Westward a few yards and seen today as a cemented waterway is part of what is said to be the 1849 Lower (or Church) Canal, dug to bring water from Spring Creek, and later from Big Cottonwood Creek, to land cleared for crops. It was called Church Canal because of its closeness to the church built about 30 yards eastward.

Holladay’s east-end settlers dug the first water ditches, likely starting a canal also, while damming off portions of Spring Creek as it coursed to bottomlands 300 yards south of here. In 1853 east-enders enlarged and extended the Upper Canal, ultimately bringing water from Big Cottonwood Canyon 3 miles south, all able-bodied men in the area having been asked to help with plows and shovels. Eastward some 170 yards is seen the larger Jordan and Salt Lake City Canal, dug in the 1880s to take water into Salt Lake City. By the 1890s, several Holladay water companies had been formed that today still pro- vide drinking and garden water.

For more than a century, each spring all men and boys who could help set aside a day when their canal was cleaned of debris, bushes, and weeds to speed summer’s waters onward.

This plaque is #11 of the Historical Walking Tour of Holladay on this page. It is located at 1950 East Murray-Holladay Road in Holladay, Utah.