Laserfiche WebLink
<br />C,J <br />1:'') <br />0'.:) <br />C-l <br /> <br />-._~..-' <br /> <br />The West Divide Creek lands are still farmed primarily to <br /> <br />raise feed for livestock, not only becaUse this is still the <br /> <br />business of the majority of the project owners, but also because <br /> <br />irrigation has been extended ever so large an area, comparee with the <br /> <br />unregulated water supply, that it is not possible to mature the <br /> <br />general farming cash crops Which require considerable quantities of <br /> <br />water late in the s~er, when the streans are at low stage. <br /> <br />Settlement started on West Divide Creek about 1880, and <br /> <br />continued steadily, if slowly during that decade. A lull until <br /> <br />1895 was followed by another steady gro\~h until 1905. By that time <br /> <br />the settlers hao. realized that the unregulated water supply was not <br /> <br />sufficient, and since that time growth has been slow because most <br /> <br />attempts to irrigate more land have been unsuccessful. <br /> <br />Confronted, not only with a shortage of water for all the <br /> <br />later comers, but during dry years, with a general shortage which <br /> <br />affected all but the first few priorities en each creek, the <br /> <br />settlers have used all their ingenuity to prolong the high flows of <br /> <br />spring by every means within their power. They have diverted water <br /> <br />from Owens Creek, a tributary of Buzzard Creek, in a ditch about <br /> <br />three miles long, carrying a maximum ef 20 second-feet frao a time <br /> <br />late in May until the time early in July When the flood ends. A <br /> <br />ditch of 30 second-fect capacity also diverts water from Basin <br /> <br />Creek, or the Clear Fork of Muddy Creek, and in a distance of 2.5 <br /> <br />miles releases it on the headwaters of West Divide Creek. These <br /> <br />9 <br />