On Thursday, July 21st the Eagle Mountain City Roads department spent the day putting down a layer of Magnesium Chloride on the dirt portion of Lake Mountian Road. Magnesium Chloride has been used for years around the country to help mitigate dust.
Pacific Dust Control in Washington on their website takes about the use of Magnesium Chloride in dust control.
Why Use Magnesium Chloride?
Magnesium chloride attracts moisture from the air, keeping the road damp even under hot, dry conditions. The moisture film provides a cohesive force that binds aggregate particles together, resulting in a hard and compact surface.
A beneficial residual effect accumulates with consistent application year after year. As magnesium chloride becomes established deeper in the road base, stability improves and frost damage is virtually eliminated.
Magnesium chloride has been used for dust control applications since the early 1920’s. No other dust control product comes close to this level of proven performance.
We have seen this debate happen several times in the past few years with the residents that live on Lake Mountain Road and the surrounding areas. The most common question is when will the road be paved, and who will pave it. The Cedar Valley Sentinel has written several articles on the subject. Mud Roads cause strife in Eagle Mountain, as well as Eagle Mountain City Statement on Paving Lake Mountain Road. Magnesium Chloride is not the first thing the city has tried to keep the road drivable and the dust down on Lake Mountain Road. They spent money on a new blade for the grater, Lake Mountain Road Gets a New Set of Teeth after they used recycled asphalt to try to fix the issue.
Eagle Mountain and Cedar Valley have been dealing with dust for a long time along the roads. But it is not a new issue in Utah County. This can be illustrated by an article written by The Daily Herald (Provo, Utah) back in July of 1922. The article discusses the subject of dust control. It specifically relates to Provo Canyon, but I found it to be an interesting read. Join us now and go back 100 years and see what their concerns and issues with the dust in Provo Canyon mirror those of some residents in the Cedar Valley.
The article reads as follows:
What Are We Going To Do About The Dust?
NOTE: I look a little into the business mand William S. Lambert that is mentioned here. Earlier in 1922 there was an article about him and some fellow businessmen starting a Golf Course/Club up in Salt Lake County.
The Daily Herald has received the following communication from a Salt Lake City Businessman:
“Saturday I drove up Provo canyon as far as Vivian Park and very much to my surprise we were nearly choked with dust both coming and going. With the abundance of water in Provo canyon, it seems to me that the country commissioners could be induced, with the right backing, to sprinkle that road, which would greatly add to the beautifying of the canyon and which would add greatly to Provo, as partially all cars would go by way fo Provo if that road was sprinkled from Provo to the mouth of the canyon and then up the canyon.” Willaim S. Lambert
The article continues.
Similar expressions have come from hundreds of persons who, within the last week, have traversed the canyon road.
The president of the Provo Rotary club said that when he drove down the canyon recently, in broad daylight, he had to turn on the lights of his automobile to pick his path through the heavy clouds of dust continually rising on the roadway.
Other citizens of Provo have done the same thing to protect themselves going through the canyon.
The inconvenience, the unpleasantness, of ridding through the dust is a small matter when compared to the vast possibilities of danger.
With the rapidly increasing traffic through the canyon the number of cars meeting on the dugways, and in other narrow portions of the road, bring nearer the hour of the collision when cars will tumble to the bottom and bury beneath them the crushed bodies of men, women, and children.
Once a very wise man said that one should not lock a barn after the horse was stolen. He would have locked it before. So it is with the road in Provo canyon.
Some day all of us will awaken to the danger in that canyon. That will come after the first terrible accident when we gather from the roadside the lifeless bodies of those who went to their death through the dust of Provo canyon.
But if we are wise, and most of us insist that we are, let us not wait for that death toll to begin an anti-dust campaign in Provo canyon.
So much for the danger of dust.
Dust is not only dangerous, but it is unpleasant. The average tourist will stay out of Provo canyon rather than be buried in dust. he will motor in some other direction. That spells less tourist traffic within Utah county, and to that extent is a matter for the entire county to consider.
Whether it would be better to sprinkle the road with water or with oil is a matter of consideration. Oil undouble would be more costly, but also, oil would make it a more serviceable road. Probably one coating of oil a summer would be sufficient. Of this cost the county commission could pay a portion, business interests well may share in the expense, and so, too, may the land owners along the road, for it would be for their convenience, too. Thus divided the expense would be great, and still, the profit would be large to all and each!
It might not be out of place for delegations representing the Provo Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary, Kiwanis, and other organizations to confer with the county commission on the matter of making traffic in Provo canyon less unpleasant and less dangerous.
The sooner the road is sprinkled, or oiled, the less probable it is that the newspapers will be printing the story of the deaths caused by the collision of automobiles in the dust of the canyon road.
Of course one of the following issues had an article from a resident that explained the dust. It looked like the road had actually been sprinkled and paid for by the residents and taxpayers of Pleasant View, but in the summer of 1922 it was not sprinkled. C. Elmo Cluff continues in his letter to the editor to explain that it needs to be paved instead of sprinkled. Each year the dry and wet voters would vote if the road should be sprinkled. and in the Summer of 1922 as Elmo States, “Well, this year, the dry voters were in the majority, but they don’t all belong to the selfish class. There are other reasons for losing the election this year. The “west” are well as some of the “drys” feel that the general public has not appreciated the enterprising and polite-spirited people of the district int heir efforts to maintain good roads.”
You can read his letter to the editor in the July 11th, 1922 newspaper.
The debate also made the front page of that week’s newspaper.
Paving for canyon road was an article that was quoting then County Commissioner Charles H. Wright. “Of course, dust can be kept down, partly, by sprinkling, but this would be temporary relief at best. The road should be paved.”
Mike Kieffer is an IT geek by hobby and trade, with a BS in Information Systems & Technology. He is a proud father of 10, a grandpa, an author, a journalist, and internet publisher. His motto is to “Elevate, Inspire and Inform”, and he is politically conservative and a Christian. Mike has a passion for technology, writing, and helping others. With a wealth of experience, he is committed to sharing his knowledge with others to help them reach their full potential. He is known for his jackassery or his form of self-expression that encourages boldness, creativity, and risk-taking. It can be a way to push the boundaries and challenge traditional norms, leading to creative solutions and positive change.