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<br />
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<br />~ The San Luis Valley Reclamation Project and
<br />
<br />~ The Rio Grande Water Conservancy District
<br />\,.,..,
<br />
<br />A Multiple Use Project
<br />
<br />The San Lub Valley Reclamation Project
<br />as now authorized includes the area propos-
<br />ed to be included in The Rio Grande \Vatel'
<br />Conservancy District, and also the arca in-
<br />cluded in The Canejas Wate!' Conser'vancy
<br />District. While both arc considered a part
<br />of the San Luis Valley Project, each is en-
<br />tirely indC'penrlent of the othel'.
<br />The HI'(',a to be served by the \Vagon
<br />Wheel Gap Reservoir- is often rcfel'l'ed to as
<br />Ow \VaKon Wheel Gap Project, and will be
<br />~o called in this article.
<br />This project is conceded to be the most
<br />pressingly nccessal'Y by both Stat(' and Gov-
<br />Pl'nrnental agencies, because:
<br />This area has been delayed and hampered
<br />ill its logical irrigation development fOl' a
<br />Jwriod of OVer fifty years by international
<br />and inter~tate misunderstandings :>nd dif-
<br />ff~l'cne('s with the n~sult that a more distol't-
<br />pd Use and lack of regulation prevails hm'e
<br />than in any other irrigated basitl in the en-
<br />tire western group of states,
<br />The term "distorted use" as a.pplied here,
<br />means t.he use of more water' th~n necessal'Y
<br />in flood pel'iods to develop excessive ground
<br />storage to l'elieve as far' as possible water
<br />~hoI"tages in succeeding dry pel'iods during
<br />
<br />The Area or Region to Be
<br />Benefitted by Wagon
<br />Wheel Gap Dam
<br />
<br />The area proposed to be included in The
<br />Hio Grande Watel' Conservancy District is
<br />shown on the mnp in the center' of this
<br />pamphlet. and includes only land now under
<br />irrigation fl'om the Hio Grande propel', ex-
<br />cept a small stl'ip of land along the highway
<br />running f1'om Monte Vista to Alamosa
<br />which the pe()pl(~ of these t\\'o cities arc very
<br />anxious to have impl'oved, and which engi-
<br />l1eeI'S sa.y is already so saturated that it
<br />would place very lit tie, if any, additional
<br />burden upon the water supply,
<br />Some lands lying on the outel. edgf' of the
<br />ar('('H which are actually i1Tigated at this
<br />time have not been included, especially
<br />whel'e such lands arC' utilized principally fOI"
<br />native hay and pasturagf',
<br />This telTitory, portions of which have
<br />been settled [01' Over eighty yean; and the
<br />larger pOl'tion frorn sixty to seventy years,
<br />has 750,000 acres of il'rigable land under
<br />ditch, about 450,000 acres of which is under
<br />inigation from the Rio Grande. About 350,000
<br />acres of this is tilled, agricultural land, the
<br />remainder native hay and ilTi~ated pasture,
<br />
<br />-3_
<br />
<br />the yeul'.
<br />Nu other 1i1{e project has eVel' been con-
<br />sidered in nlOl'C detail over so long a period,
<br />or more maturely studied and planned from
<br />an engineering and financial standpoint.
<br />The project is not designed to develop a
<br />region now uninhabited, but strictly for the
<br />purpose of providing most pressingly neces-
<br />sary supplemental water and proper regula-
<br />tion of ?n already existing water supply for
<br />the oldest irrigated area in the State of Colo-
<br />rado, and will be limited to lands all of
<br />which al'C now occupied and tilled to fore-
<br />stall unconscionable ever increasing annual
<br />economic losses that prevail OVer the entire
<br />area on account of lacl{ of regulation and
<br />flood dama~e incident to unregulated flow,
<br />No irrigation project eVer conceived 01'
<br />proposed, offers greater assurance of ulti-
<br />mate prompt repayment of the repayable
<br />portion of the cost in full.
<br />This statement is intended to COVel' only
<br />that portion of the San Luis Valley Project
<br />to be served by the Wagon Wheel Gap Dam,
<br />and for the information of those who may
<br />be interested in this portion of the project
<br />and arc not familiar with the details, the
<br />following statement is presented:
<br />
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<br />
<br />Approximately 340,000 acres of the tilled land
<br />will be included in the area to be served by
<br />t.he Wagon Wheel Gap Dam, This area is
<br />now sel'ved by 65 ditch systems and several
<br />small storage reservoirs, and includes 1696
<br />sepal.ate farms or tracts. The total popula-
<br />tion of the District according to the 1940
<br />census, is about 21,390 of which 8,970 are
<br />rural and 12,430 urban. It includes the cities
<br />of Monte Vista and AJamosa, and the Towns
<br />of Center, Del NOl'te, Saguache, Mosca,
<br />Hooper and South Forl{, as well as com-
<br />munity centers such as Sargent, Bowen,
<br />Waverly, Stanley and Twin Mountain,
<br />The assessed valuation of all real estate
<br />and personal property in the District is
<br />about $11.267,159 of which approximately
<br />$6,239,592 I'Cpl'csents the assessed value of
<br />the farms and their improvements, and the
<br />remaining- $5,027,567 is the value of town and
<br />city property and all business and industrial
<br />development.
<br />The Water supply is taken from the Rio
<br />GI'ande,
<br />Ditches with early priorities are generally
<br />small in capacity, irrigating lands immed-
<br />iately adjacent to the Rio Grande itself and
<br />tributary streams.
<br />In addition to these, large canals have
<br />heen constructed to serVe lands on the val-
<br />ley floQr abOVe the river and stream bot-
<br />
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