The Building  of the
Hurricane Canal
Excerpt  from Karl Larson's book,            

"I Was Called  to Dixie":

'Do you remember how Brigham Young called a group of people to Dixie and only about half of them  responded?'  'Yes.' President Brimhall had heard something like that. ' Do you remember that of the half who came, only half remained?' 'Yes.' 'Well,' said James Jepson, 'the men and women who built this canal are the children of those who stayed."'

Walter Spendlove is one of the
children of "those who stayed." His father,
John Spendlove, Jr., and his grandfather, John Spendlove, Sr., were among the faithful who were devoted workers on the canal.
Walter Spendlove was too young to
have worked on the canal when the work first commenced. Since he had not finished grade school when he started working on the canal, it can be assumed he was probably about 13 years of age.
That would have been in 1898.
If so, Walter worked on the canal for 6 years-