FLOOD03666

• County: Statewide
• Community: State of Colorado
• Stream Name: All
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: 1965 Flood Disasters in Colorado
• Date: 11/1/1965
• Prepared For: Colorado General Assembly
• Prepared By: Colorado Legislative Council
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Flood Documentation Report

and the Narrows Dam and Reservoir. Map 1 provides an illustration of
the locations of the Two Forks and Chatfield proposals, and Map 2 pro-
vides similar information on the Narrows Project.

Two Forks Proposal. The Two Forks Dam and Reservoir is in the
planning stage only,under the responsibility of the Bureau of Reclama-
tion. The bureau reports that the site for this project would be
located about a mile downstream from the confluence of the North Fork
and the South Platte River, some 25 airline miles upstream of Denver.
The total storage capacity of the Two Forks Reservoir site could be as
much as 1,200,000 acre feet to amply provide for all conservation and
flood control requirements. It could provide protection for the Denver
water works at Kassler, and it would relieve the Chatfield site of
nearly all need for the storage of flood flows originating in the North
and South Forks of the river.

A reconnaissance report was completed in November of 1964. The
investigation and report were made possible by funds advanced by the
State of ColoradO and interested water-user organizations and entities,
acting through the Colorado Water Conservation Board, under contract
with the Bureau of Reclamation. The feasibility investigation and an
authorizing report for the Two Forks Dam and Reservoir is expected to
be completed for presentation to the Congress simultaneously with the
report by the Corps of Engineers on the Chatfield Dam and Reservoir.

Chatfield Dam. As may be noted on Map 1, the Chatfield damsite
is located south of Littleton, just below the confluence of Plum Creek
and the South Platte River. This project has been authorized for con-
struction by the Corps of Engineers, and the Corps is making a feasi-
bility study on the Chatfield Project which it expects to complete by
the first of 1966. If appropriations are made by Congress, land acqui-
sition could start by the middle of 1967 with completion anticipated
by the middle of 1969. So far as the past is concerned, opposition by
local interests in the reservoir site to the construction of the dam
and reservoir in 1954 caused indefinite postponement of any further
activity towards construction by the Corps of Engineers.

Narrows Dam. The Narrows Unit, proposed for reauthorization and
construction by the Bureau of Reclamation, consists of the potential
Narrows Dam and Reservoir on the South Platte River about seven miles
upstream from Fort Morgan, approximately 70 air miles northeast of
Denver.

The Narrows Dam and Reservoir was authorized as a unit of the
comprehensive Missouri River Basin Project by the flood control acts
of 1944 and 1946. Preconstruct ion activities were initiated in 1947
and a definite plan report was prepared in 1951. Public hearings were
held in 1951 which indicated considerable opposition to the plan,
principally from residents located in the reservoir area. As a result
of the lack of official support by the State of Colorado, all activi-
ties on the dam and reservoir were terminated.

During the intervening years, many discussions and meetings of
interested groups were held, a steering committee was organized, and
the Colorado Water Conservation Board provided funds for the resump-
tion of studies on the project by the Bureau of Reclamation. The
bureau was specifically requested to make a hydrologic study and cost

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