June 11 ~ Seven Canyons Fountain

On Saturday, June 11, Rara, Ryan & I took Alice and Claire to the Seven Canyons Fountain at Liberty Park. A friend of mine had told me about it, and said it was her kids’ favorite place to go in the summer. The Seven Canyons Fountain is a 1 acre model of the canyons coming down into the Salt Lake Valley. There is also an area representing the Jordan River and the Great Salt Lake.



We enjoyed playing in the areas representing Big Cottonwood Canyon and Little Cottonwood Canyon, but the girls really enjoyed playing in the area representing Emigration Canyon. That is fitting, since that is where they live. We spent most of our time there.








I found a great description of the entire layout of Seven Canyons Fountain at this website. Here is the information:

The Seven Canyons Fountain was Obert C. Tanner's last gift to the city. It was dedicated a few days before his death. He donated $250,000 and the city had to match the offer. As a child, he had played in the valley's streams and he wanted future generations to enjoy a similar experience. John Swain, city planning engineer, and two others used USGS maps and photographs to reduce miles of geography into a fairly accurate miniature representation.

It is a wonderful place to "discover" the Salt Lake Valley and surroundings. The fountain has Utah Lake on one end, the Great Salt Lake on the other, connected by the Jordan River. Into the Jordan flow the seven creeks that flow from the mountains to the east. Where possible, native vegetation and rock from those seven canyons was used in the fountain.

Eighteen icons are listed with the general location in parentheses. If you know your history and geography, you'll understand what the symbols represent and why they are placed in certain locations:

1) Wagon (Emigration Canyon),
2) Snake (Red Butte Canyon),
3) Compass Rose,
4) Truck (Parley's Canyon),
5) U of U (City Creek),
6) Mill Wheel (Millcreek Canyon),
7) Lock,
8) Skier (Little Cottonwood),
9) Capitol (Capitol Hill),
10) Mining (Park City),
11) Cow (Draper),
12) Horse (South Jordan)
13) Morton Salt Girl (West of GSL),
14) Seagull (GSL),
15) Lamb (Lamb's Canyon),
16) Open Pit Mine (Bingham/Copperton),
17) Fish (Provo River),
18) Pumps (Jordan Narrows)

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I’m so glad my friend recommended this fun spot to us! We’ll probably make frequent visits there, especially as the summer days get warmer!