C153835A Feasibility Study

• Contract/PO #: C153835A
• Contractor Name: Greeley and Loveland Irrigation Company
• Contract Type: Loan
• Water District: 3
• County: Weld
• Bill Number: HB 98-1189
• Loan Projects - Doc Type: Feasibility Study

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Chapter n - Description of Sponsoring Entity

The Greeley and Loveland Irrigation Company, as it is known today, was officially established
in 1903, However, the company actually obtained its roots from the original British formulation of
The Loveland and Greeley Irrigation and Land Company in 1881, intending to expand the Barnes and
Chubbock Ditches, It was this establishment which was responsible for purchasing the land in 1882
to build Lake Loveland. The second version of tl1e company was organized in 1891 by a new set of
British investors, now calling themselves The New Loveland and Greeley Irrigation Company, This
entity was responsible for the actual construction of Lake Loveland in 1894, which at its time was
seen as one of the more impressive engineering feats in the turn of the century. In 1900, the British
investors sold the company and reselVoir system to a group oflocal farmers who were more adept
at irrigating the arid region than were the British.

Seven Lakes ReselVoir Company was also formed in 1900 to acquire storage reselVoirs and
reselVoir sites, Seven Lakes ReselVoir Company does not have a delivery system and its water has
always been delivered through the canal system of the Greeley and Loveland Irrigation Company.

The Greeley and Loveland Irrigation Company, along with the Seven Lakes ReselVoir
Company, owns and operates an extensive system of reselVoirs and canals for the irrigation of
approximately 18,000 acres of agricultural lands in Larimer and Weld counties as shown in Figure
ill-I, There are a total of225 shareholders in the two companies, The two companies have decreed
direct flow and storage rights on the Big Thompson River for totals of 1455 cfs (999 cfs from Big
Barnes Ditch and 456 cfs from Greeley and Loveland Canal), the earliest dating from 1865, and
66,700 acre-feet respectively,

Two headgates known as the Big Barnes Ditch and the Greeley and Loveland Canal with
their points of diversion on the Big Thompson River are maintained by the Company. The Greeley
and Loveland Company owns and controls Lake Loveland, Boyd Lake, and the Equalizer and Houts
Lake ReselVoirs, The Seven Lakes ReselVoir Company owns and controls five reselVoirs: Horseshoe

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