OGDEN VALLEY, Utah — Extremely low water levels at Pineview Reservoir are offering a rare look at what lies beneath the surface, as Ogden City works on replacing a decades-old drinking water pipeline. The receding water has uncovered a piece of local history that has been submerged for decades: artesian wells.
"I've always wondered, I was like, what's hiding underneath?" said Sarah Langsdon, curator of special collections at Weber State University. Langsdon said the most fascinating piece of history she has seen since the water levels dropped are the artisian wells.
"It used to be like a park that people would come to, and there were concrete circles and the water was coming up through it, and then they capped it and I’ve always wondered where they were,” Langsdon added.
WATCH | Pineview Reservoir's low water levels reveal century-old artesian wells hidden beneath the surface
If you listen closely enough, you can still hear water flowing at Pineview Reservoir, from the artesian wells.
"Some they must have forgotten to cap because they're spilling out water and now you can see that, I think that's very interesting," Langsdon said.
You can find old records in the basement of the Ogden municipal building that help show how the wells got there and the creation of Pineview dam. "From someone who boated on that reservoir my whole life, knowing all that was below was really impressive," said Tonya Gonzales, deputy city recorder for Ogden city.
Gonzales found old records showing how Pineview dam was built in the first place — a project that started more than 100 years ago. Drilling for the wells began in 1914, when crews had to go and find the water. The project continued into the 1930s.
The records show how the wells were fed to the intake, the intake then fed to the pipe, and the pipe carried water down to homes. Original records also show how much it cost, the bids, and the laying of the pipes.
"It was built during the Great Depression, it provided work for Ogden gentlemen to come up," Langsdon said.
As the community waits to see Pineview reservoir full again, the records offer a chance to look back at how it all came to be — and to be thankful for the people who created and preserved those records.
"This was brilliant to get water down to us," Gonzales said.