WSP00497

• File Number: 8443.400
• Description: Narrows Project - Reports
• State: CO
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 8/1/1966
• Author: US DoI BoR
• Title: Narrows Unit Colorado South Platte Division Missouri River Basin Project Appendix II - Hydrology
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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serves 36,092 acres and the Julesburg Irrigation District which
serves 34,l+78 acres. The larger reservoirs in the Narrows service
area and their decreased capacities are Jackson Reservoir,
35,629 acre-feet; Prewitt Reservoir, 32,300 acre-feet; North
Sterling Reservoir, 73,920 acre-feet; and Julesburg Reservoir,
28,178 acre-feet. The acreages given for these irrigation systems
include only historically irrigated lands. Tllese irrigation systems
have been developed almost entirely by private enterprise and capital
through several types of privately financed organizations.

PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS

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As early as 1902 the Reclamation Service studied a project in
the vicinity of the proposed Narrows Unit. It was to be called the
Sterling Project but work was abandoned in 1903 because of inadequate
water supply and prohibitive construction costs. The lands considered
in the Sterling Project are included as a part of the lands to be
irrigated in the service area of the Narrows Unit. The Corps of
Engineers became interested in a flood control dam near the Narrows
site after the disastrous floods of 1921. This agency made a pre-
liminary reconnaissance of the South Platte River Basin in the Fall
of 1928 and a thorough engineering reconnaissance in 1929. No further
studies were made in' this area until the report "South Platte River and
Its Tributaries," House Document No. 669, 80th Congress, second session
was prepared. This report contained recommendations for "the most
feasible plan for providing protection for the critical areas in the
basin.'" Included in this plan was the Narrows Dam to provide flood
protection for the South Platte River below Fort Morgan, Colorado.

The Bureau of Reclamation started reconnaissance surveys on the
lower South Platte River in the ,early 19l+0's. The results of the
surveys were published in Senate Document 191 in 1944. The studies
considered six separate damsites on the South Platte River. Three of
these damsites were eliminated in the reconnaissance studies. Further
studies resulted in the selection of the Narro\ols site. The compre-
hensive plan for the Missouri River Basin Project was approved by
the United States Congress in 1946. This plan included the Narrows
Unit in Colorado. The first construction funds were made available
for the Narrows Unit in 1947, and additional funds were made available
in 1949, 1950, and 1951.

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Local opposition to a dam at the Narrows site developed early in
the construction period. This opposition and the lack of official
support by the State of Colorado made it necessary for the Bureau of
Reclamation to terminate all construction activities on the Narrows
Dam and Reservoir. In early 1958 a group of residents from the South
Platte Valley requested the Colorado Water Conservation Board to
reinitiate studies on a dam for channel storage on the South Platte

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