Ongoing settlement in Utah's Cache Valley created the need for irrigation canals to carry water for agriculture. Canal construction began in 1856.
The City of Logan was founded in 1859 along the Logan River. Thirty years later it became the home of Utah State University and, about a century later, the Utah Water Research Laboratory.
In 1863, a type of commercial agriculture called dry farming began in northern Utah. Farmers discovered that they could raise certain crops without irrigation, even in this semi-arid climate.
On May 10, 1869, the driving of the final spike at Promontory Point, Utah, marked the completion of the transcontinental railroad, which facilitated the settlement of the western United States.
In February 1873, the Utah Northern Railroad line was completed to Logan, Utah. This rail line connected the communities in Cache Valley with the Central Pacific Railway at Ogden, Utah.
January 1, 1881 marked the beginning of the construction of the Panama Canal. Civil engineering is always about finding solutions to practical and sometimes political problems. The Panama Canal is an example experiments in both.
In 1888, the Agricultural College of Utah was founded as the state’s land-grant institution.
USU's iconic Old Main building was built in 1890. Photo courtesy of USU Special Collections.
c. 1892. Photo courtesy of USU Special Collections.
c. 1890s. Photo courtesy of USU Special Collections
On January 4, 1896, Utah became the 45th state in the Union.
In 1897, a new Mechanic Arts building was constructed at the Agricultural College of Utah. This building served as a laboratory for engineering students and faculty.
c. 1900. Photo of a civil engineering class with surveying equipment, courtesy of USU Special Collections.
c. 1900s. Photo of men watching water flow into an irrigation system, courtesy of USU Special Collections.
c. 1908. Photo of an Experiment Station investigation of irrigation techniques, courtesy of USU Special Collections.
c. 1908. Photo of a controlled application of irrigation water, courtesy of USU Special Collections.
First Dam, built between 1911 and 1914, retains water from the Logan River as it emerges from the mouth of Logan Canyon. This dam is owned by Utah State University and currently provides electrical power worth approximately $100,000.
In 1915, Dr. John A. Widtsoe, President of The Utah Agricultural College, published "The Principles of Irrigation Practice" through the McMillan Company. This text became one of the foundational reference books on the subject of modern irrigation in America.
1916. Orson W. Israelson, Professor of Irrigation and Drainage. Photo courtesy of USU Special Collections.
c. 1920s. Photo courtesy of USU Special Collections.
Cutler Reservoir, located in Cache Valley, Utah, is an impoundment of the Bear River. It was built in 1927 for irrigation, flood control, and water supply. Several ongoing UWRL research projects continue to address the goal of restoring and maintaining the water quality in Cutler Reservoir.
c. 1930s. Photo courtesy USU Special Collections
c. 1930s. Photo courtesy USU Special Collections
c. 1940s. Photo courtestty of USU Special Collections.
c. 1950. Photo courtesy USU Special Collections
c. 1950s. Photo courtesy of USU Special Collections
c. 1950s. Photo courtesy of USU Special Collections
In 1956, Congressman H. Aldous Dixon (former president of USU) introduced the bill, which proposed that the Secretary of Agriculture be “...authorized and directed to establish, maintain, and operate at such location as he deems desirable a regional water laboratory for the purpose of conducting research and study with respect to the physical laws, principles, and dominant variables affecting the source, supply and use of water…”
In 1956, Congress created the Colorado River Storage Project.
The first research at the future UWRL site was conducted by Cy Lauritzen in 1957. He installed a pipe outlet to bring water from First Dam and conducted experiments on the hydraulics of flexible tubing.
On March 8, 1957 the Agricultural College of Utah officially became Utah State University.
In 1958, Dean F. Peterson, Dean of the College of Engineering at USU, and P.K. Mahonty, a student, initiated flume studies using large bed elements at the present laboratory site with hopes that continuing research at the site would increase the chances of getting a funded water research laboratory at Utah State University.
Dean F. Peterson, Dean of the College of Engineering at USU, presented a university proposal for a federal water research laboratory to be located in Cache Valley, to USDA at a public hearing on Soil and Water Research Facilities, held in Salt Lake City. The result was that the USDA put an irrigation hydraulics laboratory on their list of desired facilities.
In 1959, The Utah legislature authorized the establishment of a water resources research laboratory at USU and initiated architectural planning for the building that would become the Utah Water Research Laboratory.
Construction of the new engineering and physical sciences building began in 1959.
c. 1960. Photo courtesy of USU Special Collections.
The Utah legislature entertained a bill legislation providing that there be: “...appropriated to the State Building Board $1,200,000.00 or so much thereof, as may be necessary, from the General Fund for constructing the Utah Water Research Laboratory, on the Logan River, on property already acquired by the State of Utah for such purpose, the preliminary plans for which Research Laboratory have already been prepared by the Building Board..”. Subsequently, the building appropriation for USU for the 1961-63 biennium included $200,000 for a “Hydraulics Laboratory”.
U.S. Senator Wallace F. Bennett introduced a bill to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to: ‘...establish, equip, and maintain a regional research laboratory to be located at or near the Utah State University…”. Nothing came of the bill at the time, but further legislation was introduced a year later.
In 1962, a bill was drafted and introduced by Senator Clinton Anderson of New Mexico to establish water resources research centers at selected universities. Then in 1963, the bill was revised and introduced again. The legislation was enacted the following year and became known as the Water Resources Research Act of 1964. The program was administered by the Office of Water Resources Research (OWRR), U.S. Department of the Interior.
Groundbreaking ceremonies were held in November 1963, and the building of the Utah “hydraulics” laboratory began.
On July 12, 1964, the USU Board of Trustees approved the appointment of Vaughn E. Hansen as the first Director of the Utah Water Research Laboratory.
On July 17, 1964, The Water Resource Research Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, establishing a water resources institute for each U.S. state.
On November 21, 1964, an official Charter for the Utah Center for Water Resources Research at Utah State University was approved by the Board of Trustees of Utah State University to coordinate the Utah portion of the OWRR program.
On February 2, 1965, the UCWRR responsibility for the Utah water research program was officially designated to the Office of Water Resources Research.
On December 6-7, 1965 numerous professional and government dignitaries, including Governor George Dewey Clyde, along with USU personnel and many others, gathered to celebrate the completion of the new Utah Water Research Laboratory building.
c. 1960s. Photo courtesy of USU Special Collections.
c. mid-1960s. Water was diverted from the Logan River to support research experiments at the Utah Water Research Laboratory. Photo courtesy of USU Special Collections
c. 1960s. Photo courtesy of USU Special Collections.
Weather Modification. “The ultimate goal of the program is to be able to increase the amount of snow that falls in the mountains in wintertime so that water supplies during the summer will be adequate.”
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