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HISTORY <br />Like many of the plains reservoirs, Riverside Reservoir was constructed in stages. The <br />original reservoir was constructed by the "South Platte Land, Reservoir and Irrigation <br />Company" in about 1900 and was known as "Sanborn Draw Reservoir." <br />Sanborn Draw Reservoir was originally a large, natural, non-tributary depression storage <br />site situated at the bottom of Sanborn Draw. The soil in the area of the reservoir is fine <br />"blow" sand. According to historians, the depression was formed by windblown sand from <br />7,000 to 10,000 years ago. There is no physical evidence that the depression storage was <br />ever overtopped or breached by flood water. It is evident that Sanborn Draw has ended at <br />the depression for a very many years, and there is only limited topographic evidence of a <br />possible channel extending from the depression to the river prior to formation of the sand <br />dunes. <br />Initially an outlet structure was constructed at the reservoir site and minor fill dams were <br />built sufficient to form Sanborn Draw Reservoir, which held approximately 16,000 acre-feet <br />of water. It first received water in about 1902. Shortly thereafter RRLC purchased <br />Sanborn Draw Reservoir and the associated inlet canal called Riverside Ditch. Riverside <br />Irrigation District was formed at that time to purchase 1,200 of the rights from RRLC. On <br />the strength of the Riverside Irrigation District contract, the RRLC enlarged Sanbom Draw <br />Reservoir to the present capacity of approximately 64,000 acre-feet and changed its name <br />to Riverside Reservoir. <br />WATER RIGHTS AND WATER SUPPLY <br />The Riverside Reservoir water right decrees are listed in Table 1. <br />5 <br />