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21 <br />lower end of Taylor Park, 150 ft above the river bed, would store 106,000 <br />acre-ft of water costing $15-$16 per acre-ft. Actually, historic records <br />in the files of the Uncompahgre Water Users Association revealed that the <br />Gunnison River drainage was surveyed for a storage reservoir site, with <br />the Taylor Park site chosen, as early as 1901. Powell stated that the <br />proposed reservoir would normally obviate deficiencies for the future <br />unless flows in a year as low as 1902 should again occur, in which case <br />the shortage, although much reduced, would not be entirely prevented. <br />Snow accumulations during the 1910's and 1920's produced flows <br />necessary for the project. Late in this period Steinel and Working <br />(1926), in a short discussion of the water supply relative to the lands <br />being and anticipated irrigated by the Uncompahgre Project, mentioned <br />"It was not likely that the Gunnison Tunnel would have to be completely <br />lined, nor would Taylor Reservoir have to be built for some years." <br />Despite this, Gunnison River flows in 1931 and again in 1934 were consi- <br />derably less than those of 1902, and probably prompted the approval in <br />1935 of Taylor Dam construction. This dam, a zoned earthfill type, <br />forming a reservoir with a capacity of 106,200 acre-ft at 9,330 eleva- <br />tion, with a spillway capacity of 10,000 cfs and an outlet works of <br />1,500 cfs, was financed with funds allotted under the National Industrial <br />Recovery Act and was completed in 1937 (Anonymous 1961).