Vanguards of the first
Mormon pioneer settlers of Utah camped by the mouth of City Creek Canyon on July 22, 1847. This area is now about the intersection between State Street and North Temple in Salt Lake City. The stream originally forked into a stream heading south through
Washington Square and the primary branch flowing west, toward
Temple Square and approximately down North Temple Street. Both forks emptied into the Jordan River. The vanguard, led by
Orson Pratt, diverted the stream to soften the soil and plant crops. By July 24, when
Brigham Young's party arrived, five acres (20,000 m2) of
potatoes had already been planted. Young named the creeks in
Salt Lake Valley on August 22, 1847, calling City Creek such because it was in the heart of the city that the pioneers planned. Early maps of the area retain the
Shoshone people's name for this creek- "
Nah-po-pah". Young declared that the rights to all rivers were publicly held, and administration was initially carried out by the local LDS
High Council, then by local
wards (congregations). In 1850 Brigham Young gained sole rights to the water, although administration continued as usual. Ward
Bishops transferred the responsibility of distributing water to the city council when Salt Lake City was incorporated in 1851. City Creek was channeled along its western fork, and canals were dug on either side of every street of Salt Lake City. Opening gates delivered water to street canals. This system, administered by Bishop-appointed water masters, delivered drinking and agricultural water to ditches in front of every resident's plot. A piped waterworks was built to serve
downtown in 1876, and the initial system was complete by June 22, 1877. However, water was unavailable in parts of the city, notably
The Avenues, then called "the dry bench" because water had to be carried uphill from City Creek below. In 1878 Avenues residents petitioned the city to tax property to expand the water system, and the
territorial legislature authorized the levy. A diversion to the dry bench was made in 1884, piping water to residents on 6th avenue and below. Subsequent diversions fed higher parts of the city, but it was not until 1910 that a diversion was constructed high enough to provide water to the whole city. Water became increasingly scarce in Salt Lake City in the 1860s, especially during drought. The Red Butte Creek, used by the eastern parts of the city, was appropriated by the US Army when
Fort Douglas was built in 1862. Salt Lake also grew rapidly, prompting the city council to invest in a canal project to bring more water from
Utah Lake to the south. In 1882 the Jordan-Salt Lake Canal was completed, allowing Salt Lake City to access reliable agricultural water. In 1888 the city entered an agreement with surrounding farmers to exchange volumes of the low-grade Utah Lake water for the purer water trickling from other mountain streams in the
Salt Lake Valley. In 1909 the creek was placed in an underground conduit down North Temple Street from outside of
Memory Grove to west of the State
Fairpark where the water exits into the
Jordan River.
Flood of 1983 The stream remained underground until record precipitation in the winter of 1982/1983 produced an enormous snowpack in the Creek's watershed. The late onset of warmer temperatures and a sudden warm spell in May swelled the stream. Saturday night, May 28, the North Temple conduit became clogged, and the whole river overflowed into the streets, down Canyon Road, and onto State Street. Volunteers worked frantically that Sunday morning to protect local buildings by
sandbagging State Street, channeling the current down the eastern half of the street to large storm sewers near the
Salt Lake City and County Building at 400 South. When the sewers overflowed, the "State Street River" was extended to 1300 South, where the current flowed with other streams in conduits to the Jordan River. Temporary pedestrian bridges were built over State Street, which is part of
US-89 and one of Salt Lake City's primary corridors. The stream returned to its normal course on June 11, but cleanup took several more weeks. The flood had proved a popular attraction, and some residents suggested bringing the stream permanently above the ground and incorporating it into Salt Lake City in a more meaningful way. Attention to City Creek brought improvements to it. By the next year, students from six high schools and local
Boy Scouts constructed the "Freedom Trail" in the lower part of City Creek Canyon. In 1986 Salt Lake City drafted the "City Creek Master Plan" intending to maintain the canyon around City Creek "as a valuable watershed and recreation/open space amenity of city-wide significance."
Daylighting A portion of City Creek was
daylit in 1995, when Salt Lake City and
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) developed
City Creek Park and
Brigham Young Historic Park. The daylit portion of the creek begins just south of
Memory Grove, its course then flows along the base of the hillside near the historic
Ottinger Hall, after which it disappears under roads and reappears in landscaped medians along Canyon Road. It then flows under that road and into City Creek Park before a portion disappears under Second Avenue and reemerges at the Brigham Young Historic Park. The LDS Church's
Conference Center, completed in 2000, also features City Creek water in its landscaping. Here City Creek runs alongside North Temple street and past the Conference Center in a channel featuring rough-hewn granite boulders. Although some sources have indicated this is not daylit City Creek water. in
downtown Salt Lake City. A re-creation of City Creek was included in the construction of
City Creek Center, although it does not use daylit City Creek water, instead using recirculated city tab water. The cause of the fire had been determined to be of human origin as there was no lightning present on the day it started. ==City Creek Canyon==