The creek winding down Emigration Canyon once sustained Mormon pioneers’ inaugural crops planted in the summer of 1847 and helped water the Intermountain West’s first major settlement for decades.
In some sense, Salt Lake City owes its existence to Emigration Creek, but early this summer, as persistent drought gripped northern Utah, the stream went dry for most of its run through the historic canyon.
The disappearance of flows has alarmed creekside residents, who say the problem cannot be blamed entirely on a rainless summer and climate change.
“In all the time I’ve lived up here, particularly hot summers, there would be days, maybe a week, where you would see a diminished flow.