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<br />Ofi2?45
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<br />THE GUNNISON RIV~at DIVERSION PROJECT
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<br />1912."" Two decades later the project was transferred to the
<br />Uncompahgre Valley Water Users' Association which was to
<br />repay construction costs in forty annual installments.,oa It
<br />was estimated that the settlers who were to benefit from the
<br />project would pay about $35 per acre for water rights.lol
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<br />The total length of the tunnel was 30,582 feet, with dimen-
<br />sions in cross section of about ten feet by twelve feet. The fall
<br />of the tunnel was 2.02 feet per 1,000 feet, and water capacity
<br />was 1,300 cubic feet per second. Intake on the Gunnison River
<br />was about seven feet below low-water line. The area of the
<br />irrigation project included 146,000 acres. There were 170 miles
<br />of associated canals, 400 miles of laterals, and 205 miles of
<br />drains,")' The main canal was 30 feet wide at the bottom, 83
<br />feet wide at the top, with the average depth of water being ten
<br />feet. During the course of the construction, irrigation experts
<br />from all over the world visited the site and were amazed at
<br />the engineering difficulties which were being overcome. By
<br />1948 the cost of the entire project had risen to $8,976,484.""
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<br />At one time the 1,Jncompahgre Valley stirred with talk of
<br />a magnificent electric, tramway which would trundle the
<br />length of the valley on power from the Gunnison River Di-
<br />version Project.'''' This was a dream never to be realized, but
<br />the other far-reaching benefits and accomplishments of the
<br />project have firmly established it as one of the great, early
<br />ventures of the Reclamation Service in the West.
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<br />!l!I U. S. Reclamation ServIce, '11th 'Ann1wZ Report of the RecZalltation Se1'vice,
<br />J!JlI-1912 (1913), 67.
<br />100 Reclamation Project Data (Washington, 1948). 443. 445.
<br />l~l Gunnison l-tejJuul1can, August 26, 1909. At the time of the tunnel opening
<br />in 1 ~09, the Reclamation Service had ha~tcned to quash the rumor that "50,000
<br />acres I)f land would be disposed of by drawing in tracts of 40 acres, with a
<br />~ual'anteed government water right."
<br />lr,~ Reclamation R-crord (October, 1909). 96.
<br />]n:1 Reclamation Project Data, op. cU., Appendix No.1.
<br />101 Chapman, Gp. cit., 182.
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