PROJ00001

• Contract/PO #: C153168
• Contractor Name: Delta, City of
• Contract Type: Loan
• Water District: 40
• County: Delta
• Bill Number: SB 77-35
• Loan Projects - Doc Type: Feasibility Study

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Also during 1903, a preliminary statement for filing by
George C. Whitelaw for the same two reservoirs but identified
as the Doughspoon Ranche Reservoirs No. 1 and 2 was prepared
and sworn before the County Clerk. The two reservoirs were described
exactly the same as in the previous statement prepared by the
City of Delta in 1897. Work on the Doughspoon Ranche Reservoirs
was alleged to have commenced in 1903. In 1904, Whitelaw sold
to the Town 0 f Delta "all rights to any and all lakes, springs,
reservoirs, and reservoir sites at or near the head or source
of...Doughspoon Creek. II

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In testimony in the supreme court of the State of Colorado
relating to another matter, work on a reservoir identified as
the Burnett Reservoir was stated to have taken place in 1904.
At that time, the dam of the reservoir was judged to be six
to eight feet high. There is further evidence to indicate that
from 1906 to 1911 this reservoir, and another reservoir identified
as the Burnett Reservoir No.2, were owned by William H. and
Stella C. Burnett. The original claim statements indicate that the
Burnett Reservoir No. 2 was located on Dry Gulch but was supplied
by the seven mile long Red Rock Ditch which diverted water from
Doughspoon Creek. The location of the original Burnett Reservoir
No. 2 is in the adobe flats approximately 3/4 of a mile due
east from the north end of the Blake Field Airstrip. All that
remains today of the Burnett Reservoir No. 2 is the sediment
filled reservoir basin and a severely eroded dam.

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The original decree for the Delta City No. 1 Reservoir,
believed to be the same as the Doughspoon Ranche Reservoir No.1,
has never been found. The existing dam for this reservoir is 25 feet
high and the reservoir is believed to contain 23.7 acre-feet. In
1947, the court granted a conditional decree for 14.3 acre-feet for
the enlargement of the Delta City No. 1 Reservoir (Doughspoon)
provided the dam is raised to a total height of 34 feet. This
conditional decree has been continued to August 1978. The City of
Delta should take immediate steps to either acquire an absolute right
on the Doughspoon Reservoir or to perfect the existing conditional
decree.

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The Burnett Reservoir (assumed No.1) was awarded an absolute
decree for 10.0 acre-feet in the 1907 adjudication. In 1911,
the Burnetts in essence sold the Burnett Reservoir to the City
of Delta. In 1959 and again in 1974, the dam of the Burnett
Reservoir was breached for repairs to the outlet conduit. The
height of the dam was approximately eight feet in 1974.

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