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<br />266
<br />
<br />Gunnison River Diversion Project
<br />PART II
<br />
<br />By RICHARD G. BEIDLEMAN*
<br />
<br />.
<br />
<br />By September of 1901, the preliminary survey work of the
<br />U. S. Geological Survey in the Black Canyon area of West
<br />Central Colorado had progressed far enough to verify that a
<br />diversion tunnel was feasible and,to indicate a general location
<br />for such a tunnel, from the Gunnison River gorge into the
<br />Uncompahgre Valley.
<br />
<br />The prosecution of the project now fell to the board of
<br />control set up by the Colorado "State Canal No.3" bill (House
<br />Bill No. 195), passed the previous April. This board was to be
<br />composed of t.hree residents of Delta or Montrose Counties,
<br />appointed by the governor for a two-year term. The men ap-
<br />pointed were John J. Tobin of Montrose County and Senator
<br />C. M. Hammond and George E. Dodge of Delta County. Later
<br />the governor and state engineer were made ex-officio members
<br />of this board.'
<br />
<br />The board employed John A. Curtis of Delta, Deputy State
<br />Engineer, to make the final location of the main tunnel. This
<br />would extend on a northeast diagonal from the Mancos shale
<br />'badlands about four miles northeast of Table Mountain and
<br />Montrose to the canyon near present Serpent Point. Then a
<br />spur tunnel would extend upstream to the Narrows, where a
<br />dam was planned, so that water could be picked up there and
<br />delivered into and through the main tunnel by gravity flow.'
<br />
<br />Resident Hydrographer Fellows, who with Will Torrence
<br />had successfully run the river for the first time, ,was further
<br />pursuing his in-canyon surveys, which continued to be ad-
<br />venturous. When working upstream from Red Rock Canyon
<br />with an assistant, he put the transit, a new gun and other
<br />equipment on a raft to float across the river. The raft sank
<br />and everything was lost. The transit had belonged to Curtis,
<br />and Fellows had to pay him $200 for its 10ss.3 On September
<br />23, he and a few companions drove to the canyon rim, inspected
<br />the proposed tunnel site, and examined several near-by ravines
<br />down which a wagon route to the river might be constructed.'
<br />
<br />.
<br />
<br />.
<br />
<br />. Dr. Richard G. Beidleman. of the Zoology Department. Colorado College,
<br />Colorado Springs, Colorado, here presents Part II of his article, "The Gunnison
<br />River Diversion Project," of which Part I was published in The Colorado Maga~
<br />z-ine, Volume XXXVI, No.3 (July, 1959); 187-201. Dr. Beidleman left in August,
<br />1959, for a scientific visit to Spain and otller parts of Europe. This arttcle Is
<br />the story of the diversion of water from the Gunnison River to one of its trlbuw
<br />taries in the Valley of the Uncompahgre.-EditOT.
<br />1 Colorado State Engineer, 11th Biennial Report of the State Engineer to
<br />the Governor of Colorado for the years 1901 and 1902 (1902), 45,
<br />2 U. S. Geological Survey. First Annual RcJfort of the Reclamation Service
<br />from June 17 to December 1,1902 (1903), 137./
<br />3 Montrose Enterprisc3 October 3, 1901.
<br />. Ibid" September 26, 1901.
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