Well, here we are again, still talking about the Crowther Brothers. The country got through the war. The mill was running full-board employing several in the valley. The mill had built huge steel tanks north of the concrete tanks to store grain for government contracts. The next project appeared to be building a dam so the water flow to run the mill wheel could be controlled. Now, if you want to build a reservoir today my guess is it would take government studies, government money and the Army Corps of Engineers. Not so with Edward, Norman and Junius…they just went to work.

According to Gordon Crowther’s history*, building the dam, “…drew probably more attention than anything Crowther Brothers had ever attempted. The water from Spring Creek that supplied the water wheel at the mill was not constant. The canal’s banks were constantly breaking out, especially during the spring runoff. As the summer came, the water from the mountains lessened. Crowther Brothers began thinking seriously of building a reservoir and piping the water directly to the water wheel at the mill. A perfect place was picked out just about a mile north of the mill. An engineer was hired to draw up the plans. Marion Hess, a local contractor with big earthmoving equipment, was happy to take the job because it was close to home. It was necessary to replace the old water wheel, so Junius began constructing a bigger and more efficient one. So, in the spring of 1948, work began. Dad (Edward) and I were the first to turn a shovel of dirt toward the building of the dam. One day Dad asked me if I would like to go with him and see where the reservoir was to be built. Standing in the bottom of that gully that day, it was hard to imagine just what was going to take place. Dad and I took out an old flume that had for years diverted the water for irrigation purposes. The next day one of Marion’s big bulldozers showed up, and the work began. The first job was to get all the sand and gravel pushed out of the bottom of the ravine. This was a bigger job than Marion had anticipated. The sand and gravel mixed with water were chewing up the rollers on his bulldozer, so Dee Cameron’s team and scraper were brought in to do the job. (Once the gravel and sand were scraped out Marion’s heavy equipment took over.)

“The planning and construction of the Crowther reservoir were followed very closely by officers and members of local irrigation companies. They had been aware for a long time of the need to store the precious water that flowed from the mountains and watersheds north of Malad, but to build reservoirs large enough to hold that much water would be too costly and would be out of the question. But with the completion of the Crowther Dam and the beautiful sight of that much water being stored, the irrigation companies’ officials began thinking, ‘Well, if Crowther Brothers can do it, perhaps we can too.’ Within a few years, three more reservoirs were completed in the Malad area.”

Life is Good when you take that first step. Once folks know something can be done, they are more likely to spread their own wings. Our county now has several reservoirs that do more than turn the mill wheel. Irrigation and recreation are important aspects of our economy. Thank you, Crowthers, for getting the ball rolling or maybe we should say the water flowing.

*Taken from Gordon Crowther’s “History of Crowther Mill.”