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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />,- <br /> <br />305G <br /> <br />- 6 - <br />STATEMENT TO <br />THE COLORADO WATER CONSERVATION BOARD <br /> <br />SUBJECT: THE NARROWS DAM PROJECT <br /> <br />Submitted by Don Richardson <br />(Farmer in Bijou Valley South of Wiggins) <br /> <br />March 26, 1952 <br /> <br />As an individual with no material interest in the effects of the Narrows <br />Dam Project, except from a standpoint of the possible effect on the future <br />development of the watersheds of Bijou and Kiowa creeks, and the probable in- <br />creased tax burden of an individual tax payer in Morgm County, which would <br />be created as an effect of taking a considerable percentage of high priced <br />and high producing land from the tax roles of a small county, I would like to <br />express my opposition to the Narrows Dam Project on certain of its principlesc <br /> <br />I would like to point out the folly of the proposed project from a flood <br />control standpoint. <br /> <br />The major flood threat and the major flood damage occurs largely in the <br />vicinity of where the water falls, especially in the steep and eroded foothills <br />area of the Platte River watershed. This fact was demonstrated last year in <br />the floods that damaged Loveland and Ft. Collins, Colorado in the amount of <br />several hundred thousand dollars. The snowmelt floods, without exception" <br />originate in the areas above the foothills. Almost without exception, the <br />disastrous rain storm floods originate in the area of the foothills and above. <br /> <br />A large portion of the cost of the Narrows Dam Project is to be charged <br />off as flood control, to protect, especially, the municipalities lying below <br />the dam. I believe history will show that very little damage has occurred <br />to municipalities lying below this site and above the confluence with the <br />North Platte River. However, in very recent history, we find that several <br />disastrous floods have occured to municipalities above this site. In our own <br />watershed areas on the Bijou 8I1d Kiowa creeks, the towns of Elbert, Kiowa,Byers <br />and Wiggins were heavily damaged in 1935. Denver has been damaged by Cherry <br />creek in very recent years. Last year, 1951, Loveland and Ft. Collins <br />8uffered considerable damage as has been pointed out previously in this state- <br />ment. This does not tell the story of bottom land farms and ranches that <br />suffered severe damage in big floods, and considerable damage from lesser <br />floods that did no damage to municipalities. Most of these farms and ranches <br />lie above thp. Harrows Dam Site. <br /> <br />W.ore th~n half of the storage space in Narrows Dam is provided for flood <br />c,ontrol. The creation of this flood control feature in the dam, naturally <br />means the condemnation of considerable acreage of high producing farm land. <br />As stated by the Bureau of Reclamation, the chief reasons for the choice of <br />the Narrows site, was the capacity for the control of these floods and the <br />jn~lusion of Bijou creek and its floods. <br />