Grand Valley Project, Colorado

Grand Valley Project Wm. Joe Simonds Bureau of Reclamation 1994 Table of Contents The Grand Valley Project .......................................................2 Project Location.........................................................2 Prehistoric Setting .......................................................3 Historic Setting .........................................................3 Project Authorization.....................................................5 Construction History .....................................................6 Post Construction History ................................................19 Settlement of the Project .................................................23 Uses of Project Water ...................................................24 Conclusion............................................................24 About the Author .............................................................25 Bibliography ................................................................26 Archive and Manuscript Collections........................................26 Government Documents .................................................26 Books ................................................................26 Articles...............................................................26 Interviews.............................................................26 Other Sources..........................................................26 Index ......................................................................28 1 The Grand Valley Project In the early morning hours of September 4, 1881, the sound of a bugle echoed across the valley of the Grand River in western Colorado, signaling the opening of the valley to settlers. Early explorers to the area had described the flat, desert-like, valley as unsuited for agriculture. They would soon be proven wrong. Within a year of its opening, settlers had begun to turn the valley into an agricultural paradise. Irrigation water diverted from the Colorado and Gunnison Rivers turned the desert into an oasis.1 Almost immediately upon the opening of the valley, irrigation systems began converting the landscape, bringing thousands of acres of fertile land into production. In 1907, Secretary of the Interior, James R. Garfield, approved the plan for the construction of the Grand Valley Project by the Bureau of Reclamation, then known as the United States Reclamation Service. This project provided a significant boost to the valley by supplying a reliable source of irrigation water to thousands of acres of farmlands and orchards.2 Project Location The Grand Valley, located in western Colorado, is a broad valley about 12 miles wide and 35 miles long. The steep cliffs that flank its side have been cut by the Colorado River that slices through the valley on its way to the Gulf of California. About mid-way through the valley, the river, with origins in the high mountains of Rocky Mountain National Park, is joined by the Gunnison River. At this intersection is the City of Grand Junction, largest of several towns that lie within the valley. Other communities in the valley are Fruita, Palisade, Loma, and Mack.3 The average altitude of the valley is about 4700 feet above sea level. The climate is fairly mild, with a mean temperature of 53 degrees. Highs may reach over 100 degrees in the summer, with temperatures occasionally falling below zero in the winter. Annual precipitation is just over 8 inches, and the growing season is about 190 days. The primary crops are corn, alfalfa, wheat, beans, and sugar beets. In the eastern end of the valley, near Palisade, where high 1. The Colorado River was known as the Grand River until 1907, when the name was changed by the Colorado Legislature. The change was approved by the U.S. Congress in 1921. 2. Reedy, William W., "The Grand Valley Project," paper presented at the ASCE National Water Resources and Ocean Engineering Convention, San Diego, California, 5-8 April 1976. 3. Ibid. 2 cliffs protect the area from frost, there are many apple, peach, and pear orchards. There is also a large livestock industry in the valley.4 Prehistoric Setting The earliest evidence of human occupation of the Grand Valley region dates back to the Archaic period, about 5,500 B.C. to 1 A.D. Although there have been isolated finds of artifacts that date back to the Paleo-Indian Period, 10,000 B.C. to 5,500 B.C., the nature of these finds suggest that the artifacts were transported into the area by later inhabitants. Some of the oldest evidence of human occupation comes in the form charcoal samples from fire pits. Samples dating back to between 6,100 and 5,100 B.C. have been located in west central Colorado. Numerous others suggest an almost constant occupation from around 300 B.C. Most of the evidence is in the form of charcoal and tree ring analysis, but a sample of human bone has been dated to sometime between A.D. 1035 to 1255. It is believed the Ute Indians entered western Colorado sometime around A.D. 1000. The earliest reference to the Ute appears in historic Spanish documents from the 17th century, and members of the Dominquez-Escalante Expedition observed the Ute in west central Colorado in 1776. Throughout the historic period, the Ute were the sole inhabitants of the plateau region of western Colorado until they were removed to reservations in Utah in 1881.5 Historic Setting Prior to settlement in the 1880's, the valley was part of the Ute Indian Reservation. What little that was known of the region came from the reports of early pioneers and the Hayden Expedition of the 1870's. A geologist with the Hayden Expedition named Beall, wrote of the valley: ". for the most part a desert, covered with a sparse growth of stunted sage brush, which grows in a stiff alkaline soil made from the debris washed from the Book Cliffs". In August of 1881, the Indians were removed to the Uintah Reservation in Utah, and in September, 1881, the 4. U. S. Department of Interior, Water and Power Resources Service, Project Data, 1981, (Denver: Government Printing Office, 1981) pp. 516-7; Reedy, William W., "The Grand Valley Project." 5. Reed, Alan D., West Central Colorado Prehistoric Context. (Denver: Colorado Historical Society), 14, 25, 43, 52-6. 3 valley was opened for settlement.6 A great number of homesteaders waited in the towns along the frontier, and when word of the opening arrived, there was a rush to secure the best lands. Before long the city of Grand Junction had been founded, and the land north of the river had all been claimed. This land was most desirable because it could more easily be irrigated. Construction began on the first irrigation projects in 1882 with construction of the Pacific Slope Ditch to supply Grand Junction with water, and the Pioneer or Mesa County Ditch. Soon work began on the Independent Ranchman's Ditch, to supply water for the town of Fruita, and on the Grand Valley Canal, the largest and most comprehensive system in the valley. Development of the valley was rapid, and by 1886, there were over 10,000 acres under cultivation. In 1886, the Pacific Slope, Independent Ranchman's, and Mesa County Ditches were joined with the Grand Valley Canal and the combined irrigated area reached approximately 45,000 acres.7 Following consolidation of the Grand Valley Canal, all lands that could be irrigated at minimum cost were covered. The remaining irrigable land in the valley was at a higher altitude than the canal system, and could only be reached by pumping water: an expensive process. In spite of the cost, a number of projects were completed that pumped water to ditches that served higher lands. The Price Ditch was completed in the early 1890's, and the Stub Ditch in 1903. Both systems operated well into the 1900's when they ceased to function due to failures of their pumping systems.8 Systems that pumped water to higher ground worked, but they were expensive and unreliable. Seeking to avoid pumping, an attempt to construct a gravity fed ditch along the "high line" was made in 1896, when George Smith and Alexander Struthers built the Smith and Struthers Ditch. Their ditch took its water from Plateau Creek, just above its confluence with the Colorado River. While this project showed promise, the creek did not provide a sufficient flow of water, and much of the ditch was washed away by heavy rains. The 6. Denver. National Archives and Records Administration: Rocky Mountain Region. "Annual Project Histories: Grand Valley Project." 1913, 28. (Annual Project History hereafter cited as Project History, followed by year and page. 7. Ibid., 28-30. 8. Reedy, William W., "The Grand Valley Project" 4 ditch was abandoned soon after it was completed.9 On the south side of the river, two ditches provided water to the Orchard Mesa area. These ditches relied on water pumped from the river about one mile south of the town of Fruita, and began operation in 1910. In 1907, a diversion dam was constructed on the Gunnison River to provide water for the Redlands Mesa Power Canal. In 1917, this canal also provided water to 3,800 acres of land on Redlands Mesa, on the southern bank of the Colorado River.10 Project Authorization The Grand Valley Project was one of the first six projects to have lands withdrawn following passage of the Reclamation Act of June 17, 1902. The act created the United States Reclamation Service as a branch of the U.S. Geological Survey, and provided for establishment of a fund to finance the construction of irrigation projects in 16 states west of the 100th meridian.11 Sale of

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