Millrace

Before there was a millrace there was just a ditch, and before the ditch there was thirst. In 1855, on Brigham Young's counsel, Joseph Harker and the brothers John and Samuel Bennion hand-dug a channel from a rock dam on the Jordan to carry water north onto the dry farmland west of the river — the difference, out here, between a crop and nothing. Decades later, when a grist mill tapped the same channel for power, the ditch earned the name it still carries: Millrace. The park that holds this marker keeps it too.

What the plaque says

Millrace 1855 In 1855, upon the counsel of Brigham Young, Joseph Harker, with John and Samuel Bennion, hand-dug the lower ditch to irrigate the farmland on the river bottoms west of the Jordan River. A small rock dam was constructed on the Jordan River at about 6300 South. Water was taken from the river at that point and came north to the park site. The ditch skirted the west and north boundaries of the park and then north to the mill. In 1880, a new grist mill was constructed on the Jordan River near 4800 South. Water was taken from the Lower Ditch to power the mill and the name Millrace was applied to the ditch. Erected by Taylorsville Bennion Sons of Utah Pioneers 2005 #117

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• International Peace Gardens — 4.6 mi
  A hidden garden where 28 countries are represented in miniature
• Gilgal Sculpture Garden — 6.7 mi
  A surreal and eccentric sculpture garden hidden in a residential neighborhood
• Liberty Park — 6.7 mi
  Salt Lake Citys beloved 80-acre urban park since 1882
• Temple Square — 8.2 mi
  The spiritual and architectural heart of Salt Lake City

More markers nearby

• Taylorsville/ Bennion Pioneers — 0.7 mi
• 1900 Baptismal Site — 0.8 mi
• Archibalt Gardner Mill — 1.2 mi
• Taylorsville-Bennion Cemetery & Cemetery Flagpole — 1.3 mi