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~- • ,. w .,.. Ill,, w ~- • ,, w • :: w au w .c. / I AGENDA WATER SUPPLY AND STORAGE COMPANY TOUR I Saturday, July 8, 1989

7:00 A.M. Meet at the civic Center Parking Lot Donuts, Milk, and Juice will ·be served. (SORRY NO COFFEE)

7:15 A.M. Depart for Fort Collins

8:30 A.M. Meet at the wssc Office at 2319 E. Mulberry, Fort Collins - The wssc Board of Directors will join the tour.

9:00 A.M. Depart for the High Country Order of Tour:

1. Grand River Ditch 2. Long Draw Reservoir 3 • Chambers Lake Lunch will be served at approximately 1:00 P.M.

4. Laramie-Poudre Tunnel

6:00 P.M. Return to Fort Collins

7:30 P.M. Back at the Civic Center

Agenda/WSSC/Tour I

FACT SHEET

* The Water Supply and Storage Company (WSSC) is one of the largest and oldest irrigation systems in northern Colorado.

* WSSC and its parent company constructed the first transmountain diversion in northern Colorado. Approximately 50% of the total water supply is provided through transmountain diversions.

* The WSSC System consists of 2 mountsin reservoirs, 9 plain reservoirs (total storage about 45,000 ac.ft.), a 2.5 mile tunnel, about 100 miles of canals, which serve approximately 50,000 acres of land between LaPorte and Pierce, Colorado.

* There are 600 outstanding shares of stock in WSSC. * Currently 9 members serve on the Board of Directors of WSSC.

THE WSSC BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Harvey Johnson, President Thomas Moore, Vice President David Hergert Robert Noffsinger Robert Alkire LeRoy Waag Virgil Stewart A. Jay Bailey Bahman Hatami

Secretary: Vivienne Woodward Superintendent: Jim McFall, Sr.

Ditch Riders: Jim McFall, Jr. (Div. #1) Al Meyer (Div. #2) Ken Brown (Div. #3) Bob Scantland (Div. #4) Brief History of the Water supply and Storage company (WSSC)

The Original Ditch Company • on February 25, 1881, the Larimer County Ditch Company (LCD) was incorporated.

• By 1882 a ditch was constructed extending from the Cache La Poudre River to the Boxelder Creek.

• Starting in 1883, work of extending the ditch eastward beyond the Boxelder Creek began.

2. Supplemental Water • On March 15, 1882, the Larimer County Reservoir Company (LCRC) was incorporated for the purpose of supplying addi­ tional water for the LCD.

• In July, 1882, Chambers Lake Reservoir was built (original dam) by the LCRC.

• During the same year, connecting channels between the Lost Lakes and Chambers Lake were built. • Also in 1882, the Cameron Pass Ditch was constructed.

3. The Water Supply and Storage Company

• In 1891-1892, the system of Larimer County Ditch Company passed to the Water Supply and Storage Company (WSSC) in­ cluding Cameron Pass Ditch, Lost Lakes and Chambers Lake. 4. Imported Water

1882 (The Lost Lakes)

• Lost, Laramie, and Twin (Lilly) Lakes (better known as the Lost Lakes).

• All located immediately north of Chambers Lake.

• First intent to divert water from a foreign watershed (March, 1882).

• Connecting channels were constructed to deliver water from these Lakes into the Chambers Lake.

• Currently no diversion takes place from the Lost Lakes (due to a u.s. Supreme Court decision which limits Colorado diver­ sions from the Laramie River to 19,875 acre-feet per year).

-1- History of the Water supply and storage Company (WSSC) continued

1882 (The cameron Pass Ditch) • The Cameron Pass Ditch was constructed at the same time as Chambers Lake and Lost Lakes channels were built. • Running north and east about 1/2 mile to Cameron Pass. • Discharges into Joe Wright creek, then through Chambers into the Cache La Poudre River. • Collects water from the slopes of the valley of the Michigan River (a tributary to the North Platte River). • Average annual diversions are about 120 acre-feet.

1891 - 1894 (The Skyline Ditch) • Originally called the Laramie River Ditch. • August, 1891, survey of the ditch was completed.

• By the Fall of 1893, the construction of the Skyline Ditch was completed.

• By July, 1894, the ditch was in full operation. • Major foreign water source into the Poudre River. • Collects water from the headwater of the Laramie River empty­ ing into the Chambers Lake. • Approximately 5 miles long. • Average annual diversions are approximately 2,000 acre-feet. 1882 (The Chambers Lake) • Located in the basin of Joe Wright Creek (then thought as the headwater of the Cache La Poudre River). • Storage for imported water from the Cameron Pass, Lost Lakes and the Skyline Ditches as well as the tributaries to Joe Wright Creek.

one June 9, 1891, during a very rainy season, Chambers Lake • Dam went out and financially broke the Larimer County Ditch Company (at which time it was sold to WSSC). • Chambers Dam was reconstructed by the WSSC sometime during or after the Skyline Ditch was built (dam height is 23 feet; capacity is 3,000 acre-feet).

-2- History of the water Supply and Storage Company (WSSC) continued

I 1910-1913 The dam height was raised by 21 feet to increase • the capacity to 6,600 acre-feet.

1923-1926 The dam was raised by another 11 feet which in­ • creased the capacity to its current capacity of 8,850 acre­ I feet (total dam height is 55 feet). • 1974 The State Engineer's Office (SEO) imposed a storage limitation on Chambers Lake, reducing the gage height to 45 feet.

• 1983 The SEO classified the Chambers Lake Dam as "a high hazard dam".

1890 - 1975 (The Grand River Ditch)

• September, 1890, surveys of the ditch were carried out.

• Originally called the Bennett Ditch.

• The Ditch consisted of two branches. The south side and the north side. • In 1891, the wssc took over the project. • Very little work done up to 1895.

• 1895 survey and cross-section for an enlarged ditch was com­ pleted.

• 1896 - Timber clearing along the right-of-way.

• Work on the south side ditch (also known as Little Grand Ditch) was completed by September of 1990.

• Little Grand Ditch is 1.5 miles long, 6 foot wide at the top, 3 foot wide on the bottom, 3 foot deep, and a carrying capac­ ity of 172 cfs.

• Work on the North Side Ditch (or the Grand River Ditch) began in September of 1990.

• By mid-summer of 1904, 5 miles of the ditch was completed (to Big Dutch Creek).

• By 1906 the ditch was extended to Tank Creek.

• Between 1914 and 1917, 9,000 feet of the ditch was covered.

• No work except repairs was done until 1928.

• 1928-1930, the Long Draw Reservoir was constructed; 5,700 acre-feet in capacity with a 58 foot dam.

-3- History of the Water supply and storage Company (WSSC) continued I • At the same time work on extending the Grand River Ditch began. • 1933-1934, the ditch was extended to Lost Creek. • By the end of September 1936, the last 6 miles of the ditch (to the Baker Gulch, about 16 miles) was completed approxi­ mately 46 years after the first work crew left Fort Collins to commence the diggings of the Grand River Ditch. • 1975 Construction on the last enlargement of the Long Draw Reservoir and extension of the Grand River Ditch was complet­ ed. • Currently Long Draw Reservoir has a capacity of 11,000 acre­ feet (active capacity is 10,719 acre-feet), and the Grand River Ditch is approximately 17 miles long with a carrying capacity of 525 cfs. • Average annual diversions are approximately 20,000 acre­ feet. 1897 (Laramie-Poudre Tunnel System) • The concept of constructing the tunnel system was originated by a man named Wallis A. Link who was hunting in the area in 1897. • The plan consisted of the upper Rawah Ditch and the West Side Ditch along the western side, and the East Side Ditch along the eastern side of the Laramie River Valley. The water from these collection ditches would be carried into the cache La Poudre through the Laramie-Poudre Tunnel. In August, 1902 the initial survey of the Plan was • completed. On June 12, 1904 the first water was turned into the ditch • after the construction of 600 feet of the ditch was completed. Before the completion of the tunnel, wssc agreed to carry • water through the Skyline Ditch for a fee. Meanwhile, the Poudre Valley Canal which was one of the • largest canals in the north of the Poudre River (built in 1902 and 1903) was selected to distribute the water in the plains. On September 19, 1906, the Laramie Reservoir and Irrigation • Company was incorporated. Later in 1907, the company was re-organized under the Laramie-Poudre Reservoirs and Irrigation Company (LPRIC).

-4- / 1

t/ Brief History of the water supply and storage company (WSSC) ~ c~ntinued

• In 1908, the LPRIC got a controlling stock interest in the Poudre Valley Reservoir Company, securing complete use of the Poudre Valley Canal. • By September, 1909, the Poudre Valley Canal was extended to Nunn, Colorado. • In 1909 the Greeley-Poudre Irrigation District was formed which included the boundaries of the Tunnel system service area. • on Christmas Day, 1909, the first blast in the Tunnel was fired. • In August of 1911, the Tunnel excavation was completed. • In May of 1911, Wyoming brought suit against the State of Colorado, Greeley, Poudre Irrigation District, and LPRIC which slowed down the program. • By May of 1912, the Tunnel was lined. e The Tunnel was 11,370 feet long, 7.5 feet high, 9.5 feet wide with a construction cost of $600,000.

• At the same time (1908-1911), work on the collection ditches was in progress. • Spring of 1914, first water through the Tunnel was carried. • On october 9, 1922, after many years of court battles, a decree issued by Justice VanDevanter which limited diversion by the Laramie-Poudre Tunnel to 15,500 acre-feet a death blow to the Greeley-Poudre and Laramie-Poudre Project.

• Sometime after 1938, the mountain diversion system was sold to the Tunnel Water Company. This company had been created by the Water Supply and Storage Company with 2/3 interest, and the Windsor Reservoir and Canal Company (WRCC) with 1/3 interest.

• currently, only the Tunnel and one collection ditch (Rawah Ditch) are being used. • The final u.s. Supreme Court decision (after 1938) has limited total diversions from the Laramie River Basin in Colorado to 19,875 acre-feet per year. This would include diversions from Skyline Ditch, Lost Lakes, and the Tunnel. • An agreement between WSSC and WRCC allocates 86% of the total Laramie River diversion to WSSC and 14% to WRCC. By: Bahman Hatami

-5- I Brief History of the water supply and storage Company (WSSC) continued

I I I References: • Bradt, Russel N., 1948. Foreign Water in the Cache La Poudre Valley. Master of Arts Thesis, Colorado State College ·of I Education (UNC), Greeley, Colorado • Water Supply and Storage Company Records • Personal communication with the wssc personnel and Board of Directors

WRS/7-5/WSSC/History -6- 1 THE WATER SUPPLY AND STORAGE COMPANY: A CENTURY OF COLORADO RECLAMATION By James E. Hansen, II With research assistance by Tony Rowland

Thawing mountain snows and heavy rains strained the capacity of Chambers Lake. It was June of 1891, and irrigation engineer William Rist had just inspected the earthen dam constructed by the Larimer County Reservoir Company to augment the lake's natural confines. The results of Rist's findings are not known, but the sixty-five-mile return journey down through the Cache la Poudre River Valley to Fort Collins proved to be unusually tortuous. Enroute, Rist encountered not only muddy trails, but unexpected washouts that completely blocked his way. He later learned that the Chambers Lake dam behind him had burst, sending a huge torrent into the Poudre River and causing substantial flood damage downstream. 1

I Although not unusual flooding in the lower river valley contrasted paradoxically with the region's semi-arid climate. Local rain and snowfall, averaging less than twenty inches annually, limited cultivation of most crops; and water scarcity impelled area pioneers to dig diversion ditches, construct mountain roads, and develop reservoirs, such as Chambers Lake. The Cache la Poudre River, originating in icy alpine tributaries of the Medicine Bow, Mummy, and Laramie mountain ranges, had long been known to Arapahoes, fur trappers, and explorers such as John c. Fremont. Permanent occupation of the river valley by white settlers, followed the Pike's Peak gold rush of 1858-59 and the establishment of 2 Fort Collins in 1862 to protect travelers temporarily detoured into Colorado by Indian hostilities. 2 By the year of the flood the military had withdrawn and Fort Collins was a well-established community of just over 2,000 residents. It featured a publicly-funded agricultural college for the town, railroad transportation, and commerce primarily defined by irrigated farming and ranching. 3 Early farmers diverted river water into bottom-land meadows and harvested native hay for marketing locally or in distant mining camps where it sold for $50 to $100 a ton. Water diversion proved equally necessary for cultivated crops, such as fruits, vegetables, and grains.4 II In humid eastern America rivers were primarily valued for generating hydraulic power or facilitating navigation. There, the Doctrine of Riparian Rights legally restricted use that altered a waterway's velocity or depth. In semi-arid Colorado, however, where "every drop of water that runs into the sea without rendering a commercial return is a public waste," a different legal concept emerged, granting priority of right to the person or group making the earliest diversion for beneficial purposes. This Doctrine of Prior Appropriation protected the capital and labor invested in diverting water for irrigation, drinking, or industrial use. Within this definition a water right became a form of a property. 5 III As the population of the Poudre Valley region increased, primitive original ditches were supplemented by more elaborate canals, which 3 carried water to lands distant from the river. Establishment of the Greeley Union Colony in 1870, some forty miles downriver from Fort Collins, contributed to this development, and, according to historian William E. Pabor, by 1882 the Cache la Poudre Valley had become-"one vast network of irrigating canals."6 Canal building was perceived as an agricultural necessity and a promising investment. The Larimer County Ditch Company, established on February 25, 1881, to link the Poudre river to Boxelder Creek for the purpose of irrigating a vast acreage northeast of Fort Collins, typified this activity. Company leaders included Noah Bristol, a sheep grower and dairyman whose ranch bordered the Boxelder; N. C. Alford, an erstwhile gold prospector turned beekeeper who supervised early construction of the canal and served as the company's president; Franklin C. Avery, real estate investor and founder of the First National Bank of Fort Collins; and Avery's younger brother, William. All perceived reclamation as essential to the community's agricultural development, but for the Averys and Alford, who invested heavily in lands watered by the new canal, personal profit was an equally important consideration. 7 During the next decade, the ditch was extended eastward to Lone Tree Creek in Weld County, adding new sections in 1883, 1886, and 1887. The Larimer County Reservoir Company, one of several companies formed to supply water to the Larimer County Ditch, built the last of these as well as the Chambers Lake dam far upriver. 8 By this time most divertable water from the Poudre River's normal flow had been claimed, necessitating the construction of reservoirs where seasonal overflows could be legally appropriated and stored. Chambers Lake typified this 4 activity and was especially notable because its supply included "foreign waters," diverted from the Lost Lakes of the Laramie River watershed and from the Michigan River watershed. 9 The dam rupture of 1891 and the resulting downstream damage created serious legal and financial problems for the Larimer County Ditch Company, in the form of law suits filed by victimized property owners. As explained by A. A. Edwards, "Claimants who were really damaged were settled with in the main, but it was thot [sic.] best by all parties interested, to re-organize by forming a new company. " 10 Articles of incorporation were filed on July 23, 1891, resulting in the establishment of the Water Supply and Storage Company. IV The new organization's stated purposes included supplying additional water to the Larimer County Ditch by acquiring unappropriated waters of the Grand, Michigan, and Laramie rivers; developing claims and irrigation works near the Continental Divide, such as Chambers, Trap, Lost, and Laramie lakes; and obtaining natural basins adaptable to water storage along the line of the main ditch. Six hundred shares of stock, originally priced at one hundred dollars per share, were authorized with each share representing one full water right in the company. An elected seven-person board of directors would oversee company operations, choose a president and vice-president from its ranks, and appoint other officers and personnel, such as a secretary and treasurer. Two members of the first board of directors were Franklin c. Avery and A. A. Edwards. 11 Edwards, like Avery, viewed the Water Supply and Storage Company 5 as an investment opportunity. Seeking adventure in the West, he had come to the Poudre Valley in 1869 at age eighteen with a small party from his home town of Mercer, Pennsylvania. In Colorado he worked variously as a construction laborer on the Mercer Ditch, a cattle herder, and a sheep shearer. He recalls becoming so proficient at the latter vocation "that I could readily shear 70 head of sheep during one day of 10 hours." Following stints as a railroad agent and bookkeeper, Edwards was elected treasurer of Larimer County in 1885 and subsequently became the successful owner of an abstracting, real estate, and insurance business in Fort Collins. This background prepared him for his association with the Water Supply and Storage Company, which he served as secretary and president for nearly twenty years . 12 Although businessmen like Edwards provided the new company with sound management during its difficult beginning period, they did not typify its ownership. Rather, farmers and ranchers owning land watered by the organization's ditches and reservoirs--agriculturalists needing irrigation to survive--were most representative. For example, when asked to explain the reasons for his involvement, early shareholder August Molander responded by saying, "Well, you know, we had some big families, and we didn't have water. [But] we had good soil, [so] we just had to do something." This quality distinguished the Water Supply and Storage Company from other, primarily speculative, operations that came and went throughout this era. 13 Imprudent expansion troubled many sectors of the state and national economy at this time, including the cattle industry, railroad 6 transportation, and manufacturing. In addition, steadily declining

silver prices jeop~rdized Colorado's all-important mining industry and exacerbated a deflationary currency trend that squeezed debtors, including many agriculturalists. In 1893 the state and nation succumbed to a major depression.14 Poudre Valley residents were adversely affected, but not as seriously as other Coloradans. Recent research at the local agricultural college had encouraged alfalfa and sugar beet cultivation--irrigated crops ideally suited to lamb fattening. During the 1890s, lambs and sheep were brought to Fort Collins, contained in outdoor stock feeding pens for a winter, and fed rations of alfalfa and course grain mixed with beet pulp. As sugar beet production steadily increased, marked by the erection of a local refinery in 1903, farmers with well watered land found a ready market for their output. By the turn of the century, nearly half a million sheep were being finished in the area annually .15 v The Water Supply and Storage Company proceeded to expand its network of ditches and reservoirs in accordance with the mission of supplying additional water to its stockholders--a complex process involving careful coordination of several interrelated activities. One step entailed improving supplies from mountain watersheds by repairing the Chambers Lake darn and diverting unappropriated "foreign water" from the Grand and Laramie river systems. Simultaneously, plains reservoirs along the line of the Larimer County Ditch were planned to store additional and existing appropriations. Delivery of this water to 7 farms of Water Supply and Storage Company stockholders was potentially expensive, however, because of the need to build numerous new diversion ditches. An obvious answer, but one requiring collaboration and sophisticated knowledge, involved negotiating exchange agreements with other irrigation companies. They would carry or hold Water Supply and Storage Company water at various points in their systems in return for reciprocal assistance. A. A. Edwards explains: The plan adopted was to drop, say, 100 second feet of water out of the Company reservoirs into the Larimer and Weld Canal or the Greeley No. 2 Canal and take an equivalent amount into the headgate of the Larimer County Ditch. . . [This water] was then carried down thru that ditch to farms thereunder. This exchange system has grown from that time to the present and is in operation by all the large irrigation systems on the Cache La Poudre River, and has been the means of at least doubling the irrigated area of land in the counties of Larimer and Weld. This innovative concept contributed incalculably to efficient water delivery and use throughout the Poudre Valley region. 16 Meanwhile, the development of unappropriated "foreign waters" in mountain watersheds continued apace. In July 1891, for example, construction began on the Skyline Ditch to improve diversions from the Laramie River and channel additional water into Chambers Lake where dam repairs had already begun. The Skyline addition proved critical to shareholders farming under the Larimer County Ditch. While neighbors suffered foreclosures for want of water to irrigate crops, company members, receiving the first deliveries from Skyline in 1894, prospered. Especially notable, according to the Fort Collins Courier, was a resulting 230,000 bushel potato harvest: The value of this crop alone is sufficient to cover the entire cost of the Laramie River (Skyline) ditch. Without . . . (this water) not a single "spud" and but little of 8 anything else could have been produced. 17 This success inspired resumption of work on the Grand River Ditch in 1895, a project begun five years earlier by the defunct Larimer Water Supply Company, to move water from head streams of the Grand River (renamed the Colorado River in 1921) over La Poudre Pass on the Continental Divide and into the south fork of the Poudre River. Construction on this ditch occurred incrementally over several decades and featured numerous physical, financial, and legal challenges. 18 VI Early ditch digging was a gruelling form of manual labor, particularly in the mountains. Lacking modern machinery, and assisted only by teams of draft animals, work crews dug with picks and shovels, felled trees with axes, and sawed and hammered timber into crude flumes when diverted water resisted earthen channeling. In late July of 1901 low temperatures mandated day shifts only, while "mosquitoes [seemingly as] big as hummingbirds" tortured men and animals alike. Work progressed slowly, especially when boulders and woods blocked a surveyed path, despite constant pressure to hurry. Could a section of the ditch be completed in time to ensure additional water for the next growing season? Early October of 1902 found 200 men racing to extend the Grand River Ditch from Dutch Town Creek to La Poudre Pass Creek before weather suspended operations until spring. Unfortunately, snowstorms then arrived, driving the crew out of the mountains still short of its coveted goal. 19

A special urgency accompanied this failed effort because contractor W. C. Bradbury had signed a legal agreement, promising to 9 complete the extension by January 1, 1903. Previous experience regarding unfulfilled construction goals had prompted the Water Supply and Storage Company to insist upon this provision when soliciting bids for the work. Bradbury's inability to deliver new water for the 1903 growing season, thus prompted the board to suspend further payments and to sue the contractor for recovery of damages. A countersuit and considerable unpleasantness ensued before the matter was resolved, basically in the company's favor.20 Legal and financial issues continuously tested company leadership. Early building expenses were usually met by assessing shareholders or by arranging bank loans or bond issues. Skyline Ditch construction, for example, totaled $90,000 by 1901, with $60,000 provided by an issue of 6 percent bonds. This was a highly risky venture at the time, requiring the collateral of all company holdings along with personal guarantees from ''certain individual stockholders." The acumen of experienced financiers, such as Franklin c. Avery, undoubtedly served the company well on such occasions.21 VII Another issue warranting attention at this time was a conservation movement. As the United States became increasingly industrialized, its rapidly vanishing wilderness areas elicited concern. Reformers-­ variously determined to preserve nature's pristine beauty, provide natural resources for future generations, and ensure agricultural and domestic water supplies by safeguarding vital watersheds--campaigned for governmental intervention. Accordingly, in 1891 the president of the United States gained legislative authority to establish federally 10 protected forest reserves.

Theodore Roos~velt used this power in 1905 to create the Medicine Bow Forest Reserve, encompassing watersheds west of Fort Collins and the Water Supply and Storage Company's Grand River Ditch. Although existing private property rights were not jeopardized by this action, it did place the company "under the watchful eye" of the newly formed Bureau of Forestry, later known as U.S. Forest Service, and the board subsequently agreed to exercise care in developing its right of way through reserve lands and to compensate the government for timber destroyed in building the ditch. Governmental interference remained minimal, however, since socially beneficial use was a primary objective, and one that the company clearly met. Nevertheless, the precedent of federal authority had been established and future changes in conservation policies would eventually complicate management of the Water Supply and Storage Company system.22 VIII Meanwhile, despite a damaging flood in 1904, compounded by another rupture of the Chambers Lake dam, the company proceeded to develop a network of natural basins adaptable to water storage along the line of the main ditch. Some, such as Lindenmeier Lake and Long Pond, were properties previously held by the Larimer County Reservoir Company, while others, such as Curtis Lake, Richards Lake, and Black Hollow were purchased to facilitate and augment storage. 23 Especially important was Black Hollow, located near the bottom end of the system. Previously, a meandering route designed to maximize available gravity inhibited reliable delivery to farmers far downstream. How much water 11 flowing from the front end actually reached its destination? No one knew for certain. Construction of the Black Hollow Reservoir eventually remedied this problem. Excess accumulations from rain and

snow or from other reservoirs could be stored there, and water ~un into it at all times of the year. It thus had an invaluable coordinating effect on the entire system, making water available to farmers whatever their location along the ditch. 24 Coordination was also improved when in 1900 the Water Supply and Storage Company obtained majority control of the Jackson Ditch Company, which irrigated approximately four thousand acres from above LaPorte to four miles east of Fort Collins and held valuable senior Poudre River water rights. Some farmers who owned shares in both companies and lands variously irrigated by both reasoned that formalized exchanges would be beneficial. Accordingly, although the two organizations retained separate legal identities, the Water Supply and Storage Company secured voting control of Jackson stock and the right to name three appointees to the latter's five-member governing board. Over time, this proved to be a mutually advantageous arrangement. 25 IX Developments during its first two decades served to define much of what would affect the Water Supply and Storage Company throughout its history: the stabilizing presence of farmer owners, astute leadership, commitment to expanding and improving water storage and delivery, fiscal and legal challenges, adjustments mandated by conservationists and governmental authority, and enlightened cooperation with those sharing common interests.26 12 Between 1900 and 1920, the population of Fort Collins increased from 3,000 to 8,755, largely because of an improving economy based upon irrigated agriculture. Agrarian America generally prospered at this time, especially after the outbreak of World War I in 1914 -created vastly expanded international markets for farm commodities. Poudre Valley crop and livestock production, sugar refining, and sheep finishing were limited only by the availability of water. 27 The Water Supply and Storage Company continued to pursue its primary mission of augmenting water storage and delivery throughout this period, and after the war when agricultural surpluses created marketing problems. Post-war development unfolded more slowly but notable improvements did include completion of the Black Hollow Reservoir, reconstruction of the Chambers Lake Dam, enlargement of the Skyline Ditch, and construction of Long Draw mountain storage facility. 28 The Long Draw Reservoir project presented several interesting challenges. The company wanted to extend the Grand River Ditch to Baker Gulch, but realizing that this additional water endangered the Poudre River's natural carrying capacity, decided instead to construct a dam across Long Draw Creek (also known as La Poudre Pass Creek) to store the new supply and control its release safely. However, because the proposed reservoir required flooding surrounding lands, including some within the recently founded Rocky Mountain National Park, it violated a governmental regulation prohibiting "any changes in the natural condition of the park." Undaunted, the board persisted and eventually secured a negotiated agreement and congressional action that transferred the land in 13 question from the park to the U.S. Forest Service, which, in turn, released the proper.ty to the Water Supply and Storage Company under legislation governing forest reserves.29 This outcome demonstrated the resourcefulness of company leadership in meeting its shareholders'needs--leadership drawn from the ranks of farmer owners. Notable in this regard was A. C. "Gus" Kluver who served as company president from 1910-14 and again from 1919-36. The son of German immigrant parents, Kluver spent his childhood on the family farm near Chicago, then in 1882 at age twenty-five came to Fort

Collins "his worldly possessions consisting of $31 in cash and a span of horses and a wagon." These resources enabled him to find employment as a teamster and harvest worker, and within two years he had accumulated sufficient savings to launch a local grocery store. A shrewd businessman, he succeeded and subsequently acquired farming and ranching properties in the Poudre Valley, including land watered by the Water Supply and Storage Company. Kluver apparently played a key role in promoting the organization's legal collaboration with the Jackson Ditch Company and expedited reservoir development along the Larimer County Ditch by selling suitably located parcels of his own farm land for this purpose. 30

X Company leaders, such as Gus Kluver, were ever-mindful of the need to augment existing water supplies, but the Great Depression of the 1930s served to emphasize the importance of this resource. An unprecedented economic collapse, in which 25 percent of the American work force became jobless, was compounded by a devastating drought. 14 Drought cycles had periodically afflicted the nation's Great Plains region, but none so severely as the 1930s "Dust Bowl." A prolonged period of low rainfall, deficient mountain snowpack, and parching winds caused loose topsoil to blow upward, denuding the earth, and forming monstrous black dust clouds. Colorado's eastern counties suffered most severely, but the Poudre basin experienced a 540,000 acre-foot water deficit between 1930-37. Crop acreage shrank dramatically, and many people abandoned the land. In Larimer County alone one-third of all farms were put up for sale. 3l Few crises demonstrated so vividly the importance of water reserves. But where could additional water be obtained? Since its inception the Water Supply and Storage Company had diverted mountain waters into its system through the Skyline, Grand River, and other alpine ditches. Now, more than ever, the value of these resources became evident--not only to company leaders, but to many northern Colorado residents concerned about their region's future. In 1933 the Northern Colorado Water Users Association was formed to promote a federally sponsored reclamation project for diverting water from Grand Lake and the Colorado River across the Continental Divide to the Eastern Slope. Subsequently, these efforts culminated in the historic Colorado-Big Thompson Project, whose original governing body included Ralph W. McMurry, Water Supply and Storage Company board member (1938- 59) and president (1946-59). 32 Close cooperation would characterize relations between the two organizations, but in the 1930s the company's own "foreign water" resources elicited primary shareholder interest. Expansion of the 15 Grand River Ditch continued more rapidly than ever with the introduction of construction equipment that included trucks and backhoes. 33 The Skyline Ditch, however, despite an enlargement in the 1920s, was stretched to absolute capacity. At times the danger -of flooding became so acute that crews of men, equipped with coal-oil lanterns, had to be called out at night. Harvey Johnson recalls a scene of darkness, surging water, and frenzied activity: We had a man every five hundred feet all night with ... coal-oil lanterns, walking along the bank ... down that whole ditch, something like three miles of ditch. Twelve different men and lanterns. Repeatedly, they positioned roughly sawed boards to channel water either into the ditch or out toward spillways. Unexpected thaws or rainstorms could produce moments of true desperation: seeing the ditch overflow, opening a board-lined detour, hoping that the turned out water would reach the spillway. "But we had to have water so desperately," Johnson remembers, "that ... we had to have every inch [we] could get. [That's why] we had men walking that ditch bank at night. " 34 Fortunately, the Laramie-Poudre Tunnel would soon provide a better alternative. While hunting in 1897, Laramie River valley rancher Wallis A. Link pursued a wounded deer to the top of a ridge dividing the Laramie and Cache la Poudre valleys. After killing the animal he paused to view his surroundings and noticed that the Poudre River to the east lay hundreds of feet lower than the Laramie River to the west. A tunnel bored through the ridge, he speculated, would permit easy movement of additional water to the eastern basin. Link immediately grasped the economic potential of this idea, grew to include not only the tunnel, 16 but access canals on either side, mountain storage, ditches for conveying water to farm lands in the Poudre Valley, and plains reservoirs to expedite downstream storage and delivery. Accordingly, he filed a claim on Laramie River water and began the task of attracting investors. Link decided to begin by constructing a small segment of the system, the Upper Rawah Ditch, to legitimize his water claim and to attract capital for further work. This ditch would empty into west fork of the Laramie River above the head of the Skyline Ditch, which would, in turn, carry newly appropriated water to the Poudre Valley for sale. In 1906 the Water Supply and Storage Company agreed to this arrangement in return for a fee and also secured the right of future access to the proposed tunnel. Thus began an important, albeit legally convoluted association, with the Laramie-Poudre Tunnel. In 1909 the Greeley-Poudre Irrigation District appropriated Link's concept, bought out his financially strapped company, and began tunnel construction. Two years later, however, the State of Wyoming sued to halt the project, alleging that water diverted from the Laramie River watershed jeopardized prior rights of Wyoming residents. Although the United States Supreme Court eventually ruled that both states were entitled to some share of the water, tunnel project backers received an allocation far below that needed to sustain a comprehensive new irrigation system. Therefore, notwithstanding the completion of an excellent concrete-lined tunnel that began running water in 1914, this operation faced a financially troubled future. By the late 1930s pressures of the Great Depression steadily 17 weakened this enterprise, now controlled by the Laramie-Poudre Irrigation Company. Perceiving ownership of the tunnel as a solution to the Skyline Ditch's inadequacies, the Water Supply and Storage Company decided to intervene. In 1937 their attorney, Lawrence R. Temple formed the Water Conservancy Company, which acquired the mortgages on the Laramie-Poudre tunnel and its collection ditches. Foreclosure proceedings ensued, and for $250,000 Water Supply and Storage purchased the defaulted properties. Meanwhile, the Tunnel Water Company, in which Water Supply and Storage held the controlling interest, was created to operate the new acquisitions. This legal and financial coup, in addition to providing new water, contributed significantly to the system's ever-improving symmetry. Black Hollow Reservoir at the bottom and now the tunnel to augment Skyline Ditch at the top clearly promoted more efficient water management. 35 XI Throughout its history the Water Supply and Storage Company benefited from sound legal counsel. This undoubtedly reflected the skill of the attorneys involved, but also the longstanding association of a select group of lawyers with the company. Early guidance was provided by Ledru R. Rhodes who pioneered the field of water law and helped to write landmark irrigation legislation for the State of Colorado, "providing for the public administration of water used for agricultural purposes."36 Rhodes's younger partner Lawrence E. Temple, in addition to masterminding the tunnel acquisition, had previously negotiated the complex agreement with the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service permitting construction of the Long 18 Draw Reservoir. Temple's entire career as an attorney in Fort Collins included service to the Water Supply and Storage Company. 37 The same was true of Albert Fischer who eventually became Temple's partner. Harvey Johnson humorously recalls his first meeting with Fischer: I had a ditch that a fellow was making me some trouble on [so] ... I went to Temple (about seven o' clock] one morning. He said "Well ... I've got a court case, and I've got to work on a brief this morning." And [then] he said, "I hired a young buck ... [but] he's ... a city guy [and] may not get here until nine o'clock. . . Sit down there." I sat down ... and pretty soon [a young man came] up the steps ... the city kid. That's when I first met Albert Fischer, and he was my lawyer for fifty years, a grand guy. "The city kid," as Johnson knew, had worked his way through the University of Colorado Law School, by operating the family ranch in North Park, and by 1937, when he first joined Temple, was an experienced attorney and former judge. Fischer soon became the company's principal legal adviser and, some years later, his son Ward assumed this responsibility. Moreover, the increasing involvement of Ward Fischer's lawyer-son William in company business indicates a continuation of this distinctive client-attorney relationship. 38 XII Harvey Johnson's insights are truly significant because no one has served the Water Supply and Storage longer nor with greater dedication. Born on April 28, 1895, Johnson arrived in Fort Collins with his family after a long horse and wagon journey from Kansas. As a youngster he briefly attended school, assisted with farming chores, and at age fourteen assumed management of the family farm when his parents moved to town. It was a heavy responsibility for an adolescent, but one that provided invaluable experience. So did nearly two decades of tenant 19

farming. Working for various owners, Johnson, who had married in 1917, raised crops, fed livestock, and milked cows to support a growing family. He remembers a season of acute drought when "we had to have a man watching every drop of water that went to the field"--meticulous management that yielded a good crop and earned Johnson an award at a city-sponsored farmers' day. He also remembers a collapse of commodity prices following the stock market crash of 1929 that left him heavily in debt and on the brink of ruin. He persisted, however, and subsequently brought in a hugely profitable sugar beet crop that

enabled him to turn things around. In 1934 he purchased his own farm, along with two and a half shares of Water Supply and Storage Company stock. 39 He followed company affairs carefully, but was surprised when in 1937 Gus Kluver nominated him for membership on its Board of Directors. Johnson's assumption of a leadership position coincided with the tunnel acquisition and major Grand River Ditch improvements, and he frequently found himself dealing directly with problems in the field. One involved a Grand River Ditch extension, recently financed by sizeable loan. Work had been completed, but when released most of the new water seeped down through the ditch bottom adding little to the existing flow. Momentary panic was followed by a practical response: locate a supply of clay, haul it to the mountains, and use it to seal the ditch leaks. Johnson played a key role in overseeing this difficult operation that involved delivering clay in small trucks to work crews: we would have those boys in the ditch, hip boots and rubber gloves. That was cold water, right off the snow, you know .And following those trucks on down, we went pretty much the whole length of it, where the biggest leaks were. By 20

fall, we were having a good stream of wat~r coming. Simplest little old thing, but a lot of hard work. Hard work, resourcefulness, and ever-growing knowledge of the local environment made Harvey Johnson a valuable leader, especially as the Depression era ended and new challenges confronted both the company and the Poudre Valley region. Recognition of his expertise was reflected in increasing requests for his services, including assistance in reviving the Colorado Farm Bureau, work as an appraiser for the Federal Land Bank, and, during the Second World War, a supervisory role

i~ the Emergency Farm Labor Program. World War II created a renewed demand for agricultural commodities, which, in turn, revived the agrarian economy. Maximal output became a primary wartime imperative-- one dependent on an adequate labor supply and reliable water delivery. Accordingly, the Water Supply and Storage Company devoted considerable effort to carefully maintaining its system during this critical period. Success marked these efforts as the region met or exceeded most production goals.41 XIII The post-war period brought major transformations to Colorado. Governmental installations, such as the Denver Federal Center, the North American Air Defense Command, and the National Seed Storage Laboratory, proliferated; as did local branches of national corporations, such as IBM, Hewlett Packard, and Eastman Kodak. Energy-based mining brought recurring booms and busts, and tourism flourished as better roads improved access to national parks and forests and new skiing areas. Although agriculture remained a leading source of state income, its character changed markedly in response to 21 new technologies that boosted productivity but reduced the number of farmers and ranchers. The Front Range region between Fort Collins and Pueblo became increasingly urban--a process that inexorably affected the Poudre River Valley and the Water Supply and Storage Company. 42 As the population of Fort Collins jumped from nearly 15,000 in 1950 to more than 43,000 by 1970, the company found itself continuously involved in granting easements for new roads and utility lines crossing its property and watching uneasily as residential developments sprang up around its ditches and reservoirs. Ironically, this growth owed much to a preceding generation of farmers and irrigationists who anticipated future needs. Completion of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project in the 1950s, for example, provided water, not only for agriculture, but for domestic and industrial uses as well. It also generated hydroelectric power for farms, homes, businesses, and factories throughout the region. Many Water Supply and Storage shareholders were investors in CB-T water rights, and beginning in 1953 "project water" began running in the company system to these owners. 43 CB-T water alone, however, could not meet the escalating needs of Fort Collins. In 1961 a group of concerned citizens headed by Albert Fischer approached Harvey Johnson with a surprising proposition: Would he run for mayor and use this position to develop an effective municipal water system for the city? At that time governmental inertia precluded extending water taps outside the city limits and necessitated rationing during the summer months. A crisis seemed imminent unless Fort Collins prepared for the future, and quickly. 22 After receiving assurances that all politicking would be handled by others, Johnson.agreed to the idea. Elected to the city council, which appointed him mayor, he engineered the hiring of a new city manager and helped to organize the Fort Collins Water Board, which initiated farsighted policies ensuring an abundance of clean water for the community.H Meanwhile, in 1962, Johnson became president of the Water Supply and Storage Company, bringing with him the perspective that its interests were fundamentally tied to the community whose history it shared. A more immediate concern, however, involved maximizing the system's operating efficiency. Long Draw, a mountain reservoir built in the 1920s to store water from the Grand River Ditch, had never worked satisfactorily because of faulty design. This proved frustrating because, at 11,000 feet atop La Poudre Pass, it was ideally situated to provide additional, easily deliverable, water. The company therefore sought available federal funding, and assisted by influential Colorado politicians such as Wayne Aspinall, secured an interest-free $1.3 million loan to construct the necessary renovation. Moreover, the project included collaborating with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop the reservoir site's recreational potential, which resulted in an additional grant to build an adjacent campsite for fishermen. The company thus acquired what Harvey Johnson described as "our finest reservoir" at a remarkably low cost. 45 But the Long Draw project was not free of controversy, especially that generated by environmentalists skeptical of reclamation and the growth emanating from it. How "beneficial" was water diversion that 23 seemingly disrupted wildlife habitats, produced downstream salinity

problems, and marr~d nature's pristine beauty? Did "use," even when well intentioned, inevitably elicit abuse? Although agrarian pioneers, Dust Bowl survivors, and conscientious community builders could rightfully justify their actions, environmental activism became increasingly evident as witnessed by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1969, emphasizing preservation goals for public lands; the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, and the 1972 referendum against bringing the Olympic games to Colorado. The year 1972 was perhaps most notable, though, for federal efforts to reserve rights to waters located in national parks and forests, irrespective of prior appropriation claims. Legal battles related to this issue would repeatedly challenge the company, and other local water users, throughout the coming decades. 46 XIV The environmental movement in some ways typified the growing complexities that affected the Water Supply and Storage Company during the 1960s and 1970s New technologies, new regulations, new requirements from a society no longer predominately agrarian. Day-to- day company management increasingly became a full-time matter. President Harvey Johnson, although no longer actively involved in farming by 1962, continued to operate a Port Collins Allis Chalmers dealership, which he had acquired in 1945. Secretary-Treasurer Donald

W. Farnham also had outside interests, specifically a burgeoning insurance business. But while Johnson, especially after completing his mayoral service, seemed able to meet both personal and company 24 obligations, Farnham found that he could not. The board therefore decided to replace .him with a full-time secretary-treasurer, and in 1965 employed Vivienne I. Woodward to fill this position. Traditionally, the Water Supply and Storage Company had been a male enclave, which made this appointment both unusual and controversial. Vivienne Woodward's outstanding personal qualities and professional competence, however, quickly dispelled doubts about her suitability for the job. She had come to Port Collins in 1962, accompanied by her mother, an older sister, the latter's four children, and a very young sister. After experiencing difficulty with an irresponsible babysitter, she advised her older sister to look after the younger children: So we agreed that Ginny would stay home, and Mother and I would take care of everything until the youngest was old enough for school. And that worked out fine. We didn't have the best ... but we had a roof over our heads, and the children had clothing and enough food, and [we managed with] no help from anybody. 47 The loyalty accorded her family would, in time, also characterize Vivienne Woodward's association with the Water Supply and Storage Company. An experienced bookkeeper, she had previously worked for Harvey Johnson at his farm implements store, impressing him sufficiently to become his choice for the secretary-treasurer's position. What caught his eye was a congenial person of superior intelligence with an exceptional work ethic. He correctly sensed that she would relate well to people affected by company activity while mastering the myriad of tasks fundamental to its effective management. 48

XV 25 Vivienne Woodward's affiliation with the Water Supply and Storage Company coincided with the Long Draw Project--a challenging introduction to issues influencing modern water resource management. Also notable was the increased monitoring necessitated by new residential and business tracts within the county. They were "crossing our ditches with bridges or telephone lines or gas lines or water lines," she recalls. They would have to come to us. Then we would have to draw up an easement. Mr. Johnson would give me the guidelines, and I'd use the standard easement but be would help me to fit it to the crossing. So there were a lot of those. [We were] constantly, trying to protect our water ri8bts because [we] were always under fire one way or another. Although the Water Supply and Storage Company had been conceived by farmers for agrarian purposes, forces unrelated to agriculture steadily intruded. Cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in adding a recreational component to the Long Draw Project seemed appropriate, but what of residential communities springing up around various reservoirs in Larimer and Weld counties? Sites bordering this water attracted a higher price, and property owners understandably sought access for swimming, boating, and fishing. This demand presented a dilemma. Reservoir use raised questions of liability should someone be injured or drown, yet, carefully designed leases might provide both additional income and a measure of necessary control. The alternative entailed costly policing of these properties. After due deliberation the company began selectively leasing its reservoirs to property owners associations and to public recreational agencies. Despite legal precautions, however, problems inevitably arose, the most serious involving a trespasser who broke his neck while 26 diving into Long Pond. The leaser had assumed full liability for recreational use of. the reservoir and understood that abrupt water level fluctuations would accompany inflows for storage or scheduled deliveries to shareholders. Nevertheless, the Water Supply and Storage Company was named a defendant in a law suit. The fact that this water existed only because several generations of fa~ers had created a well­ integrated irrigation system seemed almost lost in the ensuing legal fray. 50 XVI By the early 1980s the rapidly changing character of the Poudre Valley and related complications of environmentalism, governmental regulation, and urban encroachment continually challenged the company. Compounding these problems was a major agricultural depression--the worst since the 1930s. Farmers reeled under a succession of blows-­ high interest rates, depressed prices, commodity surpluses, heavy debt, and foreign competition. Within a five-year period, for example, farm income in Colorado plummeted by more than 48 percent. As had been true during the Great Depression era, many farmers and ranchers faced the prospect of f orec 1 osure. 51 Although agricultural real estate slumped to its lowest market levels in many years, water rights, despite significant fluctuations, remained highly valuable. Water Supply and Storage Company stock sold for $70,000 - $75,000 per share throughout the early 1980s; and for many shareholders, this was their one secure asset--the margin between survival and financial ruin. In 1985 Harvey Johnson and Vivienne Woodward began to notice that 27 a large number of shareholders were selling their stock, along with

land irrigated und~r the company system. Moreover, these sales involved an agent representing an anonymous purchaser. It soon became evident that an outside party was attempting to obtain control of the Water Supply and Storage Company. The trend continued amid an atmosphere of mounting anxiety. Vivienne Woodward recalled that I'd have stockholders call me, and the directors would be getting calls because something was going on out in the field. . .somebody was buying up shares of stock and land under our system. But [the brokers] wouldn't disclose .. . who [they represented]. [People] ... wanted to know .. . what was going on. . . Somebody trying to take over the company and couldn't we stop it .... Invoking its legal right to force disclosure when the public interest might be jeopardized by a hostile corporate takeover, the company acted to identify the purchaser. And, "On the very next day," observed Vivienne Woodward, "here came the attorney for the City of Thornton and another party from the city, stating, 'we're the ones behind all of this. 'n52 Thornton, an Adams County suburb just north of Denver, in many ways typified Colorado development in the decades following World War II. Incorporated in 1956, this new city attracted shopping centers, small industry, and a burgeoning commuter population that grew from 13,000 in 1970 to 43,000 by 1980. By the 1980s, however, this rapidly expanding community faced an uncertain future because of an insufficient water supply--a problem common to many suburbs within the

Front Range urban corridor. 53 Thornton's answer? Acquire a well- managed private company with established water rights--Water Supply and Storage--and pipe this water into the municipality's system. The plan 28 included returning water to the Poudre Valley to maintain the river system's physical integrity and avoid violating legal rights of other users. 54 Under the best of circumstances this move would have been controversial, but cloaked as it was in secrecy, its discovery unleashed an outraged reaction--not only within the company, but throughout the Poudre Valley region. Without fully understanding the legal nature of water in Colorado as a marketable unit of property, many citizens of Larimer and Weld counties perceived the Thornton action as an unconscionable affront to local autonomy. 55 A legal struggle ensued. The company attempted to diminish Thornton's proportionate ownership position by authorizing a stock issuance above the established total of 600 shares. The City of Fort Collins cooperated by agreeing to contribute municipal water rights in exchange for some of these new shares and thereby become a partial company owner. The Colorado-Big Thompson Project's governing board reaffirmed its, policy of prohibiting removal of C-BT water, the rights to which some farmers had sold along with Water Supply and Storage shares. Thornton responded by seeking an injunction to block the new stock issuance. The stage was set for what appeared to be a prolonged legal war over water. Instead, within a period of several months the disputing parties reached a workable compromise, an outcome that owed much to the experienced expertise of Ward Fischer. The inflated stock strategy was dropped, and Thornton obtained appropriate board representation. A majority of the directors, however, would always be selected by Larimer 29 and Weld-county based shareholders to guarantee permanent local control. Thornton .could use water represented by its own shares and contract to use that of other shareholders provided that, following this first use, it returned an equal volume to the ditch system .. Accordingly, the city agreed to augment the system supply by purchasing additional water rights and by building a new storage facility. 56 XVII With this agreement the traditional character ·of the Water Supply and Storage Company was fundamentally transformed. Conceived in 1891, its success had long been linked to the agrarian ambitions of its founders--a spirit strongly defended by Harvey Johnson: The Water Supply and Storage is a monument to a fine group of farmers with great foresight and stamina to build •.. [It was] pai~ for by the farmers, and is still controlled by farmers. And yet, as Johnson's own enterprising leadership demonstrated, the nature of this control continually shifted in response to a changing Colorado and a changing nation. New laws, new technologies, and new conceptions of natural resource use necessitated constant adaptation. So did the intrusions of an increasingly urban society. Throughout its first century the Water Supply and Storage Company appropriately responded to these challenges--drawing sustenance from a proud pioneering heritage and looking ahead with realistic resolve. In many ways its history exemplifies the evolution of Colorado and the American West, an evolution symbiotically tied to that most precious of natural resources--water. 30 REFERENCES Information for this history was drawn from a fairly complete collection of official company records, particularly board meeting minutes and annual reports. Also useful were comprehensive oral history interviews conducted by the author with Harvey Johnson and Vivienne Woodward, and the autobiography of A. A. Edwards written in 1929. Public reaction to the City of Thornton's involvement with the company was illuminated in a newspaper clipping file compiled by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District. Especially useful secondary sources included: Russell N. Bradt, "Foreign Water in the Cache la Poudre Valley," (M.A. thesis, Colorado State College of Education, 1946); James E. Hansen, II, Bevond the Ivory Tower: A History of Colorado State University Cooperative Extension (Fort Collins: Colorado State University, 1990); Jeffrey s. Hickey, "An Uneasy Coexistence: Rocky Mountain National Park and the Grand River

Ditch" (M.A. thesis, University of Colorado, 1988); Alvin T. Steinel, History of Agriculture in Colorado (Fort Collins: The State Agricultural College, 1926; Brian R. Werner, "Water in Larimer County," in The History of Larimer County, ed. Arlene (Briggs) Ahlbrandt and "Kate" Stieben, (Dallas: Curtis Media·corporation, 1987), T49; and Ansel Watrous, History of Larimer County Colorado 1911, Centennial

Bicentennial Edition (Fort Collins: Miller Manor Publications, 1972). 31 ENDNOTES l.Wayne A. Parsons, "The History of Water Storage in the Cache La Poudre Canyon," .copy, Historical File, WSSC Collection, Colorado Agricultural Archives [CAA], 1967, p. 2; A. A. Edwards, Autobiography, copy, Ibid., 1929, pp. S-6.

2.John Gray, Cavalry and Coaches (Fort Collins, Old Army P~ess, 198-), passim. 3.Evadene Burris Swanson, Fort Collins Yesterdays (Fort Collins: Published by the Author, 1975), pp. 3-72, 253; James E. Hansen, II, Democracy's College in the Centennial State (Port Collins, Colorado State University, 1977), pp. 1-34.

4.Alvin T. Steinel, History of Agriculture i·n Colorado (Fort Collins: The State Agricultural College, 1926), p. 202.

5. James E. Hansen, I I, "The Col or ado Agricultural Experiment Station: A Century of Essential Investment," in The Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station 1987 Annual Report (Fort Collins: Colorado State University, 1988), p. 17. 6.Quoted in Ibid., p. 292. ?.Ansel Watrous, History of Larimer County Colorado 1911, Centennial Bicentennial Edition (Fort Collins: Miller Manor Publications, 1972), pp. 345, 348-49, 458-62. S.Apparently, several companies were formed to supply the Larimer County Ditch with additional water. They included the Larimer County Reservoir Company, the Larimer Water Supply Company, the Lost Lakes Reservoir Company, the Rocky Mountain Reservoir Company, and the Northern Reservoir Company. See "Larimer County Ditch Company Record Book," pp. 20-23, 59, 76, 104, 148, 183; "Larimer County Reservoir Company Record Book," pp. 1-3a, 100; both on file in the Water Supply and Storage Company office, Port Collins, Colorado, and located with the minute books of the latter company. See also Russell N. Bradt, "Foreign Water in the Cache la Poudre Valley" (M.A. thesis, Colorado State College of Education, 1946), pp. 6-8. 9.Ibid., pp. 227-29; Bradt, "Foreign Water in the Cache la Poudre Valley," p. ii. lO.Edwards, Autobiography, pp. 5-6. ll.Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws of The Water SUPPlY and Storage Company of Fort Collins, Colorado, "Historical File," WSSC Collection, CAA. · 12.Edwards, Autobiography, pp. 1-5. 32 13. Author's interview with Harvey Johnson, September 24, 1985, transcript, WSSC Collection, CAA; List of Stockholders, WSSC Office, Fort Col.lins. 14.James Wright, Populism in Colorado; Swanson, Port Collins Yesterdays, p. 49. 15.Steinel, Agriculture in Colorado, pp. 150-51; Watrous, History of Larimer County, p. 151. 16.Edwards, Autobiography, pp. 6-8. 17.Quoted in Bradt, "Foreign Water in the Cache la Poudre Valley," p. 42.

18. Ibid. , pp. 43-46; Jeffrey S. Hickey, "An Uneasy Coexistence: Rocky Mountain National Park and the Grand River Ditch" (M.A. thesis, University of Colorado, 1988), pp. 76-83, passim. 19.Bradt, "Foreign Water in the Cache la Poudre Valley," pp. 47-50. 20.Ibid., pp. 50-51. 2l.Ibid., pp. 36-38; Watrous, History of Larimer County, p. 345; William R. Kelly, "Engineers and Ditch Men Developed on the Cache La Poudre, 1870-1920," copy, unpublished typescript, February 10, 1967, WSSC Collection, CAA, p. 10. 22.Hickey, "An Uneasy Coexistence," pp. 78-83. 23.Water Supply and Storage Company Minute Book 3, pp. 23-24, 35; Minute Book 4, pp. 6, 23, 40, 78, 86 (all minute books are filed in the Water Supply and Storage Company Office, Fort Collins, Colorado). 24.Author's interview with Harvey Johnson, October 1, 1985, transcript, WSSC Collection, CAA. 25.Ibid.; Edwards, Autobiography, p. 8; "Contracts" (Riddle, Hock, Kluver, et al, 1900), Legal Series [fiche], WSSC Collection, CAA [note:check WSSC & JDC minute books for confirmation, 1900-03] 26. "Water Supply and Storage Company: Early Historical Beginnings," Letter from A.A. Edwards, president and manager to Water Supply and Storage Company Stockholders, January 18, 1910, "Historical File," WSSC Collection, CAA. 27. "Larimer County," Year Book of the State of Colorado 1919 (Denver: State Board of Immigration, 1919), pp. 110-13; Swanson, Fort Collins Yesterdays, p. 253; James E. Hansen, II, Beyond the Ivory Tower: A History of Colorado State University Cooperative Extension (Port Collins: Colorado State University, 1990), ch. 3. 33 28. Water Supply and Storage Company Annual Report, 1927, WSSC Office. 29.Hickey, "An Uneasy Coezistence," pp. 112-17. 30.Interview, Harvey Johnson, October 1, 1985; Watrous, History of Larimer County, p. 398. 31.Hansen, Beyond the Ivory Tower, ch. 4; Korthern Colorado Water Conservancy District Water Rewa 50th Apniversary Edition, 5 (September 1987), p. 12; hereafter cited as NCWCD Water News Anniversary Edition. 32.NCWCD Water News Anniversary Edition, pp. 2-4; Vivienne I Woodward, secretary, "Brief Computation on Water Supply and Storage Company 1891-1966," "Historical file," WSSC Collection, CAA. 33.Interview, Harvey Johnson, September 24, 1985. 34.Ibid. 35.Ibid.; Bradt, "Foreign Water in the Cache la Poudre Valley," pp. 89-127. The Water Supply and Storage Company holds a two-thirds interest in the Tunnel Water Company, and the Windsor Reservoir and Canal Company a one-third interest. 36.Watrous, History of Larimer County, p. 449; Steinel, Aariculture in Colorado, p. 221. 37.Hickey, "An Uneasy Coexistence," pp. 112-17. [reference needed for Lawrence E. Temple] 38.Interview Harvey Johnson, September 17, 1985; author's conversation with Ward Fischer, November 1, 1990. 39.Interview, Harvey Johnson, August 17, 1985 40.Ibid., September 24, 1985. 41.WSSC, Annual Reports, 1942-45, passim; Hansen, Beyond the Ivory Tower, p. 135. 42.Hansen, Beyond the Ivory Tower, pp. 141-42. 43. Water News 50th Anniversary Edition, passim; WSSC, Annual Report, 1953. 44.Interview, Harvey Johnson, September 10, 1985. [supplement with additional references; include annotation re: FC v WSSC?] 45.Interview, Harvey Johnson, date? 34 46.Hickey, "An Uneasy Coexistence," passim; Donald Worster, Rivers of Empire: Water, Aridity, and the Growth of the American West (New York: Pantheon ~ooks, 1985), passim; WSSC, Annual Report, 1972. 47.Author's interview with Vivienne Woodward, September 1, 1989, transcript, WSSC Collection, CAA. 48.Ibid.; interview, Harvey Johnson, date. 49. Ibid. 50. Interview, Harvey Johnson, October 1, 1985; "Memorandum Brief in Support of Motion for Sunmary Judgement," 1979, "Long Pond--Vollmer Case" file, WSSC Office. 51.Hansen, "Beyond the Ivory Tower," pp. 104, 187-88. 52.Interview, Vivienne Woodward; interview, Harvey Johnson.[ck dates] 53.Author's conservation with David Bata, public infomration officer, City of Thornton, November 8, 1990; Mel Griffiths and Lynnell Rubright, Colorado: A Geography (Boulder: Westcliff Press, 1983), pp. 197-99, 296-301. 54."Press Release (draft) re: resolution of Water Supply and Storage Company - Thornton controversy, n. d. [Nov. 1987?], Thornton Collection, WSSC Office; "Agreement Between the Water Supply and Storage Company and the City of Thornton, Col orado,'' October 1986, copy, Ibid. 55.Brian Werner (comp.), Bewsclipping File re: Water Supply and Storage Company - Thornton controversy, 1985-87, copy, WSSC Collection, CAA. 56. Ibid., "Press Release"; WSSC-Thornton Agreement; Interview, Vivienne Woodward. 57.Interview, Harvey Johnson, date DRAFT--HISTORICAL CHONOLOGY OF THE WATER SUPPLY AND STORAGE COMPANY

compiled by Bradley Leach & James E. Hansen-- Sept., 1985

Sources:

* AED -Augustus Edwards Diary AR - Annual Report WSSC * FA1 -National ParK Service study of Grand River Ditch prepared by Ferrell Atkins (1966) * FA2 -National Park Service study of Grand River Ditch prepared by Ferrell Atkins (1975) HJ - Harvey Johnson Interviews

1870

11/70 Dry Creek Ditch Company organized JMB1 , p 1

1875 Dam built on Chambers Lake FA1 1880 [Note: This decade is characterized by frequent disputes involving many small water companies; see MB 1 & 2l

2/81 Larimer County Ditch Company founded MB1, p 3

4/81 Work started on Larimer County Ditch MB1, p 20

11/81 Larimer County Ditch Company Owns 7 MBl, pp 21-23 Reservoirs: Res. 2,3 & 4; Long Pond; Richards; Elder; Rocky Ridge

3/82 Larimer County Reservoir Company MB2, p. 3 founded. Holdings included: Chambers LaKe, Lost LaKe, Laramie[Ditch?J, Peterson[Ditch?l, Twin Lakes[Chain?J, 7/82 Larimer County Ditch Company acquires MB1, pp 29-30 lease of Chambers LaKe from Larimer County Reservoir Company

1890

1890 Construction begun on Grand River LDE, pp 12-13 Ditch; first water crosses Continental Divide on 9/1/90 [note conflicting account denotes WAP, pp 3-5 1891 as the date of origin & 1893 as the date when water was first diverted across the Divide

Extensions: 1894 - 3 mi LDE, pp 12-13 1897- to Opposition Creek 1934 - to BaKer Creek

1907-08 - to Dutch CreeK WAP, pp 3-5 1934-37 - extension necessary to protect filing on S. Dutch CreeK; whole ditch expanded to accommodate runoff; Gordon Construction Company did worK under $800,000 contract; machinery used for first time.

6/91 Chambers Lake dam breaKs causing much AED flood damage & discrediting Larimer County Ditch Company

7/21/91 Water Supply and Storage Company [WSSCJ MB3, pp 2-6; AED founded in response to law suits filed vs. Larimer County Ditch Company re: flood damage

1891 Tunnel Water Company[name?l files on FA1 Laramie-Ditch Company water

1891 WSSC files on SKyline Ditch to draw WAP , p 2; KWS; water from west branch of Laramie R. RNB, p i i et al. streams into north end of Chambers LaKe & thence down Poudre R. 1891 Construction begins on SKyline Ditch WAP [WSSC?l

1/92 WSSC assumes leases formerly held by MB1, p 183; MB3, p 17 Larimer County Ditch Company from Larimer County Reservoir Company

4/92 WSSC buys Larimer County Ditch MB1, pp 194-95 Company holdings

7/92 WSSC acquires 592 shares of MB2, p 106 Larimer County Reservoir Company stock [apparently, for the purpose of taking over that company/s holdings]

8/92 WSSC.acquires remaining Larimer County MB1, p 204; Ditch Co. assets incl. rights to MB3, pp 34-35 Long Pond & Lindenmeier for $10,540

8/92 Larimer County Reservoir Company MB2, p 107 deeds all property to WSSC & dissolves

1894 Skyline Ditch completed RNB, p i i [conflicting version: completed 1893, WAP, p 2 water run 18941

5/94 Dry Creek Ditch Company ceases to JMB1, p 93 exist; all holdings acquired by Jackson Ditch Company

5/94 Jackson Ditch Company formed and JMB1 , pp 94-95 acquired Dry Creek Ditch Company; [copy of deed in former adopts latter/s bylaws & f i 1e: "Jackson Ditch stock shares Company--Legal--Mise"]

6/96 Grand River Ditch construction begun ? [First reference to Grand Ditch in MB3, p224 WSSC minutes is on 7/1900, commenting on completion of South Ditch & start of North Ditchl

1896 Court awards Skyline Ditch water to KWS wssc 1898 Report by William Rist recommends MB3, p 187 building ditch[?] re: Cameron Pass

1900

1902 WSSC files on Laramie-Poudre Tunnel KWS Company water

1902-03 WSSC acquires voting control Fiche: "Contracts" over Jackson Ditch Company of Riddle, Hock, through stock acquisitions Kluver, et al.

5/22/02 Chambers Lake area becomes national WAP, p 2 forest land

1902 Court awards Cameron Pass Ditch water KWS; MB3, p255 to WSSC; foreman designated for construction work

12/02 WSSC buys Curtis Lake MB4, p 6

8/22/03 Laramie-Poudre Tunnel & Raway Ditch conceived by Laramie-Poudre Res. & Irrigation Co.; Tunnel construction, 1903-11

1904 BroKen dam on Chambers LaKe causes WAP 1 ight flood damage

4/04 WSSC buys Richards LaKe land MB4, p 23

9/04 WSSC buys BlacK LaKe [Origin of BlacK MB4, p 40 Hollow Reservoir?] 1/06 WSSC board approves construction of MB4, p. 78 BlacK Hollow Reservoir [incl. decree date]

3/06 WSSC board approves construction of MB4, p 86 Curtis Reservoir & Richards Reservoir

8/06 Court awards Grand Ditch water to WSSC FA2

1907-08 Grand Ditch extended to Dutch CreeK FA2; WAP 8./08 Rawah Ditch construction nearly done WAP

1909 Construction of Laramie-Poudre Tunnel begun 1910

1911 Chambers LaKe Dam reconstructed MB4, p 312

1911 WSSC files on Kluver Reservoir water; Kl,a.JS; MB4, 312 reservoir & outlet built

1914 Court awards Laramie-Poudre Tunnel KWS water to WSSC

1920

1922-25[27JChambers LaKe Dam reconstructed; WAP; AR 1927 raised 58 ft. 1922 BlacK Hollow Reservoir completed ?

1927 Contract & title approved for Long AR 1927 Draw Reservoir construction; Dooling Bros. to carry out construction

1927 SKyline Ditch enlarged AR 1927

1930

1934-36 Grand Ditch extended to BaKer CreeK WAP; FA2

1935 Gordon Construction Company contracted AR 1935 to extend Grand River Ditch 1937-38 Parshall Flumes installed by WSSC MB8, pp 60,63,64,87 to provide accurate water measurement

9/38 Tunnel Water Company acquires assets TMB1 , inserted pg. of Water Conservation Company

1940

1945 Court grants Long Draw water to WSSC KWS

1945 Court grants Kluver water to WSSC KWS [adjudicataion date: 12/18/451

3/45 Construction proceeding on Rawah Ditch MB11, p 41

1950

1959 Two-way radio system installed for WSSC AR 1959 camps

1959-60 Supreme Court case re. WSSC & City AR 1959, 1960 of Fort Collins

1960

1962 Automatic headgate controls installed AR 1962

8/6/63 Lost & Laramie Lakes released by WSSC MB16, p 188 [granted 19121

1965 WSSC Office moved to 2319 E. Mulberry AR 1965

1970

1972 Court case: Federal Government tries AR 1972

1975 Long Draw Reservoir enlargement begun HJ

1975 WSSC acquires rock quarry AR 1975

1980 11/80 Court case: WSSC served summons in MB16, p. 80 Vollmer Suit

1986 4/9./86 The City of Thornton·'s campaign to MB16, p. 310 to acquire control of WSSC by secretly [M817?J purchasing shares of the latter/s stocK is discovered

11/12/86 Agreement negotiated between WSSC and MB16, p. 357 City of Thornton re: municipal ity~s use of WSSC water and role in company management [ratified: 12./19/86--MB16, p. 364] 1

HIS'IORICAL AND AIMINiffiRATIVE BACKGROUND

'!he Water SUR;>ly arrl storage Company was incorporated on July 23, 1891, to provide irrigation water to its stcx:kholders, IOOSt of whan held agriculural lam in larimer arrl Weld counties. '!he canpany operated am improved the larimer County Ditch (begun by the I.armimer County Ditch Company in 1881), acquired addi­ tional suwlies fran ~iated waters of the Grarrl, Michigan, arrl Laramie river watersheds; developed clains am irrigation -works near the Continental Divide, such as Chambers, Trap, Wst, and Laramie lakes; and obtained natural basins adaptable to water storage alorq the line of the main ditch. Six humred shares of stock, originally priced at one hunired dollars per share, were autho­ rized with each share representin:.J one full water right in the canpany. An elected seven-member 1::loa.rd of directors oversaw canpany operations, chose a pres­ ident and vice-president fran its ranks, and appointed other officers am person­ nel, such as a secretary-treasurer.

'!he canpany sul::sequently developed an extensive system of ditches, canals, laterals, and reservoirs and pioneered. sane notable resource manage:n-ent practic­ es. 'lhese included water excharqe (ex>operati ve bor:rowi.rq or leniirg of water with other water canpanies to expedite efficient storage and delivery} am inter­ watershed diversions (acquisition of water fran basins beyom the cache la Poudre River's natural trib.Itaries}; the Grarrl River Ditch reflects the latter activity. In many notable respects the Water S\g;>ly and storage Company exemplifies the evolution of Colorado irrigation history.

In 1986 the principal mission of supplyirq water to fanners changed when the City of 'lhomton, Colorado, acquired nDre than 225 shares of stock in order to divert water for that municipality's future needs. Acx::ord.in:Jly, canpany gover­ nance was revartprl am water supplies were reallocated to serve both danestic am agricultural pn:poses.

A non-profit organization, the Water S\g;>ly and storage canpany presently provides shareholders with a specified ano.mt of water annually. capital stock is divided into 600 shares with each share representin:.J one full water right; fractional shares reflect a prqx:>rtionately reduced allotbnent. An elected 1::loa.rd of nine members-four representin:.J the City of 'lhomton, :but a majority repre­ sentin;J larimer and Weld county shareholders-appoints a president, secretary, am field superinten:lent to oversee daily operations. Ditch riders, maintenance personnel, am property caretakers are also employed to assist with this work.

'lhe company holds the controllin;J interest in the Jackson Ditch Company and the Tunnel Water Company. It administers their affairs as well as those of the Poudre water SUR;>ly Company, a ccmnunications network prarotirq regional water management coordination.

REXDRDS DFSCRIPI'ION

Water SUpply am storage Company records reflect more than a century of sig­ nificant am highly diverse irrigation activity in Colorado. For example, minute lxx>ks of the Jackson Ditch Company, originally the Dry Creek Ditch Company, date fran 1870. Mlitional records include: various proceedirgs; oorresporxience; annual reports; audits; stock certificates; water project am management records; 2 photographs, IlBps, am dlarts; persormel information; irrigation p.Jblications; am a myriad of legal IlBterials, such as litigation files, ex>ntracts, deeds, agreements, easements, ani leases.

'!HE IMPORrANCE OF A RECDRDS MANAGEMENI' SYSTEM

'Ihe efficiency of any organization is awreciably enhanced by an appropriate am workable records management program. At the very least, a c::arpmy must have some ex>ntrol over documents central to its legal existence am functions, such as articles of incorporation, bylaws, offical reports, am minutes of prcx::eed­ i.rgs; it must also be able to trace its i.nca:oo am expen:litures. 'Ihe Water SlJWly am storage Company's historical significance has already been alluded to-a fact that warrants the careful appraisal am preservation of selected records. Espe­ cially vital, ha.vever, are the diverse legal arrangements that. govern the organization's activities. Agreements ex>ncerning the ownership am use of exten­ sive land and water holdings must be readily verifiable in order to lessen the risks of illegal encroachments or litigious misurderstamirgs. Finally, system­ atic records management saves time am mney: needed information can be quickly retrieved, specified records routinely scheduled for destruction, am office space used to maximal advantage.

'!HE ARRANGEMENI' OF DJCUMENrARY REXDRDS

Most current am non-current records generated by the Water SUWly am stor­ age canpany am the various organizations that it manages are filed in the of­ fice building at 2319 Fast Mulberry, Fort Collins, Colorado. In addition, se­ lected archival records are housed at the Colorado Agricultural Archives of Colorado state University (324 Fast oak st., Fort Collins). Material filed at the office building is stored: beneath a counter adjacent to the front entrance; inside the secretary's desk; in two 4-drawer filirg cabinets against the west wall of the secretary's office; atop a work table adjacent to the filirg cabi­ nets; inside am atop a safe; inside the president's desk; am in a vault which, curorg other records, houses maps located in a metal map case am oversize maps.

Records are generally arranged urder three main groups: 1) the Water SlJWly am storage Company; 2) the Jackson Ditch Company; am 3) the TUnnel Water catpa­ ny. Moreover I whenever possible, materials filed urder the Water Slg>ly am storage Company groupirg are arranged according to a specific water holding, such as the Black Hollow Reservoir. '!his system is represented in the followirg format: Ml:::tiU~T OF THE WATER SUPPLY AND STORAGE COMPANY BY· HARVEY G. JOHNSON

Before irrigation, this part of the country was known as a pra1r1e desert. In 1848, a small group of farmers in the Bellvue and LaPorte areas, along the Poudre River, cut a small ditch out of the river to divert water for irrigation. I believe that the first filing on this water was in 1862. By irrigating their crops, they were able to raise enough to see them through the winter. More people came and asked if they could make the ditch larger to carry more water to irrigate their land, and as others came, extending the ditch, thus bringing more land under irrigation. These farmers dug up some of the Cottonwoods and Willow trees from the river bank and trans­ planted them along the ditch banks. They built cisterns and ran some of this water into the cis.terns, bucketed into their homes for domestic use.

Some of these small ditch companies were going bankrupt, so in 1882 the Larimer County Canal was organized under the laws of the State of Colorado, took over some of the small ditch companies,.giving them free water, if they allowed them to go into their ditches. The ditch was enlarged and better dams were built, enabling them to carry more water. These ditches were built by horse drawn slips, picks and shovels. The development of more ditches wa.s happening when I moved here, which was in 1902. All the water, by. Jaw, had to be filed on. The pioneers did not have the machinery that we take for granted now. Harvesting their crops was done by back­ breaking hand labor. All this beautiful country that we enjoy today was brought about by the hard working pioneers that had the foresight and determination to start the development of irrigation. Mr. Molander was one of the developers of The Water Supply and Storage Company, which was organized in 1891, due to some difficulties~The Lar­ imer County Canal. He was 80 years old and I, as a young buck elected to the Board, used to haul him around in the mountains. On one of our trips, I asked him how did you old pioneers have the vision to survey out and file on this water. He said that Mr. Molander explained that they had good land and they had famiJ ies to take care of and this water was a necessity for their land to produce, so they had to do something.

We-ere-so-fort~"ete-te-heve-the-hi~h-me~ntains-e8eve-~s-that-f~Pn+shes-a­ n1ee-eeay-ef-"eter-to-f+ow-1nte-the-Pe~aPe-R+vePT The snow pack Jays in the mountains through the winter and staruto melt the last part of May, through June and part of July. Some of this water was used for irrigation and the rest would go on by. In the later part of July and through August, the river dropped down, so more storage reservoirs were built, storing some of the spring runoff for the crops later in the season. Improving the ditches and building more Jakes. About 500,000 acres right through this horn, they claim, were more progressive in developing these ditches. We are so fortunate to have the high mountains above us that furnishes a nice body of water that flows into the Poudre River. The Poudre River is one of our best streams, deve1opes more up here than the South Platte does, as the South Platte has the spring flush, then it does not run later in the season. Before the Big Thompson Project came into the picture, the Bureau of Re­ clamation made a study of our successful transmountain diversions. This study was taken to Washington to use as a selling point for the Big Thomp­ son Project. This has been an additional blessing for supplemental water. Over half of North Poudre 1 s total water is the Big-T w~tE>r. City of Fort Coli ins, City of Greeley, the water districts and Kodak own considerable amounts of this water.

In order to cope with the growth, which can not be stopped, we must have more mountain storage reservoirs or we will revert back to being a prairie desert. There is no new water, so development will take of agricultural water. The banks and merchants were made by the farmers. The only commodity "'"'""F:ort.,,. .. r1 h .. ,. .. 1•1-"'C: ""nn ic; nonp bv thP farmerS. , ; f I I I CHRONOLClGY OF EVENTS PERTINENT TO lvATER DEVELOPNENT AND USE -----~----·------·----·-·· ... ·- --· ---·· ··-··- ··-··· I I ; i Cache la Poudre River Basin I I ! I i.J

1842 - Captain John Fremont traveled from St. Vrain's Fort to Fort Laramie, going up the Cache la Poudre from its mouth to the mountains-­ referred to the Poudre as "a very beautiful mountain stream, about one hundred feet wide, flowing with a full, swift current over a rocky bed."

1844 -Antoine Janis staked out a squatter's claim at what is now LaPorte-­ used water from Cache la Poudre to irrigate crops.

1860 - First decreed right to direct flow from Poudre for Yeager Ditch serving land near Bellvue. This right for 2.65 cfs was transferred to the City of Fort Collins in 1905.

1870·- Horace Greeley editorial in the York Times stated: "I am confident that there are points on the Carson, the Huniboldt, the Weber, the South Platte and the Cache la Poudre and many less noted streams which thread the central plateau of our continent, where an expenditure of $10,000 to $50,000 may be judiciously made in a dam, locks and canal for the purposes of irrigation and milling combined, with a moral certainty of realizing fifty per­ cent annually on the outlay, with a steady increase in the value of the property."

1870 - Direct flow water rights totalling approximately 505 cfs from the main stem of the Poudre have priorities senior to 1870.

1876 - Colorado Constitution adopted which declared public Olvnership of water and the doctrine of priority of appropriation for beneficial use.

1880 - Earliest irrigation well registered with the State Engineer in the Poudre Basin is listed as drilled in 1880 and located north of Timnath.

1880 - Direct flow water rights of approximately 2700 cfs from the main stem of the Poudre have priorities senior to 1880. One reservoir, Warren Lake, holds storage right earlier than 1880 (1875 for 496 acre-feet). 1881 - Colorado legislature passed act which, along with an earlier one in 1879, set up administrator districts (water districts and irrigation divisions) and officials (state engineers) for adminis­ tering water rights.

1882 - First adjudication of water rights in the Cache la Poudre Basin. Colorado Supreme Court decision Coffin~ Left Hand Ditch Co. which established the Colorado Appropriation Doctrine and discarded the common law or riparian doctrine as "inapplicable to Colorado."

1884 - Gaging station established on Cache la Poudre River at mouth of the canyon.

1888 - Colorado Supreme Court in Wheeler ~The Northern Irrigation Co. established that ditch companies are common carriers, not absolute owners of the water, thus can only charge a reasonable carrying charge.

1890 - Storage rights for reservoirs in the Poudre Valley with priorities senior to 1890 total 15,440 acre-fee~.

1890 - First 'tvater import·ed into the Cache la Poudre Basin from the Colorado Basin by means of the Grand River Ditch. The ditch has been extended several times and is now 15 miles long, starting at Baker Gulch in Rocky Mountain National Park running north to La Poudre Pass. Another branch extends 1.6 miles along the east side of the Colorado River Valley and joins the main ditch at La Poudre Pass.

1896 - Professor L. G. Carpenter published first measurements of return flows in the Cache la Poudre River in which he found about 30 percent of the water applied in irrigation returned to the river.

1897 - Colorado legislature enac·ted statute allowing water exchanges "when the rights of others are not injured thereby." Exchanges were pioneered in Cache la Poudre Valley, originated by the Water Supply and Storage Company.

1900- Additional 48,990 acre-feet of storage rights have dates in the 1890's bringing total storage rights prior to 1900 to 64,430 acre­ feet in the Poudre Basin.

1909 - Construction of the Laramie-Poudre Tunnel was begun. The idea was first conceived by Wallace A. Link in 1897. Various attempts to organize groups and raise money were attempted. Construction was a joint effort of the Laramie-Poudre Reservoir and Irrigation Company and the Greeley~Poudre Irrigation District. The tunnel is approximately 3 miles in length and discharges into the Cache la Poudre River below Chambers Lake.

-2- 1910 - Addi ti.on'al 108,600 acre-feet of storage rights have dates 1900 through 1909, bringing total st~rage rights prior to 1910 to 173,030 acre-feet in the Poudre Basin.

1911 -Wyoming broQght suit against Colorado in regard to anticipated diversions from Laramie River, resulting in 1922 \vyoming ~ Colorado, U. S. Supreme Court decision.

1920 - Additional 29,200 acre-feet of storage rights have dates 1910 through 1919, bringing total storage rights prior to 1920 to 202,230 acxe­ feet.

1920 - Thirty-four irrigation wells in the Cache la Poudre Valley are regis­ tered with the State Engineer as drilled prior to 1920.

1922 - U. S. Supreme· Court decision of fir~t Laramie River litigation, Wyoming~ Colorado. Decree allocated 15,500 acre-feet annual diversion from Laramie to Poudre basins by Laramie-Poudre Tunnel and recognized previous rights of the Skyline Ditch (18,000 acre-feet), meadow-land appropriation (4,250 acre-feet) and the Wilson Supply Ditch ("relatively small amount").

1929 - Measurement of water levels in wells was begun in Poudre Valley by William E. Code which were continued and expanded by him until his retirement in 1958. Me.asurements are· still made annually by Colorado State University.

1930 - Seventy-nine irrigation wells in the Cache la Poudre Valley are registered with the State Engineer as drilled prior to 1930.

1932 - U. S. Supreme Court decision, second round of litigation on Laramie River, \vyoming ~Colorado. Decree further interpreted 1922 decree, but did not change the amounts involved.

1934 - Northern Colorado Water Users Association formed to work with USBR to plan transmountain diversions from Colorado River Basin.

1936 - Third Wyoming~ Colorado U. S. Supreme Court decision. Wyoming contended that· Colorado's diversions from the Laramie River were departing from the earlier decrees. Part of the problem revolved around whether earlier decree was for water at the point of diver­ sion or for just the consumptive use. Court indicated it should be for the total amount of diversion.

1937 - Water Conservancy District Act passed by Colorado legislature. Northern Colorado Conservancy District (NCWCD) organized under this Act replaced Northern Colorado Water UHcrs Association. District became contracting and operating organization for distributing Colorado-Big Thompson Project water.

-3- 1938- Rcp:1::•:tr-nt contract executed by NCHCD and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USilR). First construction on C-BT project was Green Mountain Reservoir, on the Blue River, to provide western slope replacement of water diverted to the eastern slope.

1940 - Fourth Wyoming .Y..§..:... Colorado U. S. Supreme Court decision. Further clarification of the earlier rulings, which essentially says that water users within Colorado· have a right to divert 39,750 acre-feet per year from the Laramie River and its tributaries within the State of Colorado.

1940 - An additional 225 irrigation wells were drilled in the 1930's, bringing the total in the Poudre Basin to 304 prior to 1940.

1945- U. S. Supreme Court decision on Nebraska·~ Wyoming concerning allocation of water from the North Platte River. This was second round of litigation thereon, and Colorado was impleaded as a defendant. Among other allocations, the decree limits exportation of water from the North Platte Basin in Colorado to 60,000 acre­ feet in any consecutive 10-year period.

1947 - First Colorado River water delivered through Alva B. Adams Tunnel of C-BT project.

1950 - An additional 217 irrigation wells were drilled in the 1940's, bringing the total in the Poudre Basin ~o 521 prior to 1950.

1951 - First delivery of C-BT project water to irrigators in the Poudre Valley.

1957 - First major legislation in Colorado con~erned with ground water development and use. Established Colorado Ground Water Commission and required large-capacity wells to be registered with the State. No authority was given to the State to deny registration.

1960 -An additional 295 irrigation wells were drilled in 'the 1950's, bringing the total in the Poudre Basin to 816 prior to 1960.

1965 - Additional ground water legislation passed which provides for establish­ ment of "designated ground water basins" and "ground \vater management districts." Authority to deny application to drill wells given to State Engineer and Colorado Ground Water Commission.

1969 - Legislation passed setting up procedures for adjudicating wells, using wells as alternate points of diversion for surface rights, etc. (Water Right Determination and Administration Act of 1969).

1970 • Approximately 75 additional irrigation wells drilled in the Poudre Basin in the 1960's bringing the total. to slightly over 900.

-4- A TALE OF TWO PIONEERS b'l J C MATTINGLY

A TALE OF TWO PIONEERS

Water Supply and Storage Company (WSSC) and the city of Thornton are not 1n court today. They probably would be, were it not for a negotiated agreement that shut the floodgates on a turbulent confllct that might have inundated the courts for years. For the time beingl the conflict has been diverted. A negotiated settlernent between WSSC and Thornton, reached on November 25, 1986, appears to be a Y.t1n-Yv·in transaction. It wlll save both parties a lot of money and grief. And give both parties most of the benefits of an-out litigation. The jury is still out, however, on a number of long reaching and less obvious mot ters. Thougn the parties heve stopped fighting, a large end complicated puzzle lies before them end the challenge of fitting the pieces should not be underestimated. There may be pieces missing. There might even be pieces on the table that don't fit anywhere -- pieces that belong in another puzzle. To suggest what the puzzle might look like Vr·hen assembled, we need to look et the details of the WSSC-Thornton settlement, review the events leading up to it, sketch the legal and social backdrop, and finally, we must comp8re and contrast the histories of the ditch company 8nd the suburb. A TAL£ Of TWO PIONEERS by J CHI' TTINGL Y 2

Thornton ogreed to pay WSSC about $19 mlllion in 6 flnanciel packege that included: 1) 3,000 acre feet (or approximately 4 .. 000 units) of Colorado-Big Thompson water; 2) 3 .. 500 acre feet from Poudre River reservoir Trap Loke II; 3) compensation to WSSC for prior legal expenses in

fighting Thornton~ 4) $30 .. 000 per share plus the cost of future assessments to WSSC shoreholders entering into flrst-use contracts; and 5) monies

necessary to insure that stringent weter quality standords ore maintained on

a11 returned first -use vvoter.

Add it ionolly, Thornton agreed to o perpetuol minority in director

positions on the WSSC 6oord --even if it should end up with on eventuol

rnajority in stock holding-- a concession that compromises the city's

influence on future ditch company policy ond management.

In return .. V/SSC agreed to remove legol barriers to Thornton's water

use that rnight be contained in the ditch company's bylaws .. and then to ret. ire

its ne·TVJy issued stock. In essence, WSSC magnanimously conceded to let

Thornton use the 283 shares of water th~t Thornton noVY· owns.

To evo1d the interpretation that Thornton over-conceded in these

negotietions, let's remember that the city 1s making capitel contributions to a ditch compeny in which it ovYns 47' of the stock, end thus Thornton benefits directly from those contributions.

Too, Thornton certainly valued the time it saved by not litigating a

questionable, if not risky case. Mutuel ditch companies ere ~n unmapped

t•8ck·n·8ter .. full of leg81 surprises -- fl fact that Thornton end a host of other

cities have already learned the hard vYay, and o feet we w1111ool< ot in A TALE Of TWO PIONEE~S b-_, J C MATTINGLV

greater detai llater. Thornton v:·asn't anxious to risk 8 defeat in .court, 8nd tt placed e high priority on keeping its water project moving towerd completion with a rninirnurn of adverse publicity. The probable suggest1on in the press that "the city of Thornton took water from farmers" was the sort of rock Thornton didn't need in its urban co¥tboy boots.

Thornton's settlerr1ent with WSSC rrtay be far frorn extravagant when compared with the city's cost of perticipeting in the T·tVo Forks Dam alternative .. 8 project presently bedridden with a host of environmentel and engineering d1se8ses, in spite of all the power and t8p1ta1 of its prim8ry sponsor, the Denver Water Board. The 8greement calls for WSSC to receive payments from Thornton over an extended t1me period .. a consideration which reduces Thornton's immeditJte cash outltJy. And in the case of the TrtJp ltJke II exptJnsion, Thornton tJgreed to pay no mare thltn $5 m1111on. In the 11kely event that debt ctJpittJl can fund the Trap Lake project, Thornton ctJn assume the loan .. agttin decrees1ng its netJr term cttsh obligation to WSSC.

Chronology 11nd • Opinion Januoey, February, gnd March, 1986: Denver newspapers are full of articles reporting Thornton's dissatisfaction with the Two Forks Project, on expensive and slow moving solution to its fast approtJching needs. Fort Collins papers carry several stories ebout a "mystery buyer· tak1ng options on large amounts of local formlend end water rights.

• A carefu1 reader might have put two end two together. A TAlE Of TWO PIONEERS bg J C MATTINGl V 4

March 16 .. 1986: The Fort Collins Coloradoan carries a front page story headlined RAPID GRO\YTH IS OVER. The report released by the Futures Study Council of the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce, indicates that Fort Co1Hns must now rely on internally-generated job growth to· sustain economic health. ·1rs a competitive Vt'orld we are living in .. end other states and cities are further aheed on economic development and planning then 'Ne are," states George Dennison .. chairman of the Futures Study Council. • Fort Collins once thought of itself as a ·natural· for growth. The only challenge was to keep it from occurring too quickly or haphazardly. The new data indicated that .. if growth was indeed an objective of the city .. it would have to be tJttrtJcted instead of merely accommodated.

AQril 10, 1986: Thornton officials appear in person 8t the Holiday Inn in Fort Collins and meet with farmers Vfho have signed option contracts to sell their lend end water. Thornton explains the general outline of its project, reflecting on its intents and purposes. • Thornton is one of those cities George Dennison referred to that is "further ahead on economic development and planning than we (Fort Collins) are.·

Aprll 11. 1966: Headlines say that Thornton ·takes Fort Collins officials aback· with the unexpected announcement that the Denver suburb has secured options to 12 .. 000 acres of farmland end 35,000 acre-feet of water rights in Water Supply and Storage Company as part of en innovative S142 million water ecquisition project. • Fort Collins off1cials couldn't be taken much further aback then they A TAlE Of T¥;0 PIONEERS btj J C HATTINGl V 5

already are. Amid slur.s and bickering .. local officiels reveal that they tJre most tJbeck in looking eheed. Had they been concerned ebout the weter needs of both the present tJnd expected popultJtion, they would heve funded the acquisition of'necessary water resources, or entered into plenning projects to do so, a long time ago.

At•ril 12, 1986: Headlines claim Thornton's plan .. angers local officiels" end ··sends 100 yeers of weter·vVorl

APril 13 .. 1966: While some fermers defend their right to sell their lend end water to whom ever they pleese, other termers predict the 1oss of irrigeted agriculture in northern Colorado. Vernon Ba1amonte makes the now notorious statement, ·we want to keep the water here. Our fat hers had the foresight 100 yeers 8QO to bring the water in. Those guys in Thornton don't have the foresight to go to the bathroom." Local officials shift from anger to worry. Though Thornton's proposed A TALE OF TWO PIONEERS by J C MATTINGl V 6

p1pe11ne will remove less than 10~ of the Poudre Basin's base y,.·eter supply., it is feared thet other Denver cities may follow in Thornton's footsteps.

• The t·n·o kernels of truth under this thick husk of rhetoric were thot locel officials felt outfoxed and flatfooted. Under their very nose, Denver had stuck "strerrvs" (and God only knew what else) into "their'" virgin waters .. and locals were under considerable pressure to condemn an·ything that bloomed near their ignorance. Their statements betrayed a fundamental misunderstanding of both lai't' and history; betrayed, in feet, a lack of knowledge about the source of waters in the Poudre Ba.sin in general, and 't\/S.SC in particular. As we shall see, WSSC's water sources depend on '"strews" in several .other basins .. including that of the leramie River.

Ironically.. Wyoming has fought the "water grabbers .. from the Poudre

basin for elmost 100 years. And the grand irony of this entire affair is that

if Thornton·s project is completed, the citizens of Denver wlll be drinking e

lot of water from the L6rll,iJie River.

The foresight that Vernon Baiemonte's father had 100 years ago to

divert water from the laramie River-- foresight that probably accrued to

the benefit of wssc -- is I in many ways, analogous to the foresight of Thornton·s planners. Both wanted water and were w11Hng to play social end

economic chess to get it. The difference between Thornton's planners and wssc·s fathers is principally one of time period and historical context. And on occasion, wssc·s fathers were wildly more ruthless.

Agrll 15 .. 1986: WSSC announces it had arranged an ·open, unlimited,

and multimillion dollar Hne of credit with First Interstate Bank to purchase

water end land from company stockholders seeking to sell: WSSC has 600 A TALE OF TWO PIONEERS bt.~ J C HATTit«;l V 7

~:hares outstanding. At this point, Thornton ha~; options on 245 shares.

• lhe deta11s of how this loan would be repai~ were carefully avoided. Un1ess First Interstate Bank planned to become an irrigation company, three plans seerned 111

300· shares at say, $70,000 a share, that's $21 million. lnter~st elone would be $2.1 million a yeor, or $3500 a share. Principal reduction on the debt together y,·ith expenses of operation, could put assessments at $10,000 a share, a devastating increase from the present $500 e share.

Or three, WSSC intended to purchase up to ~00 shares of stock \'Vfth borrow·ed money, rent the water back to the selling fermers for a song, then stick Thornton with the huge assessments needed to repay the loan. Thts possibility needed be articulated out of respect to the country craftiness of farmers, long underesttmeted by the urban public.

APril 16. 1966: WSSC held a closed-door meeting et the VFW lodge in Ault. A plea wes tendered for proxtes and for faith tn the board of directors. Apparently, the plea was successful. • In subsequent deys, WSSC modified its bylaws end issued 300 addttional sheres of stock. Few people, outside the board of directors end a trusted cluster of stockholders, knew about the dtlution unt11 two end e half months later, when the city of Fort Collins purchased 84 of the new shares. A tAL£ Of TWO PIONEERS by J C HATTINGL V 8

AP-ril 18, 1986: Thornton officiols meet y.,·ith Larimer County officials. Loss of tt'lx revenues from the 12,000 ocres is o major concern. It is said again that locals are concerned about losing future water to Denver. • Among locol officials, the word "future" ht'Jd been used more in the last two 'tVeeks thon in the last ten years.

AQrll 20 .. 1986: Headlines spe6k to the "Woter Wars in Colorado." Local offici61s seek ways to protect the .,.Yater.

• Battle lines '"'ere being drawn.

May 10 .. 1986: The Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, administrator of Colorado-Big Thompson water, publicly resolves to fight Thornton's plan to divert local water .. criticizing Thornton's secretive methods. Thornton calls the District's attitude "parochial. ..

• The District~ a large, mature water bureaucracy with everybody's business on its mind, felt compelled to serve as head cheerleeder against ·the outsiders: The District is chBrged with mBnBging the Colorado-Big Thompson system, which first delivered W6ter to the region in the early 1950s. Beceuse the District W6S originally formed as a SiQJplemen/61 w6ter supplier, it must see to i.t that its WBter is used only to supplement an existing bose water supply within its boundaries.

The District's 8Uthority extends to restricting transfers, both inter­

end intrebBsin, of the bBse supply if the transfers are in llny J1·'tJY fbcililllte·d

by the use of supplementel C-BT wBters. In essence~ there ere four "colors" A TALE Of TWO PIONEEPS b9 J C MATTINGLY 9

of water flowing in the Poudre Basin: native, foreign (imported) I supplemental .. and any blend of the first three.

Thornton targeted Water Supply and Storage Company for its Vt'ater acQu1sitlon not only because the innovative project was less expensive than other alternatlves, but because WSSC had an insignificant SiiJ.iplement ~.;f

C-li.T 1-vote.r in its satchel of appropriations~ and hence fell outside much of the Distric:rs regulations. 'wSSC management vocally opposed the C-BT project from the project's inception, and with good reason: The government -sponsored supplemental water project diluted the basin's e:x:istjng native and imported water rights, developed over the previous 60 years at considerable risk and sacrifice by ditch companies like WSSC.

Thus WSSC opposed the C-BT project back in the '40s and '50s -­

characterizing it as e self -serving speculation of latecomers --end WSSC had little, if any, subsequent interaction with the project in terms of water

exchanges or related poll tics. Beceuse of this I WSSC waters were eminently more transferttble out of the basin than water from e ditch company that

derived a significant portion of its weter from the C-BT system~ because C-BT water was tied directly to the Districrs bureaucratic nexus.

Ma~~ 1986: WSSC and Thornton agreed to a joint press release suggesting an icy armistice between them .. and indicating their intent to hold future talks in good faith.

• But nobody was signing anything and .. really .. nobody was saying

anything at that point. Thornton said it y,·as proceeding .. unabashed~ with its

plan, and 'wSSC took a wait-and-see position .. having placed the 300 shares

of additional stock up its sleeve. ATAlE OF TWO PIONEERS by J C HATTINGL V 10

May 20, 1986: Local governments .. busine~;ses, ond ·vvoter groups hold a po·n"v'iOW ot the Harriott ·Hotel to discuss ·rVays and means of protecting themselves from a water diYersion project planned by the city of Thornton. Many ombitious suggestions are mode: formotion of a Y.Htter authority, promotion of new, gigantic ·Nater development projects .. cooperation for greater efficiency, or leaving the entire matter in the hands of a free market (·which was perhaps the mtJst ambitious of the suggestions.) • More than 100 people ot tended the meeting. Although it was well-spent politicol currency for the governments-- giving the impression that politicions ond the water community were doing something about a crisis thot had yet to be defined -- the centn'l occomplishment of the gathering was the generation of no less than 1000 cubic feet of hot air.

Hoy 24, 1966: A number of Denver officials confess to the enormous thirst of their collective metropolis. Among its suburban peer group, ond by no less then Mayor Frederico Pena, Thornton was Yiewed os an innovator in its ttmbitious attempt to diYert woter from ttgriculturol use, and to do it in way that generoted the ·least arnount of animosity ...

June 2, 1986: Thornton begins closing on its lend ond woter options. A measure of uncertainty persists as to the actual Yolume of water Thornton has under option. The estlmttted net yield of Thornton·s acQuisitions is set at a maximum of 20,000 ecre-feet. If correct .. thet estimate says thet Thornton needs more water to meet the 35,000 acre-foot objective of its project. Deduction: Thornton expects to negotiate first -use rights on an A TALE or TWO PIONEERS biJ J C MATTINGLY 1 1

additional 15,000 acre-feet ·vv1 th stockholders of WSSC.

July 7 .. 19B6: WSSC ennounces sale of 84 shores, from its ne·wJy-issued block of 300, to the city of Fort Collins. Thornton objects

~- t renuous 1y, claiming di 1ut ion of its stock interest. Both sides fi 1e levY suits. • Thornton's loss in the dilution would not be in eQuity, since the nevv· shares, if tendered, vvould proportionately increase either cornpany assets or cash. Thornton would have 6 sm611er piece, but of o bigger pie. But the dilution v'ould cause Thornton to lose re16tive voting power, ond so its concern over the stock dilution revived an old point of contention: if, as

Thornton ernphatically claimed in the beginning .. it did 110t W6nt to control

\¥SSC .. then a loss of relative voting power would be of no conseQuence.

'whether or not Thornton really 'vanted to control WSSC, Thornton re6lly did not want its stock interest diluted, and it immedi6tely ·rVent to court ond sought a temporary restraining order to dis61low 'tvSSC's

300-share stock issue, extinguish any and all transactions that had occurred with the new stock, and challenge, among assorted other things, the right of the wssc·s boerd of directors to borrow millions of dollers to purchase units of Colorado-Big Thompson Vv'ater.

The immense irony here wes thet WSSC, archrival of the Col orad-Big

Thompson project, went into debt and octually went shopping for units of C-BT water. WSSC found 2,088 shares at Great Western Sugar Company's bankruptcy sale, r:tnd bpught them for about $1.5 million. Thornton opposed this purchase because it brought more SllfJp/ement6l J+'6ter into the WSSC's sat che 1 of native and imported appropriations, and thus gave the the Pis trict more influence in matters of WSSC water transfers. ATALE Of TWO PIONEERS b•J J C HATTINGL Y 12

~.July 29, 1986: Judge Hyatt delivered his de~ision, based on a .July

25, 1986! hearing. Hyatt held in favor of WSSC on all counts ...FLOOD OF

V/ATER DISPUTE RULINGS FAVOR LOCAL FIRt1." 'o/es, of course rnutual ditch companies can dilute their stock base and borrow money'

Trial date is set for January 20 .. 1987.

L eQlJi 8/Jd ..t:ttJcitll BtJcJ.·drap

Water in Colorado is o'tv·ned by the people of the state. Water is publlc property, not personal property.

Diversion of ¥r'ater .. Hke possession of property, may resemble "nine tenths of the la·YV ," but a Vv'ater right does not constitute ownership; strictly speaking, it establishes a privilege to use water, known as an oppropriation.

Appropriations are ranked, for the most part, by how old they are.

They are granted for et specific quantity of water that must be put to beneficial use. Both the quantity end the use require judicial acknoVY·ledgement, or an '"ttdjudication ...

A ditch company is a unique corporate entity. It mutually holds adjudicated ttppropriettions of water for the benefit of its stockholders, whose cttpitel peys for the diversion and delivery of the company's appropriations.

Stock in a ditch compeny is personal property .. similar to stock in IBM, except IBN doesn't poy dividends in computers end 8 ditch company does pay dividends in water.

All of these fectors converge to make water a political substance .. A TALE Of TWO PIONEERS bf:l J C MATTINGLV 13

t'ecause the appropr1at1on procedure is f;ubject to dispute .. and because even though the ·water of Colorado is owned and used by all of its people, some people use more then others. Agriculture has alwflys been the state's largest water user .. usi.ng an estimated 90% of the total volume. Because irrigation often doubles the expense of farming, lucrative crops are required to justify the application of ·rvater. Sugar beets 'vYere such a lucrative crop and vvater was first diverted to the Front Range primarily for their cultivation. Beets left the area in 1984 and left holes in the pockets of quite a few farrners. Beets were back in 1986, but only on 30,000 to 35 .. 000 acres, doVv·n frorn peaf<-year plantings of almost 300 .. 000 acres. Among other things, this decllne reflects a significant change in national attitude toward sugar. Onc.e a popular and strategic cornmodHy, sugar .. and beet sugar in particular .. has lost much of its eppeel and stotus. Greet Western Sugar Company pro mot i onel films of the 1950s shoy,·ed people happily consuming vest quantities of sugar-- a "good" food. Today .. sugar is 8 four-letter word. It's being replaced by substitutes, and it faces stiff competition from cane sugar, grown in 8reas VY'here a loincloth and

machete can produce cheaper sugar than a precision planter and a beetdigger. Other crop options of the Front Range --primarily: livestock, pinto

beens, com, small grains, end hay; and secondarily: pickles, onions, pot8toes .. end vegetables-- face stiff competition both internationally end domesticelly. Both the primary 8nd secondary crop options can be produced

ees1er and cheeper in either rain-fed regions, or regions with longer growing seasons.

And mo~;t crops gro·n·n along the Front Range leave the area, on railcars A TALE OF TWO PIONEERS by J C HATTINGL V 14

headed for barges that will unload in Russia or Japan .. or in sacks and jars headed for Los Angeles or Chicago .. or as boxed beef and lamb headed for Boston or Ne·rV Vork City. The Front Range produces surpluses of most ag commodities, and fe·...v producers consum;r their own goods. Nost corn gro·v'v·ers and dairymen buy their cornflakes ~nd milk et Sefewl!y. Because of the passionate politics of egriculture end water .. people ere quick to vvorry about farmland being dried up. They aren't as quick to worry about farmland being slowly mined for the production of crops that really aren't in demand. It 'rVill take more than a reoctor meltdown in the Ukraine -- indeed} more than a major drought/ blight .. and frost in the same year-- to bring the ·vvorld's capacity to supply in line with worldwide demand. Along the Front Range .. some 750 .. 000 acres are irrigated. With the Farm Security Act, Uncle Sam is hopeful of fallowing over 100 million acres nationwide in 1987. A sobering perspective: the sum of irrigable ecres along the Front Range represents but tl;ree-qutJrters of one percent af the nilm/ler oll!cres tl!rgeted !Dr ntJtionH·'Jde idling. And even this massive reduction will do no more then stabilize prices at their lowest levels in decedes. Were the Front Range to return to grassland, and be put into ·dry storage for the future,· the world ag economy wouldn't even notice .. end the

n~tionel ~g economy wouldn't miss it.

But local ~nd regional economies are deeply dovetailed with irrigated egriculture. Form dollars circulate ubiquitously --not only with local

suppliers of farm goods, but also in banks, ret~il stores, end service industries. Removing irrigated agriculture from the local economy would be a crippling event, bankrupting not only individuol businesses, but th8t part of A TALE Of TWO PIONEERS b9 J C MATTINGLY 15

our culture Vv'hich is agriculture. Such a rernoval, ho'rYever, is highly unlikely

More likely is 6 reduction in irrigated acres, something that has been long

~nt 1cip~ted. Because farming is risky business, much land and water has been. purchased on the Front Range with the perception that the long-term payoff of the 1nYestment 'vV111 not be the sale of crops, but rather the S8le of the water or the land to rnunicipal or industrial users involved in rnore stable endeavors. Farmers themselves have enjoyed this perception. Especially when they talk to their banker, think of their retirement, or ·want to leave something of growing value to future gener8tions. Like farm dollars, agricultural y,·ater 81so circulates ubiQuitously. Ditches run tt1rough cities, and lakes are everywhere. After flying over the

Front Range in a sm611 airplt~ne, people typically comment, .. There are so many 16kesr The lakes, frorn Horsetooth ( 150,000 acre-feet) to Spitzer (80 acre-feet) hold mostly snowmelt from the mount81ns --dammed, diverted, and delivered for everything from irrigation, 18undry, and lemon8de, to bo8ting, angling, and brewing. A cosmopolitan community now surrounds the irrig8tion lekes. Hany bridges now cover old ditches. This weter wns initially diverted for the development of agricultural lands, largely by highrolling speculators who hoped to benefit from the increesed value of the land after it became irrig8ted. Many irrigation comp8nies 81ong the Front Range were started by outside speculetors rather than our dust -sy,·eat ing f oref at hers. Thornton isn't doing 8nything that hasn't been done before. \'later A TALE Of TWO PIONEERS by J C HATTINGL V 16

grabs and land plays are a significant and recurring strand, woven into the fabric of the area. Comparatively speaking, Thornton has been far more considerate than many of the w·atergrabbers who first diverted water to the city of Fort Collins and to agricultural lands in Larimer County.

A li~'llmt'!Joil Hjsft'rJl of li1Bter Sllpp/y Dnd StortJge Compl!nJJ On June 9, 1891, Chomber·s lake Dam breached in a heavy downpour, sending a 30- to 40-foot ·Hall of water down Poudre Canyon. No one was killed, but damages were estimated at $50.,000. Larimer County Ditch Company o¥t·ned Chamber's lake, and after settling the damage claims .. it was decided by 611 interested and concerned parties that it would be best to form a new company. less than a month after the Chamber's Dam breach, on July 3, 1891, Water Supply and Storage Company incorporated, headed by I. W. Bennett end

Samuel Southard. Through the issue of 600 shares ot 6 par vBlue of $100, which "'·ere sold to only the water right holders of larimer County Ditch Company, WSSC genereted $60,000 in startup cepitel. It wasn't, of course, as simple as one-two-three-$60,000. There were portial subscriptions, sub~equent bond issues .. intense negotiations, and f1noncial maneuvers that rival the complexity of eny undertaken in recent times. But in the end, a deta11ed unraveling of the company's capital structure reveals that the company ran for close to eight yeBrs on approximately $60,000 in cosh and commitments.

Water developers and speculators were very active in the late 1BOOs in northern Colorado .. so a prolific c11que of smBll ditch end reservoir A TAlE Of TWO PtONEERS by J C MATTINGlY 17

cornpan1es v,·as already operating (y,·Hh varying degrees of success) that the newly formed WSSC sought to consolidate. As stated in the company's first

Articles of Incorporation .. ~"sse intended to serve os a pro¥ider .. or distribution agent .. for the old Larimer County Ditch by: 1) purchasing all the rights and assets of Lorimer Water Supply Company .. through whose system ·water could be diverted interbasin from the Grand, Michigan .. and Loramie

Rivers.; 2) purchasing all the rights and assets of Larimer County Reservoir

Company, through ·n·hose system water could be diverted from Lost Lakes; 3) rebuilding Chamber's Lake and purchasing pleins reservoirs 1 through 5 of the

old Larimer County Ditch Company; and 4) purchasing Bppropriations .. rnake exchenges/ and trap drainege and flood waters. The Fort Collins Courier of August 13, 1891 heralded the new Water Supply and Storage Cornpany by saying,

ft is 8 -well kno-wn fset th8t the lands SUt'Ceptible of irr;4}fltion under the larimer CountiJ Ditch embrace $Orne of the verv best farming lands in the countiJ, and bu1 for an inadequate w·ster supply \iou1d be the nmt valuable. This difficulty is OO'w' in a fair vay to be overcome and the

farmers under that ditch have rea~n to rejoice thet the dag of their deliverance from the effects of drought is near at hand.

Almost immediately~ Water Supply end Storage Company emerged es a serious contender for survival among the many smoll companies fighting to drive pitons in the steep cliffs of water speculation in northern Colorado in

the lete 1800s. Since 1ts beginning in 1891 with o scent $60,000, WSSC hes completed a constellation of acquisitions and diversions thot, todoy, would take "forever" and cost biJ11ons.

Whot we wi111ook at in some detail are those projects which involved WSSC directly in 1nterbasin diversions to the Cache la Poudre River. The following chronology of interbasin transfers is enough to make a modern A TALE OF TWO PIONEERS bq J C HATTINGL V 18

·v'v·ater developer pray for a return to the old days.

• THE PURCHASE OF LARIMER COUNTY DITCH COMPANY shortly after 1t

fell on hard t1mes and into the grip of foreclosure. On August B~ 1692 .. Alex

Ault .. acting for 't'/SSC, purchased the Larimer County Ditch by Trustee's Deed~

for $10~540. Several weeks later~ WSSC bought all the Vv·ater rights and

franchises of the Larimer County Ditch Company for $1.00.

Among the assets acQuired: THE CAMERON PASS DITCH, originally

built in 1882~ and probably the first inter-watershed diversion into the

Cache 1e Poudre River. Catching W6ter on the slopes of the valley of the

Michigan River~ the Cameron Pass Ditch runs north and east end empties into

the Poudre about a half a mile from the crest of Cameron Pass. In 1B98,

WSSC enlarged C6meron Pass Ditch from 10 cubic feet per second to 28. The

expansion was flnished in 1899~ 6nd the ditch has been running ever since.

• THE SKYLINE DITCH, originally celled the Laramie River Ditch, traps

water from the upper reaches of the Laramie River and carries it

southwest ward across the Continental Divide into Chamber's Lake. Much of the Ditch is above 9200 feet; 1t 1s 5 mlles long, 1a feet wide at the top, 12 at the bot tom, end 6 feet deep. In September of 1891, WSSC contrected with l. l. Abbott 6nd Sons, who set to work with six tetJms, five scrtJpers, Bnd o crew of 19 men. Though

e bBrgBin contractor at 5 cents per cubic yerd of dirt and rock excavated,

Abbott failed to prove up to the job.

In July of 1892, John Nelson wes hired by WSSC as engineer for the

Skyline ate salary of $200 a month. Shortly thereafter, CBrllslse and

WeHbric of Pueblo won the construction bid. The contract called for

completion by January, 1893, end the prices ranged from 20 cents a cubic A TALE Of TWO PIONEERS b" J C HATTINGl V f9

yard for e6rth to S1.15 a yard for solld, $4.50 per cubic yCJrd for tunnellng, and $105 per acre for timber clearing. Carllslse ond V1'1etbric were troubled by perverse weother ond hord rock. The firm had to negotiate several extensions with WSSC, but by August of 1893, 6 force of 300 men and 40 tet~ms wt~s on the job. Two months loter, oll excovt~Uon was completed.

John Hanna~ a Fort Collins lawyer, wrote to the Fort Collins Courier in August of 1895:

Have you ever been up the Skyline? You ~hould see it. We left the Laramie ten miles above Strer.,·oods and tli mbed a thou38nd feet higher on the mountain. Then 'We -were on the bank of the

Skyline Ditch Do you think they h8d to prop it up? Yes, they have literally propped~ and pinned, and scre"w'ed it to the side of the mountain. But it is not a flume., remember. It i! a ditch, dug and blasted and tunnelled out. It must be 'w'orth a million. Aforce of men at the d1tch camp., half 'w'81J do'w'n the 11 ne, p11trols its benrs day end night. It W'8S a bold conception 1ndeed. Total cost of construction: $53,304.75 This diversion of Laramie River waters, of course, provoked a controversy between Wyoming and Colorado as it was .. arguably, the first significant inter-watershed diversion in the region. The subject resists brief summary.: suffice it to say that threats and cooperat 1on have maintained 8 tedious be lance for nearly 100 years. • THE GRAND RIVER DITCH, also known as the Colorado R1ver D1 tch, since the Grend is the headwaters of the Colorado. WSSC undertook to build 8 series of ditches, known es the South S1de., Bennett~ North Side Ditches and Extension Ditch, co11ect1vely known as the Grend Ditch. The project commenced in earnest 1n 1895, shortly after completion of the Skyline. But it took 46 yeers to finish, a time period that saw many aborted ambitions .. cepHal scrambles end 1nfus1ons exceeding a million dollars. The result was A TALE Of TWO PIONEERS btj J C MATTINGLY 20

a grand ditch indeed that ~aught runoff from 21 square miles of mountainside betYveen the ditch at 10,000 feet and the Continental Divide at 12,500 feet.

From Baker Gulch to Poudre Pass, the ditch's length is 15.12 mlle~;; it is bet ·"'·een 9 and 18 feet wide and 6 feet deep. And most of it, lll

And cunning. In one of the early phases of the Grand's construction, W. C. Bradbury was awarded a bid -- this particular one on May 30, 1902 -- to complete various improvements on a reach of the ditch near Dutch Town Creek. Bradbury accepted terms of $1.10 per yard for moving solid rock, 45 cents a yard for all other meterials, $100 a acre for timber clearing, and a deadline

of ~-lonuary 1, 1903. Given wssc·s experience with work in its mountain territory, it is easy to speculate that the company placed the contract expectating that it could not be met. Bradbury, though a newcomer, went to work with a will. He established a supply depot in Fort Collins, employing 200 men and 50 teamE; --en impressive work force that was nevertheless driven off the mountain by severe storms in late September of 1902. Once apprised that the work would not be completed by the deadline, the WSSC board of directors met and

resolved to not pay Bradbury untll the work was f1nished, and then

determined that demeges of no less than $100,000 had befallen the company as o consequence of Bradbury's incompetence. Numerous attempts at settlement ensued, court action appeared imminent, andes in the 1966 case involving Thornton, Bradbury settled with WSSC out of court. He received $1 o.. ooo. WSSC received the benefits of en estimated $107,000 worth of construction work. A TI\LE or TWO PIONEERS by J C HATTINGL V 21

Incidents like this are the inspiration for an anonymous Quote:

Pollticiens end contractors have come end gone over the lest centuqL but ditch compeni~~ -- those that siJrvived, anyway -- look to go on forever. When you tangle with an old ditc.h company, you do so et your own ri3k.

• CONSTRUCTION OF LONG DRAW RESERVOIR, an integral part of the Gr8nd Dttch complex (particularly the Grand Ditch Extension). It is ebout 3 miles below Poudre Pass on a branch of the Big South Fork of the Poudre. lnHially estimated to cost $50,000, the 58-foot high dam backing up 5,70U

ecre feet in fact cost $150,044.11 when finally completed in 1930 by Dooling Brothers Construction. Still, that's about $26 an acre foot. Today} the cost of a major reservoir rehabilitation can be as much as $1,500 en acre foot.

• RECONSTRUCT ION OF CHAMBER'S LAKE. Twice. Once in 1898 --

some 7 years after it broke, and again in 1910.

• THE LOST LAKES SVSTEM, an adjunct to other relatively small

Laramie River diversions to the Cache La Poudre, carrying the natural

drainage of Lost, Laramie, and Lilly Lakes into Chamber's Lake. The complex

was operated from 1898 to 1910 as a claw of small ditches with minimal storage capecity. Concurrent with the second reconstruction of Chamber's

Lake, WSSC commenced enlargement and improvement of the Lost Lakes complex by building end extending earthen dams.

• In summary, WSSC was clearly one of the region's pioneers in

diverting water from other basins into the Poudre Basin. Sixty to seventy

percent of the company's water is derived from foreign (imported) waters.

As previously noted the J/nported and native composition of wssc·s

water sources unmixed with restricted supplementel weters of leter

decades, coupled with the relieble priority ranking of WSSC decrees, A TALE OF TWO PIONEERS by J C MATTINGLY

et tracted the cHy of Thornton to purchase WSSC stock.

A Briel Histt'lY of the City tJf TlJtJmton.. ll htJme rtile J77tll7icJpoiity First incorporated in 1956, Thornton now encompasses 17 square miles ond is one of Denver's fttstest grovving suburbs. In the lote 1950s end through the 1960s, the city of Denver provided adequtttely for Thornton's rnunicipal water needs. But in the 1970s, Denver ran into trouble wHh its new transmounta1n diversions because of adverse environmental impacts and expenses. Facing a possible tourniquet on Hs gro¥r·th due to a restriction in water supplies from Denver, Thornton set out to sotisfy its needs independently. In a sense, Thornton began "pioneering" for its own woter. Except, urban pioneers don't dig can a1 s, they condemn therrt. Thornton is no foreigner to water litigation with farmers. On November 13, 1973, Thornton sued The Farmers Reservoir and Irrigation Company (Farmers), seeking water and water rights, ditches ond ditch rights of the Standley Loke Division of Farmers. As a home rule municipttlity, Thornton was empowered by the Colorodo

Constitution, Artlcle XX .. Section 1.. 8S having (T)he po"w"er, '-"thin or '-"tfK'ut its territorial limits, to construct, condemn and purchase, purcha!e, acquire, lease, add to, maintain, conduct and operate: 'w'tter -works, light plants, pow-er plants I transportation systems I heating plants I and any other public utilities or wrks or 'w'a~ local in use and extent, in vhole or in pert and evervthing required therefor and the same of any part thereof may be purcha~ by said city and county W'h1ch may enforce such purchase by proceedi 09' at la'w' as in taking land for public use by right of eminent domain. It eppeared to be a straightforward condemnetion case. However, a group of Fermers· stockholders, led by Victor Jecobucci (whose neme hes A TALE Of TWO PIONEEPS by J C MATTINGLY 23

since ttecorrte associated with the case), filed a cross-petition in District Court to intervene as defendo,7ts in the condemnation proceedings. The

Jacobucci pet 1t ion was denied on February 11 .. 1975 ofter the court concludE-d that the shareholders of Farmers were not indispensable parties to the proceedings.

Jocobucci's group oppealed to the Colorado Supreme Court, which reversed the District Court's decision and determined that, in the instance of Farmers Reservoir and Irrigation Company) "shareholders ttre indispensoble port i es .. to the condemnation proceeding.

The Court's reasoning evaluated the evolution of mutual ditch companies in Colorado. The key passage Y'v'BS: The rapid development of sgricultrJre in the arid regions of the -west l,_..d to the increased i mportarece of irrigation. 1rrigation itself, ho'w'ever, proved to be a great obstacle to farmers in need of irrigation water. The construction and mai ntenence of canals and reservoirs required the outlay of large sums of money .... 1n response to the enormous task of suppl yi ng·'w'ater to the perched farmlands, farmers banded together end formed mutll81 ditch companies for the express purpose of storing and conducting wter for irrigation. farmers 'Who may have previously wned ditche~ as tenants-in-common wuld (commonly) transfer their oW'nership rights to mutual ditch companies end in return receive stock repre1enting their veter rights. This mede possible the distribution of W'ater over laroe arm of land, often remote from the source of supply. . . Not only W'!S the management of the ditches and reservoirs mede more efficient, blrl capital \i8S made more avai1able through the operation of these companies. Hlrlt131 d1tch companies 1n Colorado have been recognized as quasi-public carriers. Farmers is not organized for pr:ofit or hire and exists primari1g for the benefit of its shareholders. Farmers i' enoaged in the businest' of storing and transporting 'Water to shereho1ders "Who wn the right to use the W'ater ... The relationship bet-ween the mutual ditch corporation and its shereholders arises out of contract, implied in a subscription for stock and construed bg the provisions of the charter or artlc1es of 1ncorporation. A TALE Of TWO PtONEERS bq J C HATTINGL V 24

So Thornton mede en error in equet1ng Formers shareholders to shareholders in e generic corporation. The shares of stock held by the consumers in a rnutual ditch company represent a specific property interest in the water right. The interest of such shereholders con not be '"defeated or oltered by ony action of the ditch compony of its other shareholders:

The Supreme Court then determined that a minimum of 271 shareholders of Fermers ·were faced with substantial defeet ttnd alteration as e consequence of being denied ·.,yeter, and thet each shttreholder·s incident damages hod to be eveluated seperetely from the ttggregcste, since ttn aggregate settlement v,·ould certainly fall to eccount fttirly for individuel variances in demage.

Thornton went beck to the dr6wing boerd and nemed all necessary stockholders in the condemnation proceeding.

Fermers then 6rgued: the 1975 Water Rights Condemncstion Act specifies thcst cs municip611ty, 6S 6 pert of exercising its rights of eminent domttin, must prep6re a community growth plttn, 8 dete11ed sttttement of causes, and e rendition of effects concerning the proposed condemnation. By this logic, home rule municip611ties were subject to statutory limitations because the determiniJtion Df necessity is e matter of long reeching consequence for the entire state.

Further, Fermers ergued that the statutory 11mitat ions esteb11shed

standerds for compensetion besed on the VIJ/ue Df dllmttge ID/he dBmBged ptJrty. not restricted to everttge appreisttls or generally eccepted stand8rds

of value that might be hestny, if not arbitrarily, imposed. It wasn't unt i1 1978 thet the Colorado Supreme Court held "the Generel

Assembly hes no power to enect ony l8w thet denies e right spec1fic811y A TALE OF T¥/0 PIONEERS by J C HATTtNGl V 25

granted to home rule municipalities by the Colorado Constitution." This permitted Thornton to proceed with condemnation. so .. Thornton hos hod its own bottles in pioneering for woter; to characterize the municipallty os a sweggering condemner of agricultural vvoter would be pelently unfair.

floc:~· to the Big Flctllre F11zzle The foregoing has tried to identify some of the background pieces in the puzzle that WSSC ond Thornton ere presently essemb11ng. But there are other pieces. • Urben/rurol communicotion problems. • Understonding of the municipalities as necessory consumers and coinhabitonts of a region rich in diversity. • Resolution of the potentiol conflict with the Northern Colorado Weter Conservancy District. Since WSSC purchosed C-BT water, ond Thornton intends to use C-BT water in part of its settlement to WSSC, mltigolion of restriction by the District is imperative to Thornton's success. WSSC Vr·orrented to remove all legal impediments that might be within its tntrJ bylaws; notobly, nothing wes said or indicoted es to possible legal impediments thet Thornton might f6ce with the District. • Esteblishing end meinteining accept6ble quality stondords on returned first-use W8ter. Such ftgreements are as subject to dis8ster 6s they are to changing interpret at ion. Enforceeb111ty ond edaptfttion to new rules present e significant challenge. One serious mistake could jeopardize the entire reuse plan. A TALE OF TWO PIONEERS b\j J C HATTIHGL V 26

In conclusion, Water ~upply and Storage Company and Thornton are co-pioneers 1n ·woter development in northern Colorado. Their interests ond dlfflculties are onelogous .. if not compotible. The rigors of building ond running e mutual ditch company ere different from those of a municipol enterprise .. but both require guts .. foresight, tight menegement .. end en ebility to deal with adversity. Context for context, Thornton's reuse plon is as embitious as wssc·s Skyline Ditch. If the two sides can appreciate each other's histories, struggles, objectives, and intents, the puzzle can fit together without meny pieces left over or missing.

0000000000 DRAFT--HISTORICAL CHONOLOGY OF THE WATER SUPPLY AND STORAGE COMP~~y

compiled by Bradley Leach & James E. Hansen-- Sept., 1985

Sources: * AED -Augustus Edwards Diary AR - Annual Report WSSC * FA1 -National ParK Service study of Grand River Ditch prepared by Ferrell AtKins <1966) * FA2 National ParK Service study of Grand River Ditch prepared by Ferrell Atkins <1975) HJ Harvey Johnson Interviews

* Located in "Historical Fi 1e 11 [original in WSSC Office; copy in CAAl Ilec.a.de Ila.!e l:loldingLEu.en! Souc.ce 1870

11/70 Dry CreeK Ditch Company organized JMB1, p 1

1875 Dam built on Chambers LaKe FA1

1880 [Note: This decade is characterized by frequent disputes involving many small water companies; see MB 1 & 21

2/81 Larimer County Ditch Company founded MB1, p 3

4/81 WorK started on Larimer County Ditch MB1, p 20

11/81 Larimer County Ditch Company Owns 7 MB1, pp 21-23 Reservoirs: Res. 2,3 & 4; Long Pond; Richard~; Elder; Rocky Ridge

3/82 Larimer County Reservoir Company MB2, p. 3 founded. Holdings included: Chambers LaKe, Lost Lake, Laramie[Ditch?l, Peterson[Ditch?l, Twin LaKes[Chain?l, 7/82 Larimer County Ditch Company acquires MB1, pp 29-30 lease of Chambers Lake from Larimer County Reservoir Company

1890 1890 Construction begun on Grand River LDE, pp 12-13 Ditch; first water crosses Continental Divide on 9/1/90 [note conflicting account denotes WAP, pp 3-5 1891 as the date of origin & 1893 as the date when water was first diverted across the Divide

Extensions: 1894 - 3 mi LDE, pp 12-13 1897- to Opposition Creel< 1934 - to Baker Creel<

1907-08 - to Dutch Creel< WAP, pp 3-5 1934-37 - extension necessary to protect filing on S. Dutch Creel<; whole ditch expanded to accommodate runoff; Gordon Construction Company did work under $800,000 contract; machinery used for first time.

6/91 Chambers Lake dam breaks causing much AED flood damage & discrediting Larimer County Ditch Company

7/21/91 Water Supply and Storage Company [WSSCl MB3, pp 2-6; AED founded in response to law suits filed vs. Larimer County Ditch Company re: flood damage

1891 Tunnel Water Company[name?l files on FA1 Laramie-Ditch Company water

1891 WSSC files on Sl

1891 Construction begins on Sl

1/92 WSSC assumes leases formerly held by MB 1 , p 183 ; MB3 , p 17 Larimer County Ditch Company from Larimer County Reservoir Company

4/92 WSSC buys Larimer County Ditch MB1, pp 194-95 Company holdings

7/92 WSSC acquires 592 shares of MB2, p 106 Larimer County Reservoir Company stock [apparently, for the purpose of taking over that company~s holdings]

8/92 WSSC acquires remaining Larimer County MB1, p 204; Ditch Co. assets incl. rights to MB3, pp 34-35 Long Pond & Lindenmeier for $10,540

8/92 Larimer County Reservoir Company MB2, p 107 deeds all property to WSSC & dissolves

1894 Skyline Ditch completed RNB, p i i [conflicting version: completed 1893, WAP, p 2 water run 1894]

5/94 Dry Creek Ditch Company ceases to JMB1, p 93 exist; all holdings acquired by Jackson Ditch Company

5/94 Jackson Ditch Company formed and JMB1, pp 94-95 acquired Dry Creek Ditch Company; [copy of deed in former adopts latter~s bylaws & f i 1e: •Jackson Ditch stock shares Company--Legal--Misc 0 l

6/96 Grand River Ditch construction begun ? [First reference to Grand Ditch in MB3, p224 WSSC minutes is on 7/1900, commenting on completion of South Ditch & start of North Ditch]

1896 Court awards Skyline Ditch water to KWS wssc

1898 Report by William Rist recommends MB3, p 187 building ditch[?] re: Cameron Pass

1900

WSSC files on Laramie-Poudre Tunnel KWS Company water

1902-03 WSSC acquires voting control Fiche: "Contracts" over Jackson Ditch Company of Riddle, Hock, through stock acquisitions Kluver, et al.

5/22/02 Chambers Lake area becomes national WAP, p 2 forest 1and

1902 Court awards Cameron Pass Ditch water KWS; MB3, p255 to WSSC; foreman designated for construction work

12/02 WSSC buys Curtis Lake MB4, p 6 8/22/03 Laramie-Poudre Tunnel & Raway Ditch Wllp conceived by Laramie-Poudre Res. & Irrigation Co.; Tunnel construction, 1903-11

1904 Broken dam on Chambers Lake causes WAP 1 fill 1 ight flood damage

4/04 WSSC buys Richards Lake land MB4, p 23

9/04 WSSC buys Black Lake [Origin of Black MB4, p 40 Hollow Reservoir?]

1/06 WSSC board approves construction of MB4, p. 78 Black Hollow Reservoir [incl. decree date]

3/06 WSSC board approves construction of MB4, p 86 Curtis Reservoir & Richards Reservoir

8/06 Court awards Grand Ditch water to WSSC FA2

1907-08 Grand Ditch extended to Dutch Creek FA2; WAP 8/08 ~J~~~-;,-i tch-::truc~;~@e ~ 1909 ;construction of Laramie-Poudre Tunnel __ \_begun -" · ·---- ...... ,-.-.... _- -- _,,.....·------~---~.-- 1910

1911 Chambers Lake Dam reconstructed MB4, p 312

1911 WSSC files on Kluver Reservoir water; KWS; MB4, 312 reservoir & outlet built __ ..., ______,_____ .,_;:__, ----- _...... ~ ...... _._, -----...... --~ e_~~:~~aramie-Poudre Tunnel --~

1920

1922-25[27]Charnbers Lake Darn reconstructed; WAP; AR 1927 raised 58 ft. ~~

1922 Black Hollow Reservoir completed ?

1927 Contract & title approved for Long AR 1927 Draw Reservoir construction; Dooling Bros. to carry out construction

1927 Skyline Ditch enlarged AR 1927 1930 fr;oo If. T" 1934-36 Grand Ditch extended to Baker Creek WAP; FA2

1935 Gordon Construction Company contracted AR 1935 to extend Grand River Ditch 1937-38 Parshall Flumes installed by WSSC MB8, pp 60,63,64,87 to provide accurate water measurement 9/38 Tunnel Water Company acquires assets TMB1, inserted pg. of Water Conservation Company

1940

1945 Court grants Long Draw water to WSSC KWS

1945 Court grants Kluver water to WSSC KWS [adjudicataion date: 12/18/451

3/45 Construction proceeding on Rawah Ditch MB11, p 41

1950 1959 Two-way radio system installed for WSSC AR 1959 camps 1959-60 Supreme Court case re. WSSC & City AR 1959, 1960 of Fort Collins 1960 1962 Automatic headgate controls installed AR 1962 ~ 8/6/63 Lost & Laramie Lakes released by WSSC MB16, p 188 [granted 19121

1965 WSSC Office moved to 2319 E. Mulberry AR 1965

1970

1972 Court case: Federal Government tries AR 1972 1975 Long Draw Reservoir enlargement begun HJ 1975 wssc acquires rock quarry AR 1975

1980 11/80 Court case: WSSC served summons in MB16, p 80 Vo 11 mer Su i t