WSP07705

• File Number: 8200.765
• Description: Little Snake River General
• State: CO
• Basin: Yampa/White
• Water Division: 6
• Date: 3/16/1942
• Author: D H Christensen
• Title: The Little Snake River Valley - Wyoming and Colorado - Water Storage - An Urgent Need
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

.

~

~

........~-

r

i
I
i

'.

,

.~

D(J09'~

- 29 -

balancing and assisting the progress of the. entire country." Ed.
Taylor was right. Mr. Leavy added:

"Reclamation has given the West its present strangth. It has
enabled the West to assume its rightful place in the Nation as a
whole. Through the strength of the West, combined with the East, the
Nation as a whole is assured of its rightful place in the future."
Mr. Leavy continued, delving into Holy Writ:

"Inscribed on the tomb of Queen Semiramis, of ancient Assyria,
which today is called Iraq, are these words:

"I constrained the mighty river to flow according to my will
and led its waters to fertilize lands that had before been barren
and 'Ii thout inhnbi tatiort."

This was apparently one of her proudest boasts, and one of
her greatest accomplishments, and justifiedly. What, after all,
is more important in life than making men by creating an opportunity
for their livelihood? The strength of a nation depend" on its MAn-
power." I quote further from ~lr. Leavy:

"The Holy Lands were also aequaintcd ,Ii th irrigation, Genesis
Xlao says:

"And a river "Ient out of Eden to ,mter the garden~"

And Kings 111:16,17 states:

"And he sRid, "Thus saith the Lord, make this valley full of
ditches. For thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither
shClll ye see r"in; yet that valley shall be filled Hi th water that
ye may drink, both ye and your cattle and your beasts." He might
have ru!derl.:

"And your lands will be frui tful. "

Markings of well-defined ditches, heading the water to thirsty
fiolds, indicate conclusively th"t the aborigines of America:.1Uld8r..
stood the art of irrigation.

SNAKE RIV8R PROBLEM HAS HAD CAREFUL COlISIDERATION FOR MANY YEJ."o
Considerable attontion has beon givon to irrigation probloms in
tho Little Snake Rivor Valley for many years. Dating back more ~h~~
a decade, Engineer L. C. Bishop, in his professional work in the
field, acquainted himself wi th the man,v Angles of di tch "nO. CM":'.
construction, land locntions, WAter problems, ~nd ,.,,,ter supply. Far..
haps there are few, if nny, living away from the Snake River Val~~!
who understnnd better than he the difficulties encountered nnd tL~
hnrdships suffered by the splendid people of this isolC\ted vn.lley,
,Ii th M nbundnnce of goed lAnd And g scnnt w"ter suppl;" in "heil'
heroic effort to dr"w frem the soil a decent living. Since his
meri ted nppointment as StA.te Engineer, his interect in all wntel'
and irriB;ation problems in nIl p"-rts of Wyoming hns lOaturally beeN".
even more intense. His thorough-going study, first-hand of all