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<br />~~'--_. <br /> <br />t <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />- 8 - <br /> <br />N <br />N <br />CD <br />(.X) <br /> <br />plement the native water of the Arkansas River. As early as 1912 water has <br /> <br /> <br />been diverted from the headwaters of the Eagle River to the Arkansas basin by <br /> <br />a ditch which was originally constructed in 1880 for placer mining. Two other <br /> <br /> <br />transmountain ditches also divert water- from the Eagle River into the head- <br /> <br />waters of the Arkansas. Another has brought water into the basin from Ten Mile <br /> <br />Creek, a tributary of the Blue River. Th~ abandonment of a railroad tunnel <br /> <br /> <br />through the Divide provided an opportunity for transmountain importation through <br /> <br />the two mile bore, by means of a system of collection ditches and a small reser- <br /> <br />voir on the headwaters of Frying Pan Creek, a tributary of the Roaring Fork <br /> <br />River. Still another ditch diversion across Marshall Pass into the South Arkan- <br /> <br />sas has been in use for a number of years. <br /> <br />The water imported b1 these facilities has generally been purchased by, <br /> <br />or the rights in them acquired by irrigation interests in the Arkansas Valley. <br /> <br />One, however, is used for supplemental municipal supply by the City of Pueblo. <br /> <br />Prior to 1935 the 1'lI!l0unts of imported water were not large, averaging about <br />4,000 acre feet annually, since the diversion possibilities provided by open <br /> <br />ditches over the Divide or short tunnels through it are limited with respect <br /> <br />to the drainage areas on the .{estern Slope which c an be intercepted. <br /> <br /> <br />In 1935 the first extensive project for importing water into the Arkan- <br /> <br />sas basin began operati@n upon the completion of its first unit, a four mile <br /> <br /> <br />tunnel under Independence Pass, carrying water from a tributary of the Roaring <br /> <br /> <br />Fork River into Lake Creek, which joins the Arkansas near Granite, Colorado. <br /> <br /> <br />This tunnel has a capacity of 500 cubic feet per second. Two years later the <br /> <br /> <br />project had extended the intercepted drainage area with additional collection <br /> <br /> <br />ditches, and a two mile tunnel which transferred water from other headwaters of <br /> <br /> <br />the Roaring Fork to the west portal of the tunnel first constructed, making <br /> <br /> <br />POSsible addit.ional delivery to Lake Creek. The imported water is stored on <br />