Salt Lake City v. Silver fork Pipeline

Silver Fork Pipeline Corporation is comprised of property owners in the Silver Fork area of Big Cottonwood Canyon. It appeals from an order of summary judgment in a quiet title action initiated by Salt Lake City. At the heart of the dispute is the allocation of rights to water collected in the Kentucky-Utah mine tunnel. Each party claims the right to collect and divert water from this source. Salt Lake City argues that the water, which it alleges would be tributary to Big Cottonwood Creek if the opening to the mine tunnel did not trap it, properly belongs to it pursuant to two early court decisions vesting rights to the waters of the Big Cottonwood drainage basin in Salt Lake City. Silver Fork contends that these decisions do not apply because the shaft of the Kentucky-Utah mine did not exist at the time the decisions were made.