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<br />Location and History of the Project Area <br /> <br />The town of RLco, Colorado, situated in the Dolores River drainage <br /> <br />of the San Juan Mountains, is a small mining town in Dolores Cotmty J <br /> <br />about forty-seven miles northeast of Cortez, Colorado and about eighty- <br /> <br />four miles distant by high\o1ay from the Dolores County seat, Dove Creek. <br /> <br />It is situated at an elevation of 8,800 feet above sea level. The history <br /> <br />of RLco (a name meaning riCh) is long and colorful. The gold, silver, <br /> <br />tungsten and other minerals abundant in the mountains sl.U"rounding RLco <br /> <br />brought miners to the area in the 18801 s. The tOlm grew in a short <br /> <br />time to a popllJ.ation of nearly 3,000 people. Famous mines such as the <br /> <br />Enterprise, lexington and Blackhawk produced millions of tons of rich <br /> <br />ore. The narrow guage railroad was built from Telluride through Rico <br /> <br />and on to Durango and Silverton and linked this and other towns to the <br /> <br /> <br />outside world. <br /> <br /> <br />It was at this time that the original townsite was organized and <br /> <br />the basic utility systems were installed. Part of this developnent was <br /> <br />a wood stave water tallk located at the approximate place of the present <br /> <br />water storage tank. From this wooden tank, a ;/ater line ran along the <br /> <br />surface of the ground to service the townspeople with domestic water. <br /> <br />Since the eJevation above sea level at Rico is around 8,800 feet, the <br /> <br />severely cold temperature in the winter made it imperative that the <br /> <br />water lines be flowing constantly all .linter to prevent freezing. <br /> <br />This basic system was finally upgraded in 1964, after aJ.most eighty <br /> <br />years of service, when several lines were buried below frost line and <br /> <br />a new 100,000 gallon storage tank .IaS installed. The lines am ,facili- <br /> <br />ties installed under this proj ect are still serviceable and have quite, <br /> <br />a fe., years of use still in them. <br /> <br /> <br />The present problems related to the distribution system stem from <br /> <br />_ R _ <br />