WSP06903

• File Number: 8549.600
• Description: Wagon Wheel Gap Reservoir
• State: CO
• Basin: Rio Grande
• Water Division: 3
• Date: 12/1/1941
• Title: Rio Grande Water Conservancy District and Wagon Wheel Gap Reservoir
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

The Rio Grande Water
Users Association

o
"'
C\l

g The Rio Grande Water Users' As~ociation
- includes in its membership all of the larger
o irrigation ag-encies on the Rio Grande. The
Association was organized about fifteen
veal'S ag-o, for the purpose of assisting in
the protection and improvement of wat(~l'
l'ights and water administration on the Rio
Grande in Colorado.

Through the efforts of this association,
th~ services of a deputy state engineer of
the Statt~ of Colorado, were secured to assist
the usual water officers in the administra-
tion and distribution of water in Water Dis-
trict No. 20, the largest irrigation district
in the State of Colorado.

The Association issues a report to its
members during the irrigation season of all
wale I' diverted {)I' stOt'cd by each canal, ditch
or !'csel'voir' each day,

This Association has been principally re-
sponsible for' the settlement of interstate
and international difficultiel::! affecting the
San Luis Valley. The temporary Compact
of 1929 and the permanent Compact of 1H38
undoubtedly saved this area from long and
vexatiow.:; litigation and expense which
might have run into sever'al hundreds of
thousands of dollars,

When the pel'mancn t Compact of 1938 was
finally approved and ratified, the Associa-
tion, at the request of its membership, and
with the cooperation of The Monte Vista
Cornmercial Club, called a mass meeting at
Monte Vista which was attended by some
fourteen hundred water users and interested
per'sans, and reported the successful con-
~ummation of the Compact. At the meeting
a rcsolution was unanimously adopted r<~-
questing the Rio Grande Watel' Users Asso-
ciation to secure the best possible proposi-
tion 1'01' the construction of the Wagon
Wheel Gap Dam.

An immense amount of work was re-
quired to assemble and present the matter
to the H.eclamation Service, the Corps of
Army Engineers, the Secretary of the Inter-
ior, the PI'csident and the Congress, The
State of Colorado, through its Watf~l( Con-
servation Board, expcnded at least $18,000
in securing engineering data and prepara-
tion of reports.

The Commis:.:;ioners of the Counties of
Alamosa, Rio Grande and Saguache cooper'-
aled liberally with the water U~el'~ in meet-
ing the local expense.

Hearings were conducted; foul' authol'iza-
t ions from Congress were had, and all these
efforts were finally crowned with authori-
zation for the construction of the Project.
In his lett(~l' of January 25, 1940, Comrnis-
~ion(,I' John C, Page of the But'ca u of Recla-
mation, said, with respect to the Project:
"'!'lw benefits exceed the annual costs.
The project clearly meets all requirements

.-11

of feasibility and authorization under Sec-
tion 9 of the Reclamation Act of 1939. r
recommend that a finding of feasibility,
together with the report, be submitted to
the President and to the Congress."

Secretary Ickes, in his letter to Honorable
\Villiam B. Bankhead, Speah:er of the House
of Representatives, dated April 10,1941, said:

"The proposed allocation of costs is
IH'OpCr and equals the estimated cost of
the project. The repayment of reimbur-
sable costs can be antiCipated with assur-
ance. I find the Project desirable, eco-
nomically and engineeringly feasible, and
authorized fol' construction under the pro-
visions of Section 9 of the Reclamation
Act of 1939, T, therefol'(~, recommend its
construction,"

President FI'anldin D, Roosevelt, in his
letter dated March 30, 1940, to the Secretary
of the Interior, said:

"My Dear Mr, Secretary: I l'eturn here-
with the proposed report of the BUI'(~au of
Reclarnation on a Project for flood control
and irrigation in the San Luis Valley, on
the Rio Grande, in Colorado, which report
you transmitted to me with the statement
that you deemed the project desirable,
economically and engineeringly feasible,
and authorized fOt, construction under the
provisions of Section 9 of the Reclamation
Act of 1939.

"1 have considered the proposed report
.of the Bureau of Reclamation in connec-
tion with a PI'oposed report on the same
project preparcd by the Corps of Engi-
neers of the War Department.

"I find that these two reports are in
agreement except as to three questions of
policy, namely:

(1) "Should the Bureau of Reclamation
or' the Corps of Army Engineers construct
the project '?

(2) "Should irl'igation beneficiar'ies re-
pay in 40 annual payments 01' in a lump
sum payment cquivalent to the prcsent
value of such payments?

(3) "Should the Federal Government 01'
the local interests maintain and operate
the project after completion?

"'ViOl respect to these matters, I am
of the opinion that, since the project is
dominantly an irrigation undertaking, suit-
ed to operation and maintenance under
the reclamation law, it should be con-
structed by the Bureau of Reclamation:
that the portion of the project cost to be
charged to irrigation should be financed
on the basis of the prevailing Federal
pOlicy of 40 annual payrnents by irhgation
beneficiaries: and that the project should
be maintained and operated by the Bureau
of Reclamation, with water releases to be
determined by local responsible interests,
and with operation for flood control to be
in accordance with regulations prescribed
by the Secretary of War."