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<br /> <br />PAONIA PROJECT, COLORADO <br /> <br />UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, <br />BUREAU OF RECLAMATION, <br />SALT LAKE OITY 8, UTAH, January 2, 1946. <br />From: Regional Director, Region 4, Salt Lake Oity, Utah. <br />To: The Oommissioner, Bureau of Reclamation. . <br />Subject: Report. on Paoniaproject; Oolorado-Upper Oolorado River <br />Basin. <br />1. This letter is the regional director's report on the potential <br />Paonia project on the North Fork of the Gunnison River in west <br />central Oolorado. The substantiating material on which this report <br />is based is appended hereto. <br /> <br />SCOPE AND PURPOSE <br /> <br />2. Studies of the Paonia project by the Bureau of Reclamation were <br />initiated in 1936. As a result of preliminary investigations the project <br />was authorized by Presidential approval on March 18, 1939, for <br />construction under the Reclamation Law. Works planned for Federal <br />construction at that time included .the Horse Ranch Dam on Anthra~ <br />. cite Oreek and Beaver Dam on the East Fork of Minnesota Oreek. <br />to provide supplemental irrigation water for lands in the Fire Mountain <br />and Minnesota divisions, respectively. Needed canal enlargements <br />and extensions were expected to have been undertaken by local <br />project interests. Appropriations for the project were made in the <br />Interior Appropriations Act of 1940 for $300,000 and in the Interior <br />Appropriations Act of 1942 for an additional sum of $600,000. Both <br />sums were appropriated from the reclamation fund and are reimburs- <br />able. . <br />3. Results of dril~ing the Horse Ranch and Beaver Dam sites in <br />the course of preconstruction investigations disclosed the sites to he <br />. less attractive and more costly than the preliminary irwestigations <br />indicated. This led to further study of alternative ,storage sites <br />resulting in the selection of the Spring Oreek site for the Fire Mountain <br />division. Further studies and negotiations with project interests <br />also led to the inclusion of canal enlargements and extensions as part <br />of the projectw6rks for Federal construction, and to the consideration <br />of the Mmnesota division as a separate project pending additional <br />studies. <br />4. Outlined herein are the new plans for the Paonia project, the. <br />need and desirability of the development, and its estimated costs <br />and benefits. The plans involve construction of the Spring Oreek <br />Dam; 126 feet high with a crest length of 800 feet, to provide a reser- <br />voir of 14,000 acre-feet capacity, and the enlargement and extension <br />of the existing Fire Mountain and Overland canals. Such develop- <br /> <br />1 <br />