PUB00068

• Year: 1952
• Title: A Hundred Years of Irrigatioin in Colorado, 100 Years of Organized and Continuous Irrigation
• Author: CWCB
• Description: Irrigation history of Colorado
• Publications - Doc Type: Historical

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the lapse of a year or two, and the advent into New Mexico of a
succes~or to Governor Anzi, the project was abandoned.

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The next attempt at irrigation of which we have reasonably
authentic information, was made by the Bent Brothers. Upon the construc-
tion of Bent's Fort on the North Bank of the Arkansas River, about mid-
way between the present cities of La Junta and Las Animas, in the year
1832, a ditch was built taking its water from the river for the irriga-
tion of about 40 acres of land lying in a bend of the river and between
the Fort and the north bank of the stream. This acreage was plowed and
planted to corn, beans, squash and melons, cultivated and irrigated.
According. to the stories of contemporary occupants of the Fort, the
production was quite good, but the harvests were practically a failure.
This was due to the fact that the tribes of Indians who congregated and
camped near the Fort, during the growing season, either purposely or
inadvertently permitted their ponies to invade, graze upon and destroy
the growing crops. After a few years the project was abandoned.

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The next irrigation enterprise as to which we have fairly reliable
information, was begun about the year 1841 at the settlement near the
mouth of the Fountain River, by a group of trappers and mountain men,
with their Mexican .and Indian mates, known as "The Pueblo" - the
progenitor of the present City of Pueblo. These men put a considerable
acreage into cultivation and irrigated the land by waters taken from the
Fountain. They continued this program quite successfully each year
until on Christmas Day, 1854, the Fort was attacked by a presumably
friendly tribe of Indians, and the inhabitants were practically exter-
minated.

There is also some contemporary reference to a similar settlement
on the banks of the Greenhorn, a tributary of the st. Charles, 30 miles
south of the present City of Pueblo, with the irrigation of a consider-
able tract of land begun in about the year 1841.or '42 and continuing
for at least several years.

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The next irrigation enterprise as to which we have quite complete
record eVidence, was that of the construction of the John Hatcher Ditch
on the East bank of the Picketwire River or El Rio de Las Animas
Perdidas en Purgatorio, about 20 miles down stream from the present
City of Trinidad, in September, 1846. This ditch was built by John
Hatcher, foreman for the Bent Brothers, for the purpose of growing food
for the ox teams engaged in freighting between Bent's Fort and Taos,
New Mexico. In April, 1847, water was turned into this ditch for the
irrigation of about 60 acres of land planted in corn. In the Fall of
that year the Indians raided this ranch, destroyed the crops, and ran
Hatcher and his employees out of the country. During the next 15 or
18 years,. from time to time, individuals squatted upon this land and
farmed or attempted to farm the original 60 acres, with considerable
success. Usually, however, they got into difficulties with the Indians,
and abandoned the effort. In the early '60s a man by the name of
Lewellyng settled upon that land, reopened the ditch, and again put
into cultivation the original 60 acres, and continuously occupied the
farm and irrigated this acreage for many years. In the year 1881, at
the first adjudication proceedings brought in that Water District, the

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