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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. Figure 17. Stop 5. Larimer and Weld Canal. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Directly across the river you can see the <br />diversion point for the Larimer and Weld Canal. <br />This is one of the largest canals which diverts <br />water from the Cache La Poudre River. It was <br />first built in 1864 and called the Eaton Ditch <br />after Colorado Governor Benjamin Eaton. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />When first built, the canal had a capacity of <br />only three cubic feet of water per second. After <br />that it was enlarged five times between '.1866 'and <br />1878. It now carries over 720 cubic feet of <br />water per second. This canal irrigates 52,239 <br />acres of land south of the canal from here past <br />Galeton, Colorado. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />There are a multitude of ditches and canals which <br />divert water from the river to irrgate the <br />farmlands of the area. Most of the ditches were <br />built before the 1900's. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />The Colorado Big Thompson Project is an important <br />development which brings water from the Western <br />Slope of the Rockies to the east. The project, <br />built between 1937 and 1956, assures an adequate <br />water supply for the South Platte River Basin. <br />This includes the area between the cities of <br />Boulder, Longmont, Loveland, Ft. Collins, Greeley, <br />Ft. Morgan, Sterling, and Julesburg. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Irrigation is extremely important to the economy <br />of the area. It has changed the area from dry <br />open plains suitable only for grazing, into rich <br />agricultural lands valuable for raising crops. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />You will see <br />the stream. <br />the canals. <br /> <br />many diversions such as this along <br />Caution! Water flows rapidly through <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />, <br />