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<br />~ <br />00 <br />c.o <br />_1 <br /> <br />I; <br /> <br />GUNNISOK JUVl.';H DIVl2;H.SION PHOJECT <br /> <br />tunnel and canals, at the instigation of a local farmer, John E, <br />Pelton. There was some thought at the time that this would <br />be construed primarily as a political move, since Wolcott was <br />coming up for re-election,'" <br />Late in the summer of 1900, a party of five volunteers de- <br />cided to tackle a survey of the Black Canyon to see if water <br />diversion would actually be feasible."' The leader, William <br />W, Torrence, later to be called the <br />"Father of the Gunnison Tunnel," <br />was at the time superintendent of the <br />Montrose Electric Light and Power <br />Company, His companions included <br />John E. Pelton, a Montrose farmer <br />and local lake resort proprietor, J. A. <br />Curtis, the Delta County Surveyor <br />and civil engineer, M, F, Hovey, <br />Montrose farmer and one-time miner, <br />and E, B. Anderson, a Delta rancher. <br />All except Torrence were married <br />and had children. Hovey, the oldest, <br />was fifty-five, <br />In September of 1900 these men <br />were ready to tackle the river. Head- <br />ed by Pelton, they took the train for <br />the mouth of Cimarron Creek, the <br />railroad company transporting them <br />free. Going down-river from there, <br />the men planned to reach Red Rock <br />Canyon within four or five days. If <br />they had experienced too rough a <br />journey by this time, they would <br />climb out there, leaving the boats to <br />drift downstream to the North Fork; <br />otherwise they would accompany the <br />boats through the entire length of the <br />canyon. <br />Their equipment included two <br /> <br /> <br />'l'nHI{I;J~CPJ <br /> <br />~(f Ibid.. S2ptemhC'1' 22, IflOO. ';They [Bell and Shafroth] have been at work <br />in ~ea~ on a nd out of 1'5'2[1 !'on to pu:-h the work in the various committees, and can <br />he depended on to ]{cep it going. Tile democrat.ic party has declared for help <br />flH" the lnigation enterpri~cs of the ,Vest, and tbis of i"'.Helf shows the growth of <br />sentiment. Our e()ngT'?~~mEn are doing all any men can." ~1fontr()8e FJnteT]Jrisc? <br />Aug\l~t 18, I !IOO. <br />~1 Tllere Im\'e teen a number of pulJlisherl accounts of this 1900 trip, in <br />mag'a,:dnt"f:. ne\\':-,papcr~, nlld 11001..s. Unfortunately, the \'arious accounts differ <br />in detailf-:, The resum(' presented here is primarily based upon the follo\ving <br />~ouJ'ces, with particular dcpen(lence upon the nc\vspaper report~: Souvenir Book- <br />lct7 llfontrose GO'I!11,ty, Oil. ('it.: Fanny E, Coe, Heroes of Everyday Life (Boston, <br />l~Hl), pp. 40-61; Fellow~, oj). cit'7 530-537; Hunter, loe. cU..,' Marsh, 0]), cit" pp. <br />89-96; ]I!ont"osc EntC1']Jrisr" September-October, 1900; Ralker and "V ill ey, op. cU., <br />508-514; John lTenr,\' Shaw, "Exploring the Black Canon of the Gunnison Hiver," <br />lVorld To-Day, '-01. 17, Ko. 5 (190D), 1139-1146; and \,Vilson HockweIl, Sunset <br />Slope (]len\,('t', Ifl56), pp. 279-284. Tn their survey the men were interested in <br />the possibilily of running a diteh downstream in the canyon to Hed Rock and <br />into n tunnel from there to the Uncompahgre Yalley. jJfontrosc Enterprise7 <br />Sic'ptclnhcl' R. tnoo. <br />