Sidon Canal

Sidon Canal (HM1PSP)

Location: Powell, WY 82435 Big Horn County
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Country: United States of America
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N 44° 46.404', W 108° 34.344'

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Inscription
Following Mormon settlement of the Salt Lake Valley beginning in 1847, church leaders envisioned colonization of the entire inter-mountain region. In following decades, Mormons emigrated from Utah into Idaho, Arizona and Wyoming. Seeking to improve their economic status and following Mormon pioneering tradition, several hundred people in 1900 emigrated from Utah and Idaho to Wyoming's Big Horn Basin where they built a canal and a community.

Under the Carey Act of 1894 states were encouraged to sell arable public land cheaply following reclamation. But private reclamation projects required capital, and some were aborted as investors lost faith. Unlike other privately-financed projects, the Sidon Canal was built without a large amount of capital. Emigrants were organized into the Big Horn Colonization Company, an irrigation cooperative which offered company shares in return for labor. Upon arriving in the Basin workers plunged into canal construction, excavating with horse-drawn plows and slip scrapers. Near this point work was blocked by a sandstone boulder known as "Prayer Rock." According to legend, prayer and divine intervention caused the rock to split, allowing construction to continue and strengthening the emigrant faith in the canal project.

The 37-mile long canal was completed in less than two years. It still transports water from a headgate on the Shoshone River near the Big Horn-Park County line to a land segregation of approximately 20,000 acres. Its successful completion serves as an outstanding example of the cooperative effort and spirit of determination exhibited by Mormon pioneers in the American West.
Details
HM NumberHM1PSP
Tags
Placed ByWyoming State Parks & Cultural Resources
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Friday, December 4th, 2015 at 9:02pm PST -08:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)12T E 692085 N 4960645
Decimal Degrees44.77340000, -108.57240000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 44° 46.404', W 108° 34.344'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds44° 46' 24.24" N, 108° 34' 20.64" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)307
Which side of the road?Marker is on the right when traveling East
Closest Postal AddressAt or near US-14 ALT, Powell WY 82435, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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