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The Great Feeder
The Snake River shifted to the north bypassing the South Channel or Dry Bed and left canals along this route without water during most of the summer of 1894. The Great Feeder Headgate and Canal were built in the years 1894 and 1895 to supply water to the Upper Snake River Valley. The system included twenty major canals and ditches delivering irrigation water for one hundred thousand acres of farmland. The Great Feeder was dug, and other channels closed off, by men using teams of horses. An entire small mountain, known as Kelley Rock and located east of Heise Hot Springs, was used in the construction of this huge dam. The Great Feeder, located five miles northeast of Ririe, was dedicated June 22, 1895.
The Dry Bed supplies many irrigation ditches between the Great Feeder and the town of Roberts where it again joins the Snake River. Because of the Great Feeder, the city of Ririe has become an important grain and potato center.
This is Daughters of Utah Pioneers historic marker #453 located at the Ririe City Hall at 464 Main Street in Ririe, Idaho.
These photos were provided by Marshall Hurst.
