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Salt Lake City County Building
As the name implies, both Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County government offices are housed in this beautiful building. I spent almost an hour and a half on an early Saturday morning walking around the building taking photos…a very pleasurable experience…not many people on the street, hardly anyone on the grounds…nice and cool with a pretty morning sun finally lighting the east side of the building. It is located in downtown Salt Lake City on what is referred to as Washington Square, right on State Street, across from a courthouse and down the street from the Utah State Capitol. This particular square was first used as temporary camping grounds for the newly arriving Mormon pioneers and later served as a meeting place for fairs, cattle-drives, hay-sales, and other public events.
If I remember correctly, the building was constructed over a period of three to four years back in the 1890′s and served as the state capitol for a period in the early 1900′s. This rather gothic-looking seat of government is surrounded by beautiful trees, statuary, and fountains, as well as benches and park tables that are frequent resting places for down-town folks on their lunch-hours and some of the inner-city street denizens. In addition, the 2011 Salt Lake City Gay Pride festivities were held/celebrated on the building’s grounds, an open testimony, despite the influence of the powerful Mormon church, of the city’s acceptance of our LGBT community.
Vintage Pipe Repair
There is a water pipe, or two of them maybe, that run(s) from two water collection points in Little Cottonwood Canyon and down into the greater Salt Lake City metropolitan area, where the water that it transports is treated and then used in the municipal water supply. Sometimes the pipe is underground, sometimes running directly next to the stream on the bank, crossing the stream suspended by steel cables, on pylons from one creek bank to a nearby hillside where it disappears again, or somewhere else between stream and trail, tucked away among the various trees and brush that populate the wooded area on the mountain-side. I’m not sure when the water collection points were built, but it appears to have been several decades ago.
On one of my hikes this past winter, I found a sheet of muddy ice that extended down the trail for 30 or 40 yards, until it veered off into the brush. Continuing up the trail, I discovered that the pipe had burst and the water ran unchecked for some time. I don’t know if the controllers at the main water collection point downstream noticed a decrease in pressure, or if a hiker notified the authorities that they had sprung a serious leak, or what, but I saw that the pipe had been repaired, and after examining it, didn’t think much more about it. The technicians used a novel method that did not involve removing the split pipe and replacing it with another section. It was composed of a metal band that appeared to press a rubberized material against the gash, all bolted down secure and working as designed.
So…where am I going with all of this? A couple of weekends ago, one of my older sons and I were returning from a hike up into the canyon and my son happened to see a large section of pipe that had been removed from the main pipeline. It had been tossed into the brush and allowed to remain there…for what appears to have been many, many years. The section of pipe was likely removed because of a leak that refused to remain repaired…. The failed old-school repair has provided a beautiful nursery for life….
And lastly, this is the repair from winter of 2011…quite an advance in pipe-repair technology….
City Paint 8 – 7th West and Genesee
This is probably more “typical” of what comes to mind when we think of graffiti in the neighborhoods of a city. I took these photos in the Glendale area of Salt Lake City…an older part of town that is home to many Hispanic and Tongan families. This is also an area that has its share of difficulties with gang activity….
These last two shots contain messages from the building next door….
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