The Kennedy Ditch

Pioneer Salt Lake ran on water it dug for itself, and on the men who parceled it out. The Kennedy Ditch, cut from the Parley's Canyon stream around 1848, was one of the canals that made the east bench farmable — 864 acres of small farms brought under the plow by its water. Like most such works, it was built by cooperative labor for the common good, and it took its name from Charles Kennedy, the pioneer chosen as its first watermaster — the man who decided, ditch by ditch and turn by turn, whose fields drank when.

What the plaque says

The Kennedy Ditch was an early pioneer irrigation canal taken out of Parley's Canyon stream near 17th East. The construction was achieved as a cooperative work project, and the new channel named after its first Watermaster, Charles Kennedy, a Utah pioneer of 1848. The area brought under cultivation covered 864 acres of small farm lands extending west of 13th East from 21st South northward to 9th South.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Gilgal Sculpture Garden — 0.8 mi
  A surreal and eccentric sculpture garden hidden in a residential neighborhood
• Liberty Park — 1.2 mi
  Salt Lake Citys beloved 80-acre urban park since 1882
• This Is The Place Heritage Park — 2.7 mi
  A living history village at the mouth of Emigration Canyon
• Natural History Museum of Utah — 2.8 mi
  A world-class museum built into the foothills above Salt Lake City

More markers nearby

• Converse Hall — 0.3 mi
• William Nightingale Memorial Library — 0.3 mi
• Ferry Plaza — 0.3 mi
• Bill & Vieve Gore — 0.3 mi