BOARD01741

• Board Meeting Date: 6/20/1955
• Description: Minutes and Resolution
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

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APPENDIX A
MEMORANDUM

June, 1955

TO: Ivan C. Crawford
FROM: R. M. Gildersleeve
SUBJECT:Supplemental Report on Rio Grande and Weminuche Pass
Divisions, San Luis Valley Project, June 1955

The San Luis Valley Project, as described in House
Document 693, 76th Congress, 3rd Session, was authorized
under a finding of feasibility by the Secretary of the
Interior dated April 10, 1940. It.consisted of the
Wagon Wheel Gap Dam and Weminuche Pass Diversion, the
Platoro and Mogote Reservoirs in the Conejos River basin,
and the Closed Basin Drain. Under this project plan, the
Wagon Wheel Gap Reservoir Capacity was 1,000,000 acre-feet,
Costs were allocated 60 per cent to irrigation and 40 per
cent to flood control. House Document 693 recommended
construction of these units~conditioned upon further
investigations on the Conejos River and a conclusive
finding of justification for the Closed Basin Drain.

The investigations relative to the Conejos Division
were completed and summarized in a supplemental report on
that Division, dated April 1947. The report recommended
that Platoro Reservoir be constructed as the initial stage
of the two reservoir plan. On the basis of the report,
construction of Plato~o Reservoir was found feasible under
provisions of the Reclamation Laws. Construction was begun
in 1949 and completed during 1951.

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War occurred before the additional detailed investigations
could be completed, which were "required prior to construction
of the authorized ~io Grande and Weminuche works. Following
the war, it was found that costs had increased greatly. This
led to a re-evaluation of the economics of the project works
including the desirability of developing power at Wagon Wheel
Gap Dam and other potential sites.