Logan Island Defense Committee (Utah)

The papers of the Logan Island Defense Committee represent an attempt by a grassroots organization in Logan, Utah, to stop the building of a hydro-electric dam (currently known as First Dam) on the Logan River, at the mouth of Logan Canyon. This dam was built in 1911 by the Agricultural College of Utah (Utah State University) in conjunction with the State of Utah to provide electricity to the college and to other state institutions.

The papers of the Logan Island Defense Committee represent an attempt by a grassroots organization in Logan, Utah, to stop the building of a hydro-electric dam (currently known as First Dam) on the Logan River, at the mouth of Logan Canyon. This dam was built by the Agricultural College of Utah (Utah State University) in conjunction with the State of Utah to provide electricity to the college and to other state institutions. The idea of a college power-plant may have originated during William Kerr’s term as college president, but the formal application did not take place until 1908, when John A. Widstoe became president of the college. The actual construction of the dam began in 1911.

When the university began building the dam, the residents of the “Island” (an local term denoting the geographic area south of the university but north of River Heights) became concerned for their safety. The Logan Island Defense Committee grew out of this concern. Public meetings from October through December of 1911 were well attended. The residents of the Island even voted to levy an extra property tax upon themselves in order to defer the costs of their opposition. Their main concerns were threefold: safety issues, that the bid to build the dam was too low to ensure quality construction, and finally, a concern that property values in the Island would diminish. Notwithstanding, the controversy seemed to quiet down by the winter of 1912. The Logan Journal gave the controversy extensive coverage during the fall of 1911, but by the winter of 1912 the issue appears to have disappeared from the pages of the Journal .