The sky was clear blue, no trace of a cloud could be seen. It was getting
hard to remember the last 
time
it had rained on the San Juan Mesa. The reservoirs and streams, that the
small new community was using for their source of water, were drying up
quickly. Water had to be hauled from a spring in West Water for the cattle
and culinary use. It was obvious that another source of water was needed,
but where was it going to come from? Obviously not the sky. Something had
to be done in order to get water to the people. Many looked to Blue Mountain
to the north and wondered how they could top it's water supply. A tunnel
was the perfect solution to this crisis. Though the tunnel took many years
to complete, through the diligence of many and despite many complications,
it was completed and became Blanding's main source of water.
First Thirty Years
During the first thirty years at Grayson, (name changed to Blanding in
1915) the July rainfall was .05 to .98-inch for nine years, one to
2 inches for thirteen years, and more than three inches in the "good years"
of 1911 and 1914. (Gregory 16-19) In the early years of Grayson, the amount
of precipitation averaged between 19 and 21 inches for the year. It would
have been enough if it came in regular intervals. Instead, periods of much
rain were followed by drought. (Perkins and Nielson 153)
Water Supply for Blanding
 |
| Abajo Mountain, also known as Blue Mountain, is the most valuable
water supply location within the San Juan area. The highest
peak is known as Abajo Peak (right). - Photo taken by Kristina Long,
1997. |
The most valuable water supply within the San Juan area
were the La Sal and Abajo Mountain areas more than 9,000 feet in elevation.
Winter snows provided water from the spring. Creeks on the south side of
the mountains reach their peak of spring flow several weeks before those
on the north. Runoff from areas below elevation 7,000 feet was erratic.
Much of it came from thunderstorms during the late summer or early fall.
The main water channel, Johnson's Creek
ditch, carried water through Blanding, and to the south fields. In
1909 there was plenty of water for all the town to use. However, the town
began to grow and depend more and more on the ditch for its culinary water.
In 1910 the ditch ran until it froze up in December. This meant that there
was little water for the town to use until spring.
Finding A More Dependable Source of Water
 |
David P. Black and his horse,
"Stranger." David P. Black, a Blanding resident from Mexico, felt an urge
to find another more dependable source of water. He looked at the mountain
and thought surely it had more to give. David figured that if they could
get a tunnel through the mountain there would be all the water needed down
on the mesa.
- Dottie Laws photo. |
David P. Black, a resident from Mexico,
felt an urge to find another more dependable source of water. He looked
at the mountain and thought surely it had more to give. One day he decided
to ride over the summit. Just what good it would do, he had no idea. The
streams would be running off the north. Grayson was on the south. While
he was traveling further up on the north side, he found a clear rushing
stream that came down from the water shed. It flowed really late into the
spring because it was covered with heavy timber and had little sun on the
north side. Dave figured that if they could get a tunnel through the mountain
there would be all the water needed down on the mesa. When summer came
he took his brother Ben to see it. Ben told him to tell Walter C. Lyman
about it. (Lyman)
After Walter Lyman saw
the stream, he knew it was meant for the mesa on the south side. He was
determined to some how get it there. He got a small company of men and
they trudged over the summit to see how much of the stream could be diverted
to the lowest part of the summit. After surveying it they decided that
even with the deepest niche they could get in it, the amount of water they
could move "would be an insult to the generous volume of the stream."
| Walter C. and Sea Brown Lyman
standing in front of Relief Society Building in Blanding, UT. Walter C.
Lyman organized men to bring the north streams to the south side through
a Blanding tunnel. - Donated to the San Juan Historical Commission by Susan
Butt (Blanding, Utah). |
 |
A Tunnel through the Mountain?
Lyman decided that the only fitting response would be a mile-long tunnel
through the mountain. With the cost, how could they think of such a thing?
The (tunnel cost) estimated
cost was about $50,000. He told the town they could borrow enough to cover
the expenses and they could dig the tunnel themselves in the winter seasons
when they weren't doing anything else. He stressed that for such a prize
of water, this would be wise instead of waiting twenty years and then paying
twice as much. (Lyman)
An engineer from Salt Lake City came down to survey the area. He decided
it would be feasible to build a tunnel, so the town started bidding on
it. Permission didn't need to come from the state for them to build the
tunnel. "People just did things, when something needed to be done, they
just did it, nobody objected because it needed to be done," said Frost
Black, the son of Dave Black and worker on the ditches. (Black)
The Tunnel Project Begins
Walter C. Lyman and David P. Black, with the majority behind them, started
to work on the tunnel. With volunteer help they worked until December,
when the snow got so deep that supplies could not be delivered. The work
started up again in 1922 and was going along well. They went until there
were about 240 feet built on the south side and the crew that was working
started getting sick from the powder they used. Eventually all the workers
stopped but Walter C. Lyman. The excuse used for the men quitting was the
lack of money.
The Blanding Tunnel Project Continue
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