WSP01187 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

n02I,J.(. THE NORTHERN COLORADO WATEn CONSERVANCY DISTRICT When the Union Pacific extended its railroad line, the first railroad \0 come into the Territory 01 Colo. rado from Cheyenne in 1870. a qroup 01 courageous emigrants from eastern slates settled on a tract oj raw prairie where the City 01 Greeley now stands. This group sponsored by Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune became known as the Union Colony. These pioneers founded their hopes and future under a kind of cocperalive society based on irrigation 01 the land they had secured. While some earlier settlers had built 0 few small ditches during the gold rush of the 1860s. this Colony was the first organized movement in the development 01 Irrigatlon in Northern Colorado. The history 01 this group is a hearl-warming record of courage and persistence m the face of early failures and disappointments. Wilh little knowled~e 01 irrigation or even ollarming, they tackled the many problems with determination and worked out their own solutions. The results accom. plished by this qroup established a pallern lor similar cooperallve underlaking~ all over the west. The theory of priority of right by use was laboriously worked out in their own way and later enacted into law as the basis of the Colorado doctrine of water law. The Sllccess of the Colony, such as it was, re- sulted in a rapid increase of irrigation in Northern Colorado dunng the 1870s and I 880s. During the 1890s reservoir construciion 10 con. serve the winter and flood flows of the streams be- came common practice. Other colonies, mutual companies, groups and individuals carried on a rapid development 01 the irrigation systems that now cover this District. Some oj these systems with the oldest v.-ater rights fare very well; hut the farmers on the larger part 01 the area. with the seccndary rights. are annually laced WIth the question 01 whether there will be enouqh \'Ia102'r to mature their crops. In the earlier period when the crops ....'ere largely hay and grain, the losses Wf)re not so 5erious: but 10 later years the trend has been loward production of needed row crops of hiqho2'r vaiue. This has increasoo the de- mand for water. Most irrigation me:1 consider that for the usual di.:ersllied Clo~'s_'n the ave~a~e SOIls in this area. about 2\2 ac~e--!e€t of water per acre is necessary and tho: (1 la:Y'e port 01 Ihis should t-.;. stored water avmlabie tor use in maturing the late crops. The sirnI=!e bet is that wtth an abundcllce oi lertile land. healthful .,...:ea:her Gild c1i~:lotlc endi- tions, excellent markets. rapid rTCInspcnotion facili. ties and other natural ojvontcgelO, lhe irrl'Jote:l o:,w has develc~ beyond the capacity': !xat .......a~er sources :0 supply. Despite th!.': Jimi1<:1l0nS 0: the short and 'lorieble weter supplies, Northern I:c.lo- r.::do has been devekpoo mto one oj the largesl and most prosperous irrlq:]led creo.s In the west. The Conservancy D1stnc~ has a pesenl r.rpuln. t:on of at<>Ul l50.00r peep n:,:;;dy A.:ner:ccrt t, -~" and the ci':es o:-:d tCWI1S ore modern, up.t:>-c.:lte farming communities. There has developed in ond around these communities the Stale Agricultural College, State University and the State College 01 Educotion. thirteen beet sugar !acteries, cannenes, creameries and other processing plants. Livestock lallening and dairying are maior in- justries and it :nay be said that the principal exports are meat, dOlry products, and sugar although many kinds 01 vegetables and crops are produced. These ore some of the reasons why the people of Northern Colorado have initiated and supported the program for the diversion cl additional water from the Colo- rado Rivet as the only method by which the eco- nomic found:::llion of the region can be stabilized and further development assured. The idea 01 securing a supplemental supply of water for Northern Colorado from the Colorado River had been discussed. lor many years, but on account 01 the magnitude 01 the proposal. the dream had see:noo impossible of realization. Then, in 1933 dur- inq the depression years, G group of Greeley men undertook to determine once and lor 011, whether a feasible plan was possible. This group, led by Chas. Hansen, Publisher 01 the Greeley Tnbune, included among others William A. Carlson. Fred Norcross, Wil1iam R. Kelly, Thomas A. Nixon, W. E. Letford, L. L. Stimson. Dr. Chas. A. Lory, Moses E. Smith. Ed. f. Munroe. Burgis G. Coy, Ray Lonyen, Ralph W. McMurry, Roberl C. Benson. Roberl L Wright, Charles M. Rolison and J. M. Dille. Acting first as an unofficial committee and or- ganized later as The Northern Colorado Water Users Association, the group corr:ed on an intensive pro- gram. The first slep was to gel an engineering re.- port on the feasibility cl such a venture. This Report. prep:1red by R. J. Tiplon. was presented to Dr. Elwood Mead. Ihen Commissioner of Reclamation, and on his lecommendation, Secrelary of the Interior, Harold L. Ickes. allotted SI50,ooo to the Bureau lor a com. plele survey. The Bureau Reporl. released in April. 1937, outlined a combined P()",'I€lT and irrigation sys. tern that would divert an annual 310,000 acre-leel and conslitute a feasible project under the Reclamation Low. The Association ".:as then laced with a number cl r-roblems which requued solution. Many meet. ings ar.d coderences .....ere held throughout the Dis. trict to acq:.minl the farmers and property holders of :he develcpinq plans and t() qet their advice and s...ngastiot1s. An early Slep was an exhausitve eco- nomic stud)' oj the mea to ~ure the necessary dala ;0 Sl:n:ort the nee.:i orld justification cf the project. Ma!1Y :nps ....'€'re :nade to \\Tashm:;;ton by President Hanl"en a:ld others !" (Ymsul1 Bureau and other OJi:clOls ';nd get rhe help o~ me:noors of Con<.;ress. Seneca: .';:va B. Adams and Congressmc:1 F:ed ":~:n:nmg~ con:rlhl!ed. valuable ossist{mce in secur. ITIn aclll:or:zallo:-: of the project and cbtaminq the Ilrst ',:i-'Fcpnatlons 1;) gel the .....ork st;]rtOO.