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<br />.~ <br />:/ <br /> <br />1'1 <br />" ) (I <br /> <br />o <br />C) <br />.... <br />Cot.) <br />1ol::>o <br /> <br />i< <br />\ <br /> <br />Colorado-Big Thompson! Initiation, <br />1933-1938 <br /> <br />:"'., <br /> <br />'L'he Story of a Gigantic Irrigation Project III Embryo <br />By WILLIAM R. Km,LY" <br /> <br />It takes men to match mountains and build dams, and this <br />is the story. of the men who were largely responsible for driving a <br />thirteen-mile tunnel through the Continental Divide, in order to tap <br />the waters of the Colorado river. The project, drouth compelled, was <br />first named after Grand Lake at its upper end, but the tunnel <br />really began at Greeley, 100 miles away. <br />On July 29, 1933', a self-appointed committee comprised of <br />:Pred Norcross, L. h Stimson and myself, called upon Charles <br />Hansen, publisher of The Greeley T1'ib1me, and the Weld County <br />Board of County Commissioners, to urge the building of the tunnel <br />as a Public Works project. Charles Hansen was then head of the <br />.Weld County agencies for works to relieve unemployment, <br />A meeting of key men with County Commissioners W. A. Carl- <br />son, S. K. Clark and James Ogilvie was called for August 6, 1933. <br />Ed :Polbrecht, secretary of the Greeley Chamber of Commerce, and <br />the writer helped to arrange the meeting. I assisted President O. G. <br />Edwards of the chamber in appointing a committee of irrigation <br />leaders to study and present the proposed project. The Greeley <br />Tribune, :Port Collins and Longmont newspapers and radio station <br />KFKA got behind the movement. <br />Soon a valley-wide meeting was called for August 17, with an <br />expanded" Grand Lake Project" committee as follows: Fred Nor- <br />cross, Chairman; C. G. Carlson, of Eaton Ditch interest; Charles <br />Swink of Greeley and Loveland irrigation system; Cbarles Hansen, <br />publisher of The Greeley Tribune; Claude Carney of the Great <br />Western Sugar Company; Harry W. Farr, of wide farm interests; <br />Prank B. Davis, of the Cache la' Poudre irrigation companies; M. <br />E. Smith of the 'Vater Supply and Storage system and effective <br /> <br />1 Colorado-Big" Thompson Project-This is one of the larger irrigation proj- <br />ects constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation. Essentially it consists' of (a) a <br />collection worlts on the Westem Slope wherebY 310,000 acre-feet of water an- <br />nually will be diverted through; (b) a is-mile tunnel, then passed through; (c) <br />power plants ahd reservoirs on the eastern slope, and (d) natural water co'urses <br />with irrigation: canals which spread the' water on agricultural lands as a sup- <br />plemental supply. Green Mountain Reservoir on the Blue River near its con- <br />fluence with the Colorado River near Kremmling is a very important part of <br />the project, although it is located some distance from the other West Slope units. <br />Water stored here develops electrical current to help pay for the project.- <br />Oolorado Yea1~:Book. 1951-1955. (Denver: The Colorado State Planning Com- <br />mission, 1956),,257. <br />>1< vVilliam R. Kelly, author of this article, has long been known as an <br />authority on irrigation law. Mr. Kelly, a graduate of the University of Colorado. <br />Is a member of the law firm of Kelly and Clayton of Greeley, Colo. He is the <br />author of various articles including, "A River Is A Treasure," "Rationing the <br />Rivers," and "Navigation and Irrigation in the Mountain States." He here pre- <br />sents some of the little-known history of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project.- <br />Ed.1-tor. . <br /> <br />e. ("t, <br /> <br />I <br />