12
Lists for Burgon #50
1936
17
13
Bank Statements, correspondence
1937
17
14
Correspondence and statements
1938
17
15
Correspondence and statements
1939
17
16
Letter and bank statements
1940
17
17
Letter and 2 receipts
1941
17
18
Letter and statement
1942
17
19
Contract with Railroad
1944
17
20
Minutes of Murray Meeting, statements form Williams
1945
17
21
Invoices and statements
1946
17
22
Invoices, correspondence and statements
1947
17
23
Invoices, correspondence and statements
1948
17
24
Invoices, statements, agreement and correspondence
1949
17
25
Tax Papers
1950
17
26
Amendment to Midvale City Zoning Ordinance, contracts, end of year statements
1951
17
27
Invoice, audit and notes
1952
17
28
Bank statements, petition, agreements, invoices, notes, notice of assessment
1953
18
1
Tax extension papers, correspondence and statements
1954
18
2
Correspondence, invoices, statements, case before Public Service Commission of Utah, notes/records
1955
18
3
Correspondence and documents
1956
18
4
Correspondence, invoices, documents, statements and tax papers
1957
18
5
Correspondence, bank statements and tax papers
1958
18
6
Correspondence, documents, invoices, statements
1959
18
7
Correspondence, documents, invoices and statements
1960
18
8
Correspondence, documents, invoices, statements, diagram of proposed water line
1961
18
9
Correspondence, documents, invoices and statements
1962
18
10
Correspondence, documents, invoices, statements, and surveyor's certificate
1963
18
11
Correspondence, documents, invoices, statements, Pipeline replacement for Union and Jordan and notice of assessment
1964
19
1
Little Cottonwood Water Rights
1916, 1973
19
2
Misc- Correspondence, notes, documents and diagrams
1923-1962
19
3
Utah Tax Correspondence
1938, 1940, 1942
19
4
Federal Income Tax Opinion Re: Proposed Sale of all and/or part of the Assets for Union-Jordan Irrigation Co.
1960
19
5
Correspondence and certificates 1960-68, misc records
1953-1965
19
6
Correspondence
1962-1964
19
7
Misc Correspondence, water sales agreement
1953, 1963-1971, 1953
19
8
Correspondence , List of Stockholders, Investigation of Union and Jordan Irrigation Co. (1939), Map of Union and Jordan Irrigation Co. Culinary Water System
