<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 />
|