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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.