The Last Chance Canal as it crosses the first bridge, on the way to the tunnel and flumes.
THE Last Chance Canal was an engineering marvel for
the early 20th Century in Grace, Idaho.
All the initial work was done without government funding or outside the valley assistance.
Settlers in Gem Valley and Grace area were in dire
need of an irrigation system to provide reliable water for their crops. The
area could still have some dry farming, but not the majority. In desperation,
the farmers named their project the Last Chance Canal, as they viewed as their
last and only chance for a solution.
The project was started in 1895 and completed by 1902. They had to rush, as they had a deadline to meet, or they would lose their water rights to the Bear River.
However, they were not done. There were long-term
support problems with the wooden flumes along the river. The farmers hired
Morrison-Knudsen Company to create a tunnel through a solid lava rock hill. This
1,800-foot-long tunnel was made with hand tools. A horse-pulled rail car moved
the rock out of the tunnel. Digging work was started at each end and when the
ends met in the middle, there was only a one foot variance. The tunnel is 12 feet
wide and 9 feet high.
The tunnel created a shortcut, a more level route, and meant almost no wooden flumes right next to the river. A cross river flume was created to take the canal from the tunnel, south across the river and it was supported by a concrete arch. There was also another flume that broke off and went north across the river to carry water to the north side of the valley. A new flume, all-steel, replaced the concrete arch in 1946.

A second, but shorter flume crosses back across the Bear River and carries water northward into Gem Valley. And, this is the flume that some risk takers have jumped off of into the Bear River over the decades. However, some divers have drowned doing so, with the last fatality happening in 2025.
A dam and headworks, just upstream, diverts the water into the Last Chance Canal. The farmers had to build log cribs of timber and rock, which they set atop the ice covered river in the winter, to create the dam.
The historical sign along the Bear River.
The nearest ranch to the canal system in Grace is at the start of the Last Chance Canal Road. That farm, (shown above) is the Rigby Farm, and is also the first one to receive irrigation water from the Bear River through the Last Chance Canal system, at least on the north side of the Bear River.
During the summer season, water lovers like to tube or swim a length of the Last Chance Canal System. They often jump into the water at the end of tunnel, travel about 600 yards and then walk back atop the canal's roof and do the trip again. The force of the water almost effortlessly carries the swimmers along.
Note: Beaver County in Southern Utah also has a canal
system named, “Last Chance Canal.” So, the name is not unique.
SOURCES: https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=109914 The Historical Markers Database
Digital Atlas of Idaho
Historical signs along the Bear River
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