Fluid Memory: Collective Memory and the Mormon Canal System of Cache Valley, Utah

Abstract

Logan, Utah, a Mormon settlement in the Intermountain West’s Cache Valley, provides a relevant example for developing design discourse around collective memory. Constructed over the course of a century for irrigation and mill power, Logan’s canal and water system enabled settlement of the valley. Despite its cultural value, local awareness of the canal system’s significance is threatened by water’s diminished visual presence amid new development. Continuous water flow through the original canal structure is meaningful for understanding how the system’s design, construction, and maintenance have affected settlement patterns over time. Collective memory reflecting the diversifying community was integrated within design and exhibition of alternatives for the canal system. Through the design process, a theoretical framework applying Pierre Nora’s concepts, milieux de mémoire and lieux de mémoire, emerged to explain how people may find landscape meaning across time and cultures.