Culinary and Irrigation Water

Culinary and Irrigation Water. . Bicknell settlers homesteaded by streams to access water for crops and consumption. Bicknell settlers dipped water from ditches and the Fremont River and put it in large barrels to settle before drinking. During freezing conditions, they chopped ice blocks and hauled them home to melt for cooking, drinking and washing. This unsanitary water caused sicknesses and diseases among the early residents. After the town was moved, pipes were buried to bring water from Cottonwood Canyon, north of Bicknell, and later from Thousand Lake Mountain springs to Bicknell. In 1992, Bicknell constructed a pump house on a spring south of town which now supplements our mountain springs. Getting sufficient culinary water is still a major priority for Bicknell. The Fremont River has always provided most of the valley's irrigation water., In 1889. "for nine horses, five hundred pounds of flour, one good beef steer and one suit of clothes", the Fremont Irrigation Company purchased the water rights to Fish Lake from the Paiute Indians. Additional irrigation water capacity was added by building dams creating Johnson Valley Reservoir in 1899. Forsyth Reservoir in 1922 and Mill Meadow Reservoir in 1954., Several canals were constructed to divert river water for irrigation, including the Tub Ditch and Spring Ditch for the first Thurber town, and a central canal from the Fremont River to Lyman. Bicknell residents worked for seven years, mostly during the winters when not ranching, to finish the canal from Lyman to Birknell. Because the ground was frozen in the winters, they built fires to thaw the ground for digging., Captions , (Photo #1) Fremont River , (Photo #2) Fish Lake , (Photo #3) "Tom", a Paiute Indian who lived to be 112 years old, had his name on the deed selling Fish Lake to the Mormon settlers. , (Photo #4) Fremont Irrigation Water Sources used by Bicknell , (Photo #5) Today's sprinkling systems