JOHN R. BOTHWELL RETURNS
The Company Commands $2,000,000 –
“Will the Canal Come to Ogden.”
Mr. John R. Bothwell returned from a week’s trip East, yesterday morning. It was supposed that Mr. Bothwell’s trip had some connection with the finances of the company, necessary to carry the work on to completion. In order to learn something definite in this regard, a reporter of The Standard called on Mr. Bothwell last evening at the commodious and airy offices of his company, on the corner of Twenty-Fifth and Washington avenues.
“Well, Mr. Bothwell, the query of the public in regard to the Bear River canal is still the same” said the reporter. “Have you got ready for actual construction yet?”
“O, yes, we are quite ready. The advertisements inviting proposals from contractors will go in the news papers next week.”
“Do you mean to say that the construction funds have been provided?”
“That’s exactly what I mean. For more than a month past there has been no anxiety in respect to the financeering, but now you may state that the Bothwell Company have $2,000,000 at their disposal for this work. I mean that they have the money. That is definite, isn’t it?”
“Yes, sir, that certainly is definite. What time will be given the contractors to figure on this stupendous work?”
“Oh, just the ordinary number of days. Large contractors are men who are always ready to move quickly, and the town will be full of them within a fortnight. They will come from all parts of the country.”
“Will the entire system be put under contract at once, or will it be divided in sections?”
“The first contract will be for the upper twelve miles, which means the headworks, all the canyon work and all the side bills – in other words – brings the water on the prairie.”
“What will be the second contract?
“That is utterly indefinite. We have not determined at all where we will take the water. I should say however, that there is no question but that the canal will be extended westt of the Malad at once.”
“How about the line to Ogden?”
“I don’t know what to say about that. New questions seem to come up every day. Of course the great object of the east extension was to bring the water to Ogden. I have made several propositions to the City but practically no action has been taken except to load the matter up with so many exacting conditions, and fetter it with so many stringent restrictions that to my mind all possible chance of benefit to the Canal Company have been eliminated. I expected that the very liberal proposition made by me would be eagerly accepted by the City, because it insured to the City substantial benefits so abundant and so great as to dwarf all other possible projects for the development of Ogden, but the few friends of the canal project in Ogden have met with so many objections that they have been obliged to come to me day after day for new concessions, new conditions, new restrictions, and it looks to me now all to no purpose whatever.
“Do you think that you will come to any agreement with the City?”
“I have no idea, and if it were not for the few friends of the enterprise in the Council who have done hard work in the cause I would say that I didn’t care. One thing is certain, my personal control of the enterprise, which has been absolute up to the present time, will cease on the first of July and then the affairs of the company will pass into the hands of heavy capitalists, who will have the fullest appreciation of the money value of their water right and who can afford to wait to get their price. You can judge what their idea would be of a proposition to present to Ogden free of charge the most valuable water right in Utah – the Ogden River.”
“How much money do you think the Bothwell company will pay out monthly in the construction of the canal?”
“They will pay out probably over $200,000 a month, a sum approaching $10,000 a day.”
“Will not this activity be a benefit to Brigham City and Corinne, and other settlements?”
“Most decidedly so. Brigham City and Corinne with both have a genuine boom. Brigham is one of the most beautiful cities in the mountain country, but for several years past all possibility of growth has been cut off for want of water. I think it will double in population within a year after the canal is completed. Corinne is certain to have a revival of its old time prosperity. It is in the center of a magnificent farming region stretching away for many miles in every direction. There will be more town lots change hands in Corinne within the next year than in any other town in Utah, unless the canal comes to Ogden. In any event the town is sure to have a splendid growth. If the real estate dealers of Ogden and Salt Lake understood the situation the Central Pacific would have to run special trains to take them to Corinne.”
“You say that your personal control of the enterprise will cease by the 1st of July. Will you still be connected with the company, and if so in what way?”
“Oh, unquestionably! Things will move along very much as they have, except on a larger scale and with more formality. For instance, such matters as I have decided in the past on my own judgment will in the future go before a board of directors. I made that remark because my business is to develop an enterprise to the point where capitalists are willing to come in; and as a rule my work is done when the company gets into routine working order. But this work is so enormous and absorbing and has rested so entirely on myself individually that the time of any absolute relinquishment on my part must necessarily be indefinite and somewhat remote. I might say that I shall stay so long as I am obliged to, though my greatest pleasure is in building up an enterprise rather than conducting it after it is in shape. But those matters have not even been talked of yet.”
“Will a meeting be held about July 1st or soon thereafter for the election of a board of directors?”
“Those matters will develop rapidly and I would prefer not going into details just now.”
Mr. Bothwell arose and began pacing the floor with his hands behind him and his head a little bowed as if in deep thought. The reporter, after a few moments’ delay, thanked him for the information and turned to go. As he opened the door Mr. Bothwell exclaimed “Why, I could set the peoplle wild. The building of this canal, great as it is, is a small thing when compared with what will follow immediately”; then slowly and with much emphasis, “and if Ogden wants no part nor lot in this great movement, she is at liberty to take her choice.”
Addendums:
On Sept. 26, 1889, the Ogden Standard reported that the Bothwell Company filed articles of incorporations on the 25th of Sept. with the name of the company being defined as “The Bear Lake and River Water Works and Irrigation Company.” Its stated purpose being to “supply water for domestic, municipal and manufacturing uses to Ogden, Brigham City, Corinne, Bear River City and other cities and villages and their inhabitants, and irrigation of land, and for other useful or beneficial purposes. Also, to that end, to acquire by appropriation, purchase or otherwise, all needful rights and privileges to the use of water from Ogden river, Bear river, Weber river, Bear Lake and other water supplies …” Capitalization was $2.1 million divided into 21,000 shares of $100 each. Term of existence of the company was 50 years.
The board consisted of John R. Bothwell; Congressman John T. Caine of Utah; Louis B. Adams of the Utah National Bank of Ogden; Francis E. Roche, a major landowner in Box Elder and Weber counties; Jas. C. Armstrong president of the Commercial National Bank of Ogden; Charles C. Richards, president of the Utah Loan & Trust Co. of Ogden; and James H. Bacon, president of the Salt Lake Bank of Salt Lake City. Bothwell was President and Bacon was secretary-treasurer. No vice president was elected at that time.
The Standard noted that Bothwell was in New York when he heard of the scheme to bring water from the Bear River and left New York on Sept. 22, 1888, arriving in Ogden on Sept. 27.
On July 1, 1891, The Standard reported the Bear River Canal had been finished and delivery of water had begun the previous Sunday. It described the project as “an engineering feat which will stand among the largest in the United States, at least in irrigation matters.”
It added:
“Much credit is due to the engineers. Fred Idle, who has been with the company since the first step taken by John R. Bothwell, who planned and began this stupendous work, first as assistant and afterwards as chief engineer. Now that this work is completed he will leave for Germany where he will undertake some large engineering work.”
In April of 1893, a notice appeared in The Standard in which the Jarvis-Conklin Mortgage Trust Co. of Kansas City declared the Bear Lake & River Waterworks & Irrigation Company in default and announced it would put all the company’s assets and property up for sale to the highest bidder, cash in hand, on May 25, 1893, subject to the lien of a first mortgage of $2 million and the rights of the holders of mechanic’s liens against the company.
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