Editing South Jordan, Utah (section)

===Early Latter-day Saint settlement===

[[File:Another view of the sunset over South Jordan, UT.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Sunset over mountains |Looking west at a sunset over the [[Oquirrh Mountains]], November 2009]]
On July 22, 1847, an advanced party of the first [[Latter-day Saint pioneers]] entered the valley and immediately began to irrigate land and explore the area with a view to establishing new settlements.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://historytogo.utah.gov/facts/brief_history/mormonsettlement.html | title=Mormon Settlement | work=Utah History to Go | publisher=Utah State Historical Society | access-date=March 30, 2010 | archive-date=September 11, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090911070954/http://www.historytogo.utah.gov/facts/brief_history/mormonsettlement.html | url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Alexander Beckstead]], a blacksmith from Ontario, Canada, moved his family to the [[West Jordan, Utah|West Jordan]] area in 1849, and became the first of his trade in the south Salt Lake Valley. He helped dig the first ditch to divert water from the Jordan River, powering [[Archibald Gardner]]'s flour mill.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bateman|1998|p=7}}</ref>  In 1859, Beckstead became the first settler of South Jordan by moving his family along the Jordan River where they lived in a dugout cut into the west bluffs above the river.<ref name="Powell 1994 513">{{Harvnb|Bateman|1994|p=513}}</ref>  The [[flood plain]] of the Jordan was level, and could be cleared for farming if a ditch was constructed to divert river water along the base of the west bluff.  [[Alexander Beckstead|Beckstead]] and others created the {{convert|2.5|mi|km|adj=on}} "Beckstead Ditch",<ref>{{Harvnb|Bateman|1998|p=8}}</ref> which is still in use for irrigation of city parks and Mulligan's golf course.<ref name=water />

In 1863, the South Jordan [[Branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] was organized as a branch of the West Jordan Ward, giving South Jordan its name.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | editor-first=Andrew | editor-last=Jensen | url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/BYUIBooks&CISOPTR=2694&CISOSHOW=2693 | title=South Jordan Ward | encyclopedia=Encyclopedic History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | year=1941 | publisher=Deseret News Publishing Company | location=Salt Lake City | page=816 | access-date=March 17, 2010}}</ref>  The Branch consisted of just nine families.  A school was built in 1864 out of [[adobe]] and also served as the Church Meetinghouse for the South Jordan Branch.<ref name=HRecord>{{cite journal | first=Andrew | last=Jensen | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dLgUAAAAYAAJ&q=south+jordan+utah&pg=PA335 | title=South Jordan Ward | journal=The Historical Record: A Monthly Periodical, Devoted Exclusively to Historical, Biographical, Chronological and Statistical Matters. | volume=5 | page=335 | year=1889 | access-date=March 21, 2010}}</ref> As South Jordan grew, a new and larger building was constructed in 1873 on the east side of the site of the present-day cemetery.  It had an upper and lower entrance with a granite foundation using left-over materials brought from the [[granite]] quarry at the mouth of [[Little Cottonwood Canyon]].  The upper story was made of oversized adobe bricks.<ref name=HRecord />  The main hall had curtains which could be pulled to section off the hall for classes. The meetinghouse also served as the "ward" school when it was held during the fall and winter months.  It came to be known as the "Mud Temple", and was in use until 1908.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bateman|1998|p=153}}</ref>

In 1876, work was completed on the [[South Jordan Canal]] which took water out of the Jordan River in [[Bluffdale, Utah|Bluffdale]] and brought it above the river bluffs for the first time.<ref name="Powell 1994 513"/>  As a result of the new canal, most of the families moved up away from the river onto the "flats" above the river which they could now irrigate.  In 1881, the [[Utah and Salt Lake Canal]] was completed.  It runs parallels to the west side of today's [[Redwood Road]].  With the completion of the canal system, greater acreage could be farmed, which led to the area's population increasing.<ref name=HRecord />