Settlement in the valley west of Salt Lake City depended on water. The first settlers arrived in the fall of 1848, and Joseph Harker built a dugout in bluffs along the west bank of the Jordan River at about 3300 South. The following spring, he and a dozen other families moved to the 45th South and Redwood Road area, where water was more attainable. Later settlers ranched or farmed along the river bottoms, but drinking water remained a constant concern. Plans to carry water from the Jordan River across the dry western two-thirds of the Salt Lake Valley circulated as early as 1860, but early efforts were blocked by limited financing and technical problems. In 1872, Salt Lake County began an eight-year, $70,000 investment in a series of canals to bring water to barren land. A dam was built at Jordan Narrows, and the South Jordan Canal, excavated between 1870 and 1875, brought the first water to Granger. The North Jordan Canal was enlarged in 1881 and extended from Gardner's mill at 7800 South to Granger. Also in 1881, Hunter received its first water from the Utah and Salt Lake Canal, Salt Lake County's longest and largest canal, which ran 32 miles from Jordan Narrows to Magna and carried 246 cfs. By the turn of the century, the U.S. Census counted 354 residents in Hunter and 617 in Granger, with 4800 West dividing the two districts. Canal building brought modest growth, but it also raised underground salts and minerals to the surface, creating an alkali crust deadly to crops and trees. Between 21st and 27th South, water collected in shallow saline lakes used for swimming and ice skating. The Riter Canal, first used as a drainage ditch, now connects to the North Jordan Canal at about 3800 South and delivers water to Kennecott Utah Copper Company. In 1949, the Granger-Hunter Improvement District was established to supply residents with water from Deer Creek Reservoir. Hookups began in 1953, and the area grew as much in 1954 as it had in all the years since the pioneers arrived. An effort to incorporate as a new city failed in 1978, but in 1980 West Valley City became Utah's second largest city.