HISTORIC MARKER
Between 1863 and 1870, Daniel and Hannah Smuin Harvey acquired approximately 360 acres of mostly steep, rocky, brushy, and mostly dry property on the southeast corner of Kay’s Ward. The Harvey Family of east Kaysville, later Fruit Heights, homesteaded land on the southern end of the old mountain trail and utilized water in nearby springs to create Harvey Pond.
Coming as late to the area as they did, unfortunately, most of the water emanating from Bair’s Canyon and Shepard Canyons was claimed and in use by earlier settlers. They had to find water from somewhere and decided to file on the early flood water that no one else used. They made a large ditch from Bair’s Canyon running south one-half mile to a pond on their property. With horse or oxen-driven scrapers and shovels they hollowed a depression out and built a four to six-foot berm along the west and south side. This roughly tripled the volume the pond would hold, increasing the water fed from springs in a hollow created by a geological fault line at the north end of the pond.
The extended family tried to get some of the early water out of Shepard Canyon with another long ditch across the Provo bench to the Pond but it didn’t work as well. It was really hard digging and very porous soil. After they got the pond filled, it helped but was still far from enough. At the age of 16, Dan Harvey, Jr. (1860-1942), helped bring water from Arthur’s Canyon in Morgan County over the mountain into Farmington and then by canal to Haight’s Creek.
Sufficient water continued to be a problem for settlers to the foothills. After incorporation, Fruit Heights City purchased water rights from Little Canyon and improved the pipeline which extended into Dripping Springs and then fed into Potter Pond.