TIE EMIAliGE 3YST1:1 )F IRRIG:TIOU ':1A,TERS AS APPLDID T: acA4c2,k3o.
By
Ralph L. Parshall
Irrigation .20neer, u. J. Dept. of Aucust, 1921
-he develo ent of irri:ption in colorado has extended now over a jariod of si.,Lty :Tears, t:to first efforts being -:,ut forth in the earl
ties along iver watershed. The first laws pertil.lAil to irri-gation were .broad in t'leir scope, of general application and inadequate. As
was
the advantages of irrigation become .nore aparent and more attontigak7iven to tie construction of ditches, extensions and eolarcenents, likewise was it tecossary to amend and create new laws to govern the el_ransion of this ne-cessax7 -!-;:iuse of w-Y;riculturaldevolonmont.
The various strez,..ns .1Dadin- in tie :11. her altitudes of the Jtate and flowing from t::c mountains through canonwalls to the fertile plains of the lower lands lade possiblo tie irrition systems ol ()Jr st_t,3. These streams were fed by the snows and. 1%,1as in the mountains, and the warm sun of sprin_;- and earlf summer caused the snow and ice to melt, making the stream in ilood Jurin; the early Dart of the -yowlir: season.
The natural grass meadows and cereals rown darin - the earl: sta,:es of agricultural devoloi-enent were ms 11-7 matured by moans of the natural flow of the strewn. bit finally other crors requirinn later irrition were at-tented w.- len necessitated so'ne means of providing an adequate water su,17. _11) onl:T [Tactical solution of this problem was the creation of artificial reservoirs, either in the channel of the stream or some availa,le site where t'lp flood waters could be diverted tiroar!ii com arativol: s'ort intake ditches and, at first, w. ,ert the da: for the reservoir could be constructed at little expense. In the olo.leer stae of reservoir construction a number of
desir-•
able sites were utilized. :rowev r, another very Important element entered into this development in the establishing of the storage at a point where the water could be used in the irrigation system of which the reservoir formed a Dart. TO obtain all phases of such a system was not possible,and to fully utilize the advantages from natural basins it vs obvious that Sole *elan be forumlated by means of which water might be mE..de to run up hill. As paradoxical as this lic:ht seem it has been made possible,by means of the foresight and ^..utual cooperation of the farmers, to practically transfer tbD water many miles up stream fro-1 the outlet Of the reservoir. To accomplidh this required thirty years of strenuous effort and the education Of water users to t Lo ;point where they were willing to c000erate in the general wel-fare of all concerneJ.
:1any saw the great advantae of the exchange of water, i,ut not until 1897 was there enacted allaw which legally opened the mu to make possible thie wonderful step in the develoG'Iont of irrigation. In the tenth bi-ennial report of th) .;tate :ngineer of Colorado, ivision .!;ngineer
Chew, of Pueblo, says: "Under this section (an act approved April 6,1899, which rrovides for temporary loan or echange of water) water was exchanged between ditches in a number of water iistricts of the Arkansas Valley. udn changes were always beneficial. The different ditch owners of the valley wisely realized the advantages Of such exchary.:es, and undoubtedly by reason of excflange o water crops were savod which could not otherwise have been
* hhile at first there was some opposition to the section voted, per-ittil: the excnanLp of water between different ditches, the opposition Is dyin out and the majority or the ditch owners in the Arkansas Valley nor look with favor upon t.is new law".
Report of the jtate - A3Ineer of uolorado says: "The transfer of water which perrlits water users to loan their water one to another, was certaialy a ;raat boon to the farmers duria7 the season just passed. While there is no law which is not subjected at ties to severe strain by the construction placed uLon it 1)7 different rninds, and this has been no exception to the rule, from my experience in its operation I heartily endorse it, and trust that it will not be molested or amended in any my during the present leTislature. I con-sider thz,t it has been of the value of at least ,100,000 in crane in my di-vision alone."
C. J. Roberts, Division liv7ineer of lileeker, in the above-mentioned biennial report states: "Concerning the exchange or loan of water riT:it be-tween ditch owners on the same strean, I have believed in the sale for 4 7oed
lon?; time past, and h%ve always J.ven advice to ditch owners on streams to exchange with each other, as that will, in a great -lazy eases, 7)revent tiose hard feeli:vs that isually arise between owners of ditches. I believe the law to be all ri:ht, as I have seen otii. ; bad resulting from the exchange.
The statalents mentioned by division engineers and made at the time of the beginning of this new practice seem at present to be borne out in fact. It is true without exception tnat the law pernitting e.cchange of irrigation water has been of far-reaching importance, and is the means of groatij ex-ttrmdin the beneficial use of water in the Poudre Valley as well as other localities in the state whero this practice is lossible.
The followin .: statelents are 0J:tracts from a ro ort prepared by R.G. Hemphill, Irrigation :111.ineer, U Dept. of :gri„ on the Use of ,:ater in the Poudro Valley of OoloradO. These statements :ive in concise form tita actual
manner of exchange of water anrlyinto the more prominent irrigation system of the valleys
=lb
F;XCHEaGE OF WATMR
" In order to utilize sites vflich could be developed cheaply, and at the sz.1,1e time to save the cost of intake canals, twelve reservoirs of the Cache la roudre Valley, with an aggregate capacity of about 50,000 acre feet, were built below the ,listributing canals of the com-anies owning them. The problem of
making the water stored in these reservoirs available for use, in the distributiw; canals above, Imo boon solved by the development of a very complicated system of exchange of water. In 1:1, an average year, Vie operation of the exchange sys— tem made available for use on hi 'her land about 55,000 acre feet of water stored In law reservoirn, or 14 nercent of the total supply u_lad by all the canals of the valley.
The handlinf; of the water of Cla7more Lake perhaps best exemplifies a si pie exoban:o of reservoir water. T is lake is owned and filled by the
ant ,ILlley and Lake Canal ',4bmnany and has an outlet runnirk7 directly to th.J river. ,urin2 the latter part of the season when the danand for water for late irriga— tion is heavy, the canal may divert 15 or 20 second feet in addition to the
amount to which it is entitled by its ri:hts. At the sale time amd equal flaw is tarried from Claymore Lake so that the river reaches the next large apropriator below undlignished by the extra diversion at the head of the canal. It was from such an exchange of water in Long Pond in 1892 that the Present system grew. Were there 'plenty of water in the river at the time it becomes necessary to use reservoir water, exchanges would still be as simple, but usually there is only
siall flow and the present complicated system has arisen from the necensit7 of -lakinc: this small flow exchange a large volume of stored water.
The principal exchange system of the valley involves the four largest canals, and to understand it clearly a few facts must be kept in mind. It will be noted from the map accom anyinc this report that beginning at t',€) lover end
Canal, and the Larimer County Canal of the Wateraupply and storage Company head in the order named. Next above and divertinc; from the North Fork is the North eoudre Canal. The principal water rights of these canals stand in the same order of priority, the Greeley Canal No. 2 coming first with an appropriation dating 1870, and the North Poudre Canal coming last with an appropriation 1881. 74servoirs :e. 5 and No. 6 of the North Poudre Company are too low to supply di-rectly any land under the canal, and their outlet empties into the Iarimer County Canal. With the exception of Black Hollow, the reservoirs of the ';later Llupply and Storage Company below the canon are also law and their outlet:; are arranged so that water from them may be turned into the Larimer and Weld Canal or the river. Belau the Laririer and '7eld Canal is the Windsor Reservoir which has a canacity of 17,000 acre feet and discharges into the Greeley Canal No. 2. A feu of the rights in this reservoir are held under the Greeley Canal No. 2, but the great majority are awned by farmers 11/143er the Larimer and Weld Canal. The exchange is operated by taking advantage of all these conditions.
Ilxcept during high flood periods, the rights of the Greeley Canal No. 2 may entitle it to practically the entire flaw of the I:orth fork, but instead of allow-lug this water to flow down the channel of the river to be taken directly by the canal, the water commissioner permits the North Poudre Canal to divert it for use, and directs that an equal amount be turned from the Windsor Reservoir to the Gree-ley Canal No. 2 when the drop in the river reaches that canal. If, for instance, a flaw Of 100 second feet has been taken for ten days, the North Poudre Comrany
acre
then owes the Windsor Reservoir lAi5k.aet or 87 million cubic feet, as it is expressed locally, and to secure the debt that amount of water is held in the
'6-amo'lnt of 1985 acre feet has been transferred upstream for delivery to rights under the Larimer and :;old Canal, and the North Poudre Company has been able to use in its main canal 1985 acze feet of the water stored in its law reservoirs. channels are available thru which the water in -eservoir No. 6 could be delivered direct to the Lari-ler County Canal at any time on demand of the -:ater 3nply and Storage Com-pany, and in exchange this company holds sufficient water in its law reservoirs to deliver 1985 acre feet to the Lariner and Weld Canal to supply the demands of the
hold-)1's of 7:indsor Reservoir rights. It will be noted that while the 4ree1ey Canal No. 2 has been left undisturbed in its rights, the use of 1985 acre feet of its appropria-tion has serv)d to exchange naarly 6000 acre feet of water stored in law reservoirs. The exchange is more comprehensive than the outline above indicates. As long an its s,grily of exchangeable water lasts, the North Poudro Canal usually takes the entire flow of the North Pork, including the discharge from Worster Reservoir which serves land under the Larimer and Weld Canal. The company also draws water from the river thru the Poudre Valley Canal for 3 torage and for direct irrigation. A number of ot:Ini canals, chiefly the Pleasant Valley and Lake, the New Mercer, and the Larimsr County No 2, draw slall quantities from the river to be delivered on scattered hold-ins of North Poudre stock. These debits are balanced by water turned to the Lad.riar county Canal thru Reservoir No. 6, by water turned into the river from the Fossil Creek Reservoir, and by water from ditches tarping the Michigan River basin.
The account of the Lorimer County Canal shows on the d obit side Douglass Re-servoir water, water fron North Poudre ReRe-servoir No. 6, river water taken at the head of the canal, and occasionally water from several s :all reservoirs in the mountains taken as it coos dovn the river. Against these stc-n.1 the water from Lind,mmeier Lake delivered to the river, and water from other reservoirs delivered to the Ian or and 4eld Canal thru. vry Creek or the outlet c) Len: Pond. It ofte,4 happens that this Is not sufficient to balance the account, and in this case water from Chambers Lake is
Jent down the river to be taken at the head of the Lartme7 and Weld Canal. Aside from the oven ezchance of LindeAmeler Lake water, the river water taken includes "Windsor exchange" and direct arTropriation of the Larimer and dela Canal said
concurrently from Lon.; Pond. The Water ..upply and Storage Company has a canal Tan-nin,: from Dry Creek to thJ river just above the head of the !Jason and Hottel Mill
Ditth, and thru this channel water from Curtis and Kluver lakes may be exchanced directly with the river. However, this exchange is seldom made.
The Larimer and Weld Canal account shows the advances to other canals of river water and of water from Windsor, 'orster, Douglass and other reservoirs. On the other side of the account stands the water delivered by the Water umply and Stora:;e Com-z„n:, thru Low: Pond outlet, Dry Creek and the river. Occasionally, be-fore the delivery of reservoir water is began, the de,nand exceeds the su7Tly avail-able on direct appropriations, and at such times the Windsor Reservoir advances to the canal a sufficient amount to meet the reuirements. 'hen the elivery of reser-voir water is beL7en, the canal delivers to awners of .i.ldsor rights the small flaw then beirr; received on direct appropriations until the debt is raid.
To avoid te-Iporary storage of the ,iroct appropriations of the Greeley Canal No. 2, payments from Windsor Reservoir must be made concurrently with the di-version of the canals appropriations above, which limits the canal's direct inter-est in the eschan31) to socarim the water to which it is entitled. However, to fLellitato oporatioJo, there are, within the system, excllanes of reservoir credits add also of river and reservoir credits. Late in the season when the direct ap-propriations of the canl are farnishinf: only a mnall amount of water and the demand for reservoir water is heavy, the river water may be used to satisfy demands of the
holders of Cache la Poudre 2eservoir rif.lts. The canal is then credited with an equal amount in the Cache la Poudre 2,eservoir, and when sufficient credit has tllus -been accImulated, river water will be delivered from the reservoir, on demand of the
canal stockholders, at the rate of a "day's run" per share.
?here are in the 17ossil Creek Reservoir 150 preferred rights of 1,000,000 cubic feet each, 90 of which are held by farmers under the Greeley Canal Yo. 2. In dry years when the rights of the r.lreeley Canal :To. 2 fall short before sufficient Windsor Reservoir water has been transferred upstream, the water held for these pre-ferred ri7hts is used to effect an exchange. Water in the river belonging to the earliest ditches heading below the outlet of the Fossil Creek Reservoir is diverted by the -orth Pcudre Canal or tat) Lorimer County Canr1 and credited to tho Windsor Reservoir to be paid in the manner shown in a preceding paragraph. Water held in the l'ossil Creek Reservoir for the preferred rir;hts is then turned down the river to be diverted by the canals whose water was diverted above. The account is balanced when water for the preferred rights is delivered to the canal by the ':Jindsor Reservoir.
In case the North Pcudre and Lariler bounty canals are drawing water on their on priorities and the Windrow Reservoir water is not being transferred up-stream fast enou -h, the water commissioner may store the "Windsor exchange" in some reservoir with available capacity which has little change of being filled further during the season on its storage appropriations. Douglass Reservoir is ased in this manner and occasionally Terry Lake.
The one disturbing element in the exchange has been the :Jason and Hottel :All race which had an qppropriation of 60second feet with a very early priority.
*later vs appropriated by it for power purposes prior to the adoption of the State Constitutioll, which made a power right inferior to an irrigation ri :lit, and for
this raason its appropriation was given equal standing with the irrigation appro-.priations When the adjudication of rights took place. Thus it often happened that
water badly needed for exchange had to flow down the river to satisfy this right. /n 1919 the llorth Poudre, Jater Supply and 3tora-e, an Larimer and 7:eld comnanies secured an abandonment of this right to the river by payin the mill company :120,000. This will no doubt make the exchance operate much r:ore effectively.
Water :lights
The development of irrigation was so rid in the Cache la Poudre basin that the problem 0: an equitable division of the water in the stream arose earlier than in any other section of the country. The need became pressilK, with the con-struction of large canals in the late seventies, and the efforts of the people of the valle:7 to solve the problem resulted in the inau3mration, in 1879-1881, of the pre-sent system of water administration. The first general adjudication of water rights in the Cache la Poudre and its tributaries was held immediately after, and with few exceptions the rights decreed then are now in force and unimpaired. "
Mr. John L. Firnstron,:, formerly (;ommissioner of Water District "To. 0, prepared a short .fanar on the exchange and transfer of water in his district. This paper was prepared and was to have been presented at a meeting of farmers in ":;eld County. However, dile to uno-;:rectej emergencies arising, he was unable to be nre-sent at the gathering. followin: is a copy of his paper incorporated post-humously in this report:
10-I have been asked to talk to you for a few minutes on the transfer of water and the exchange of water as practiced in the art of farming by irrigation in the Cache la Poudre Valley. I have not much to say in favor of the transfer of water. General-ly speaking, it is unfair, for the reason that it often results in the loss of water by ditches whose owners need the water, do not wish to part with it, and who have received no compensation whatever for the loss of it. The theory is, of course, that the people who receive the purchase price of the transferred water are the people who lose the use of the watinb on their own lands, but this is true so seldom that it constitutes the exception and not the rule. I could give you a good many instances, but you would get tired listening, so I will only call your attention to one:- In the general adjudication of priorities in this district the Josh Ames ditch was decreed an appropriation No. 25 for 35.92 second feet of water. Several years ago the omners of the land under it reported to me that they 11.,(1 710 acres to irrigate from
91/
it. The
wantity decreed was sufficient for four times the amountof that kind of land. In 1912 the New Mercer Ditch Company being long on land and short on water paid the owners of the Josh Ames ditch $24,000.00 for ten stioond feet of its appropriation, and that much of the Josh Ames appropriation
211,
paper was transferred to New Mercer, but the water was transferred from ditches junior to the Josh Ames. So the poor Josh Ames farmers were out down until they had only water enouh left to irrigate two and a half times the number of acres that they owned. I drink more water every day than the JoshAmea
ditch lost since 1912 on account of the transfer. About a year ago, as the result of an abandonment suit the total appropriation of the Josh Ames ditch was out down to 25 second feet, which will reduce the New Mercer's ten feet toabout seven and leaves about eighteen feet in the Josh Ames, so that it now will have only about nine feet more to sell after keep-ing enough to irrigate the land under it. I do not understand why the owners of the Josh AMO3 ditch should have received $24,000.00 for nothing, and I do not understand why the oTners of junior
ditches should have this tan feet or seven feet or any other number of feet taken from them and get not a red cent in compensation.
The exchange reservoir water is in general a good thing and has been a very important factor in the conservation of water and the development of our irrigation system. Taking the water that belongs to the lower ditches out in the ditches farthest up the river and paying for it from the reservoirs not only allows the reservoirs to exchange water from below, to above the land to be irrigated, but it gives an opportunity to use the return waters more times and thus increases the duty of water in the whole dis-trict. At a former meeting of this Institute, I explained to some extent the method of exchange that has been practiced in this Valley, so I suppose it is not necessary to go over it again, unless you
have some questions to ask, and if so, I will do my best to answer them, but I want to call your attention to one branch of our ex-change that does not appear to me to be in as healthy a condition as it ought to be. There are a number of channel reservoirs being built at different points in the mountains, some of them far from a road and very difficult of access. The owners of these ponds have no lands to irrigate but sell the water when they can to ditch companies down here in the valley. Now the law requires that the State Engineer shall make a survey of all channel reservoirs and prepare a capacity table to show the number of cubic feat of water for each foot in depth, but the builders of these reservoirs dis-like to put the State Engineer to so much trouble so they make a
-2-little survey of their own and file a capacity table in the office of the State Engineer. Then when the reservoirs are full and a MIT-chaser has ben) found and the water commissioner wants to know how much water to delivar in lieu of the reservoir water, it has become a habit for the State or Division Engineer to simply send the water com-Assioner a copy of the table supplied by the owners or in some cases a blue print of the filing, table and all. I believe I have good reasons for doubting the accuracy of these home-made capacity tables. Once upon a time vr had,a State Engineer who did not be-lieve in adopting these tables, and he had a survey made of the larg-est channel reservoir in this district. The result was that at a depth of 34 feet it was found to hold 72,473,000 cubic feet less than the capacity claimed by the owners at the same depth, and after the official survey had been made, the owners got a decree from the Court for the capacity claimed by them! I am wondering if that was the only one that was wrong. One of these little channel reservoirs in the mountains had a dam and headgate in 1919 that was capable of holdin,f back 5,000,000 cubic feet of water according to the owners' table, but it is so grown up to trees 'Ind brush that I do not believe it had two-thirds of that amount in it. And yet this vary reservoir is about to get a decree for over 23 million cubic feet dating from 1904. It has been allowed by the report that Referee Farrar has submitted to the Court. I understand tat some work has been done last fall on this reservoir in an effort to make it hold the 23 mil-lion cubic feet. When the Referee was taking testimony he laid down the rule that he would allow nothing until the reservoir was made and the water actually impounded in it. I suppose that the most of the Referee's report is based on ex-parte testimony.
Now a law words in regard to discount for logs in exchanging reservoir water or water from foreign sheds. The law says that the
-3-amount shall be determined by the State Engineer, but for several years I was unable to get that official to do any determining, until finally when driven to the verge of nervous prostration between con-flicting interests, I tried the somewhat drastic experiment of deduct-ing 50% on my own account. Then it did not take long to get results. I got an order forthwith to deduct 5% from foreign water and Chambers'
Lake reservoir. Now 5% from Chambers' Lake may be enough, and an average of 5% from foreign water is probably enough, but a moment's con3ideration will show you that if it is right in April, it is not right in Auust, and you cannot name any amount that will be right the season through. Since getting the 5% order for Chambers' Lake it seems to be very difficult to get the State Engineer away from that amount on any reservoir, no matter what the conditions are. He seems to think that to be fair the same percentage must be taken from each reservoir. Let us consider that for a moment. I think you will agree with me that the main cause of loss from a reservoir high up on a mountain stream is evaporation, the water generally being held in them to the very latter part of the irrigation season. Suppose that there was one foot in depth evapovited from the surface of Chambers' Lake, it would be less than four percent. Then suppose that there was one foot in depth lost by eva2or1tion from the reser-voir that I spoke of as having five million feet in it last season, that would amount to 24.6%. So I do not think much of that way of treating everybody alike.
I speak of these thin,:.:s that do not look quite right to me, but which I am powerless to change, so that if you, who represent so many irrigation enterprises, think as I do about them, you may take the necessary steps to bring about improvement. If on the other hand you think your interests are not bein adversely affected, let us forget it and not worry any more about it.
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There may be found further reference to the exchane of water in the .loudro Valley in aulletin 92, 0. U. i. ;)ept. of Lgriculture, pages 37-43,
bearing the title "The Reservoir •ystem of the Cache la Poudre Valley" by E. S. _:ettletoa.
i:er a Teriod of approximately twenty-five years, the irrigation comanies of the :)oudre Valley have tal,_en advaatasv of the system of exchan2e of water. The l'oudre river has a mared increase in dischare the first Dart of June, the maxi-mum occurring approximately the tenth day of th.3 nonth as shown by averages cov-erin7 a period.of ~nor° than thirty years, and during the latter portion of the
ar this flow is greatly diminis'rled.
The present acreage of irrigated crops of more than 200,000 acres in the valley cannot be served by the direct flow. The crops, such as potatoes and ,ITAr beets, requiring late irrigation can only be sccessfully grown by means
of stored water. As already pointed out many reservoirs, the rToperty of a cer-tain irrigation company, are located below their distributlnh system and by ex-change of water only is it possible to mature the crow) growing under their 4ts-tr.1b-m*4mq system.
It is difficult to ascertain the actual value of the exchange system to the ?oudre valley, but as a conservative estimate it may be said that 50,000 acres have bem provided for durirv; this neriod of approximately twenty-five years, and because of the late irrigation the crops grown have at least averaged ,40 Ter acre, which totals ,50,000,000 as an estimate of the value to the farmers
rosultin directly from the extensive reservoir syste.:n and the practice of eL-change of water for irrigation.
C PY
"In order to utilize sites which could be developed cheaply, and at the same time to save th cost of intake canals, twelve reservoirs of the Cache la Poudre Valley, with at ae gregate capacity of about 0,000 acre feet, were built below th distributing canals of the companies
owning them. The problem of makin6 the water stored ie these reservoirs available for use, in the distributing canals above, has been solved by the development of e very complicated syste of exch. nge of water. In 1916, an average year, the operation .f tee exchange system made available for use on higher land about 55,000 acre feet of water stored in low reservoirs, or 14 percent of th total s,Apply used by all the
canal of the valley.
Th handling of the wa er of Claymore "ake perhaps best exemplifieE a simple exchange of reservoir water. Thi. 1.k: is owned ena filled by
the Pleasant Valley and Lake Ca 1a1 Company and has (-2.a outlet running directly to th river. Dunn; the latter part of the season when the demand for water for lat irrigation ie heavy, the canal may divert 15 or 20 second f et ie addition to the aeaount t which it is entitled
by its rights. At the same time and equal flow is turned from Claymore eaake :Lo that the river reaches th next large a L. ropriator below
undiminished by th extra diversion at the head of the canal. It was from such an exchange of water in LonL Pond in 1892 that the present syste grew. eere there plenty of water in the river et th time it becomes necessary t. use reservoir water, exchanges would stil be as simple, but usually there is only a small flow and the present
complicated system has arise e frori the necessity of making this small flow exchange a large volume of stored wet_r.
•
largest canals, and to understana it clearly a few facts must be kept in mind. It will be noted from the map accompanying this report that beginning at the lower end of the river and going upstream
th-
Greeley Canal Jo. 2, the arimer and Weld Canal, and the Lariraer County Canal of the Wate up1y nd btorh.ge Conpany head in the order named. Next al:ove and diverting from the North Fork is the North Poudre Canal. The principal water rights of these canals ,tand in the same order ofpriority, th ureeley Canal No. 2 comin, ir,t with an approprirtion dating 1870, and the North Poudre Canal comin, last with an appro-priation dating 1881. Rese voirs No. 5 and No. 6 of the North Pouure Company ar, too
low
to supply directly and land under the canal, :na their outlet empties into the Larier ‘'ounty Canal. With the exception of black Hollow, the reservoirs o - the W: ter bupply and btorEgeCompany b.:low the canon al., also low and their outlets are arranged so that water frcia them may be turned intr) the arimer and /elo Canal or the river. elow the 14ari-er and 4eld Canal i. th.„ Andsor Reservoir which has a capacity of 17,000 acre feet and discharges into the
Greeley Canal No. 2. A few of the rights in thi,, reservoir :_re held under th Greeley Canal N . 2 , but t:1 great awjority are owned by farmers under the JJari.i.er and held Canal. The exchange is operated by
taking advantage of all these conditi_ns.
Except durint, hib fbod periods, the right.,., of th: r
Canal 2 may entitle it t 1,ractical1y th eitire flow of the North Fork, but insteaa of allowin, this water to flow down the channel of the river to be taken directly by the canal, the water commissioner permits the North Poudre Canal to divert it for use, and directs that an equal amount be turned fr - m the Windsor Reservoir to the Greeley Canal No. 2 when th drchp in the river reache s that canal. If, for instande , a flow of 100 econu feet has been taken for ten days, the
North Poudre Company then owes the Windsor Reservoir 1985 acr.? feet or
87 million cubic feet, as it is expressed locally, anj t.1 secure th debt
that amount of water is held in the North Poudre Reservoir No. 6. In
other wcril l 'uindscr Beservoir water to the amo.:nt of 1985 acre feet
has been transferred upstream fo• delivery to rights under the Larimer
and lield Canal, and the North Poudre Company has b en abl: to use in its
main canal 1985 acre feet of the wat.r stored in its low rese -voirs.
While channels ar_ available thru which thc water in heservoir No. 6
could be delivored direct to the -ittrimer County Canal at any time on
demand o the Water bupply a]Jit 6torLgc Company, and in exchange this
company helas sufficient wter il its low reservoirs to deliw3r
1985 acre feet to the j..arimerand Weld Milia Canal to supply the demands
of the holders of Windsor hese2voir rifr ht. It will be noted that while
the Lireeley Canal No. 2 has been loft undisturbed in its rights, the
c.; f 1985 acre feet of its appropriation has s rvea t exchange? nearly
6000 acre feet of water stored i low reservoirs.
The exchan6e is mor cionprehensi than the outlLn.:; aove indiates.
As long as its 3.1i4dy of exchangeabLL-: water lasts, th A:rth Poudre Canal usually takes the entire flow of the North hork, includinL the
discharge from Worster Reservoir whic.h serves Lind under Larimer
and i4e1d Canal. The company also draws water fro ia the river thru the
'oudre Valley Canal for storage and for direct irrigation. A numbr
of other canals, chiefly thu Pleasant Valley and Lake, the New Mercer,
and t*-44arimer County No. 2, draw small quantities from the river to be
aelivered,and scttered holdings o North Poudre stock. These debits
are balanced by water turneu t the ari-er County Canal thru
Reservoir So. 6, by water turned into th riv.:r fro:a t'.1 Fossil Creek
Reservoir, and by water from ditches tapping the Michigan River basin.
The account T the Larimer "ounty Canal shows on th debit side
-4-river water taken at the head c the canal, ;21-1d :;ccasionally wat'ir from several small rese voirs i th. mountains tak as it coms down th riv-r. Against these stand the water from idndemAer Lake
delivered to th river, and water from other rese voirs deliverej t.7 the ari er and Weld Canal thru Dry Creei'. or t.h outl.,,t of J-,ong Ponu. It often happens that this is not sufficient to balance the account, Ln7. in this case water from Chamher a.ke is sent dowh th river to be taken at th E head o the Lar1ace7. and Weld Canal. Aside froN the even exchange of Lindemmeier Lake W::ter, th.. river watElr taken inclules
"Windsor exchange" u direct a. ropritio of the Ladner fia4ie1a Canal paid concurrently fro oi Long Pond. The '3ter Suplay and torage Company has a canal running from Dry Creek to tho river just abov,2. tho. head of the an ahcl Hottel Aili Ditch, and thrul this chnnel wt )1r. from Curtis ft1.-Li Kluv..T lakes may be exchanged directly with th river. uowev r, tnis exchange is sldo, made.
The ;ari er and Veld Canal account shows th c advanced to other canals, of riyr water nd of ater fro!1 Windsor, k)rter, DoueLis and
rvoirs. On tb,72 other side of the account stanth, th.: wrAer deliver .cl 1) the glatr Supply and btorage Company thry Lone Pond cutlet, Dry Cr ek aid the riv_r. Occasionally, before the cilievery of resrvoir water is 1P38un, th demanu exceeds th J supply avtAlable on direct appropriations, and at such trris the Windsor Reservoir
advaces to th' i canal a sufficint amount /it to mm_t the requirements. Wly.vi the delivery of rese vrAr watr is begun, th,?. cY.nal dlivrs to owrin7s of Wihdsor rights the small flow thn being received on direct appropriations until the debt is paid.
To avoid temporary storage of th direct appropriations of the Greeley Canal io. 2, payments fro i Windsor Reservoir must be m.de
con-currently with th,, diversion of the canals appropriations above, which limits th.. canal's direct interest the exchanLe t - secul-in E; th- water to which it is J:ntitled. tiowever, to facilitate operations, there are, within th system, exchanges of reservoir credits and also t/ of river and reservoir credits. Late in the season whn t':1- direct appropria-tions of the canal ar , furnishinLj only a small amount of water and
the demand fo reservoir water Is heavy, U1• rhver water may b used to satisfy demahds of the holders of C,ch::' la Poulre rieservoir rights. The canal is thorl cr:.:dited with an eq,lal amont in the Cach la
Poudre RGservoir, L:nd sufficient cr dit has thus b en accumulated, river water will be aelivered fro th,. reservoir, on demand of the
canal stockholders, a th rate of a "day's ran" p;?1.. share.
There are in the Fossil Crook hebervoir 1E0 prefrred riEhts of 1,0000000 cubic feet ech, 90 )f 'Abich vre held by farmers un:::erthe L:reele:. Canal 2. In dry whem th: ri6ht f tht-, Greeley Canal No. 2 fall short before sufficient Winsor Reservoir water .rk.s b on trLnsferred upstream, th(: water he for thes • prefirred right:: is
USea t.) effect a-:1 exchange. Water in th rive belonLinc, to tho
earlist icadin.- below th outlet of thFosnil reek
-Rese:..voir is diverted by the N...; th koudre Canal or th2 a'armier ''ounty (;aaal crediteu to the Viiudsor Feservir to be vi..; in th -- manner
show-ft ti a preceding paragraph. Water held in the Fossil Creek fie;:,ervc)ir for the preferred rights il turned dow._ ri77r to
be diverted by the canals wh so wa'_er was diverted above. The account is ;Julariced when water for the preferred rights is dcliv Tcd t ci canal
by Windsor iieservoir.
In 0 case th- Poudre aad Larimer county c:.nals are drawing water on their owa prioriti s and the WLidor Reservoir water is not being transferred upstream fast enough, th- water coramissioner may store the "Windsor exchange" in some reservoir with available capacity which
change of being filled further during the ;0a.so.fl on its storage .appropriations. Douclass heservoir is uded in this manner and occasionally .Trry Lake.
Th disturbing elemnt in th exchLnge hLs boon the Mason and Hotll Mill race which had an appropriation of 60 econd feet with a very early priorit,:. Water wc.s appropriated by it for power purposes prior to th adoption of the btLte Constitution, which ma e a po,!;or
right inferior to a.1 irrigatioc: nt, and for this reas.: its appropria-tion give eT.1;1l stEndin with t1-..
a:,propritions
when th adjudication of rights took place. Thus. often happene,f thdt water T3ad1y needed. for exchange 1-1 ,.1 t.) flow dc'Arn th s8thfy thisri6ht. In 1919) t1-1.! North Pouare, Water Sup2ly &nd 6tori,ge,
CoJp&nies secured an Eibandonmnt of this right to th 7; river t:• mill co.vily 4120,000.
operate mucj, ff ctiv-ly.
Water FiLhts.
T. developakm . wbs so r:-id in t- 1 Cech:2 1, Poudre, no doubt m:k th exchaTe
baAn that the problem o: quitable division of the water 1. the stream earlier than in t;ni other section of tho cpuntry. Th need became pressing with the contructin of lnrLe canals in the lat, seventi.3s, and thc effol'tL of the people of the valley t solve thi- problem resulted in to 1,1augurat1on, in 1879-1881, f the prent sytem of water
admia--Thc- first generJ. Etdju iction of wEter rights in 4-,ho CaChe, la Poudre and its tributaries WL ild immdiately after, with few exceptions rights decreed th,_.:11 are now in f.-roc and. unimp:_ired."
EXCHANGE uF WATER
p
y
nIa order to utilize sites, shich could be developed cheaply, and at the same tii]lo to save th cost of intake canals, twelve reservoirs of the Cache la Poudre Valley, with an a_gregate capacity of about . 0,000 acre feet, were built below th distributin canals of the companies
owning. tb . m. Thfy problem of making the v;atr stored io thee res-Jrvoirs available for use, in tho distributing canals above, has boe,1 solved by th o development of a very complicated syste of exch age of wotr. In 1916, an average year, th-, operation _f th exchange system moue
availablo for Use o higher land about 55,000 acre foot of wotor 21.-dored in low roservoirs, or 14 percent of th o total supply u6ed by all the canal of th o valley.
Th handling of the wo or of Claymore "coke perhaps best exemplifies a simplo exchangy) of reservoir oot,:r. Thi. 1 k: is ownd ad fillod by the Pleasant Valley and Lake Ca ,a1 Company ond has a:, outl:t running directly to th river. Dunn, the latter part of tho season when the demand for water for lat is heavy, tho canal may div.- rt 15 or 20 secood f et 1.1 addition to thn! amount t - which it is entitled by its rights. At the samo time ond flol. is turned from Clayore Lake, so that the river reaches th: next lart, ropriator blow
undimtRished by th - extra diversion at the head of the cna1. It was from"such an exchange of watr in Long Pond in 189;.:. that the presqnt syste: grew. Were there plenty of water in the rilnr t thi, time it becomes necessary t use reservoir water, exchanges would stil be as simple, but usually there is only a small flow and the present
complicated system has arise % fro the necessity of moking this small flow exchange a lorge volume of stored wat r.
largest canals, and to understand it clearly a few facts must be kept in mind. It will be noted fr:m the map accompanying this report that beginning at the lower end of th river and going upstream the Greeley Canal No. 2, the arimer and Weld Canal, and the Larimef County Canal of the Wate Supply • nd storage Copany head in the order named. .,Next aove and diverting from the North ?cork is the North Poudre Canal. \ The principal water rights of these canals tand in the same order of
priority, th ureeley Canal 2 comin L irLt with an approprition \ dating 1870, and the North Poudre Canal cominL last with an appro-priation datint, 1881. Rese voirs o. fici No. 6 of the North Poudrp Company arH too low to supply directly and lana under the canal, nd their outlet empties into the arimer 'ounty Canal. With the exception of Black Hollow, the reservoirs o the W_ter bupply and 6torage.
Company 1):.,low th canon are also low and their outlets are arranged so that water from them may be turned into I,arimer zInd Weld Cinal or the river. below the L.ari::,er aha Zeld Canal is th.: Windsor Reservoir
which has a capacity of 17,000 acre feet and discharges into the Greeley Canal No. 2. A 11', of t rights in this reservoir ::re hA.d under th: ureeley Lanai A y but th great majority are owned by
farmers under the 4,arier and field Canal. Th.1 exchange is operated by taking advr_ntage of all these condi4,-ds.
Except •urinL hib fbod periods, the rights of the r:;eley
Canal A3. 2 may entitle it t i)ractically the eitire flow of the North
iork, but instead of allowint this water to flow down the channel of the river to be take il directly by the caall the wat:r commissioner permits the North Poudre Canal to divert it for use, and directs that an equal amount be turned fr.m the Windsor Reservoir to the Greeley Canal No. 2 when th @Alp in the river reache s that canal). If, for instande , a flow of 100 Lecond feet has been taken for ten days, the
North Poudre Company then owes the Windsor R?servoir 1185 acr- feet or 87 million cubic feet, as it is expressed locally, an:, t:; secure th.: debt
that auount of water is hol th:; orth Poudre Reservoir 6. In
other wordz, icsor Reservoir water to the amount of 198F, acre feet has been transferred upstream fo d-divery to rights unler the Larimer and iteld Canal, and the North Poudru Company has b en abl to use' its main canal 1985 acre feet of the water stored in its low rese-v -Ars. While channels ar available thru which the water in Aeservoir No. 6 couL, be delivered diret to ',i1; ,Jari111,;r county Canal at any tim- on demand o!' the ter oupply and btorago (,olupL,ay, and ia exchange this company holds sufficient wate3. il its low reservoirs to deliviz
1985 acre feet t the J-iarimerand Weld
mio/
Canal to supply th.) demands of th r: holders of dindsor Aeservoir rights. It 41.11 be notau that while the L-r)eley Canal Ao. 2 3as been left unuisturtrad in its rights, the us(! ,f 1985 acre foot of its appropriation has s _.ved t exchange nearly 6900 acre f - t of water storeu InXAO
low retervoirs.Tne exchancLo is mor., conprehensi7_ than the outline aove indiates. As lout, its saply of exchangeahl ;;L2ter lusts, th A -rth Poudre
Canal usually takes the entire flow of the North iork, includinL the discharge from Worster Reservoir whio h serves land under the Larimer and fielc Canal. The company Llso draws water froin the riv_r thru the h oudre Valley Canal for sterag-, and 11‘r direct irrigation. A number of oth,,r canals, chiefly the Pleasant Valley and Lake, th. New Mercer, and tie-,Aari_er County No. 2, draw small quantities fr.:m the river to be delivered and scattered holdinz;s o North Poudre stock. These debits arc, balanced by wate, turnes, t th ,,ari_er County Canal thru
Repervolr Nm. 6, by water turned into th rivur frola th Fossil Creek Reservoir, and by water fr.;i:1 uitches tzi„inL the Michigan River basin.
The account f t 1 , 1,arimer :ounty Canal shows on th debit side DouLlass Res3rvoir water, water fro- North Poudre Reservoir No. 6,
-4--river water taken at the head o the canal, bnd ,- ccasionally water fr:m several small rese voirs th mountains takti as it comes
down th riv ,r. Igainst stanc:1 tho mt-f,r fro:a idndemAer Lake
delivered t -2 t1L; river, and water from other rese vArs delivered to the Lari er and Weld Canal thru Dry Creeh or th outLA of AJong Pond. It ofte:1 hapens that this is not sufficient to balance the account, arick in this case water fro: n ChEmbers -.ake is sent down th -; river to be taken at the head ' the iiarie7 and Weld Canal. Aside frog. the even , exchange of Lindeameier 1,ake ter, the river water taken inclues
Tlindsor exchange" and dir et a. ropritio of the Lariner Canal paid concu2rently fro 1.4ong Pond, The 'ivE-ter bupply and torage Company,. has a canal r-inqing fro Dry Creek t.! th river just t.11,, head of the Aason a4.t1 Hottel Uill iAtch, and thr- this channel :at r frorft Curtis art Kluv T lakes may be exchanged oirectly with th..) rivr.
1-,owev,1:7,1 this exchange is seldo made.
The iari er and . 31d Canal account shows the advanced to other
;
canals
of
riivr water and of water fro A Windsor, WorLter, Deuss and oth:r reservoirs. On th -J other 4 A , the account stn.d t'r, waterd the iiater 3u2ply and .5-torge Company thry Lon a: Pond outlet, i=ry Cr ek and the rivr. Occasionally, before the dAdev,3ry of reservoir w.,iter is begun, th demand exceeds thy. supply available on lirects a;:propriations, ana at such tiraes th- Winasor Beservir
advaaes to th canal a sufficint amount Ot to mf-,! t the requirements. tilt; delivery of rese voir water is begun, the canal dlivrs to ownrs, r WLidsor rights the mall flow th,n ben 6 received on direct appropriations until the debt 12 paid.
'11 ;1 avoid temporary storage of the direct appropriation:, of the Greeley Canal Ao. 2, paymentS - frp, Windsor Reservoir must be m de
con-canal's direct interest in the exenLe t - securing th ,3 water to which it is .-ntitled. toiever, to f;ilitte operations, therP are, within th system, exchng of reservoir credits and also f/ of river aiid reservoir credits. bate in the season when th:, direct appropria-tions of the canal Lr-.: f.,..trnishing only niall amolnt of water and
the demand fo re; -1-voir water i heavy, th- river vv:ter may b- Iled to satisfy demands of the h3luers of Cache l ouAre Reservoir rhhts. The canal is thJa credited with an equ•1 amo „tit in th Cach la
Poudre Reservoii., anc. when sLiffiei at or dit 1-K.& thus b en nccumulated, rivr water will be delivered fro tho 1-servoir, on dem!,nd of the
-:ockhc-lc!.., at th 1'ato of a "da:ts 1-al" per snare.
There are i. tlie Fossil Crook f..eservoir 150 pref:rrc?d rights of - 000,000 (,:ubic feet 90 of which vre held by farmers un rthe
Greele:: Canal No. 2. In dr - yarb 7Inm th riht f tne Greeley Canal No. 2 fall short before sufficient Windor ReE.rvoir water has b en traaSferred upstream, the water he d for these prefirred rights is used to effect an exchange. L.ter in th rive beloninE to the
ditch headin below t.1-1 outlet of th--, Fossil ‘'reek
Re:voir is diverted by the No th foudre Canal or thn ''ounty &,d c -rdited to tae heerv_ir to be pt-A.c ia tha nnner shown a preceding para6rapl . in the Fossil Crek
Reservoir for the preferred rights iq th turned down the rivir to be diverted by the canalL wh s Wate-2 was divert4. above. Th -: account is ;:,z,aanced when water f.r he preferred rights is deliv.red t th • canal
by th,. Windsor ileservoir.
IJ case th north Pouure and Larimer bounty canals are drawing water on tileir ow. prioriti s and the Yd:idsor Reservoir water i not being transferred upstream fast enough, the water commissioner may store the "Windsor exchange" in some reservoir with available capacity which
-6-littl change of being filled further during the season on its stora,.;e appropriations. 1-Jou1ass heservoir 1E uded in this manner and eccasi4mally Terry
The one disturbing elemAlt in th exchange has been the laEn and HotielMill race which had an appropriation of 60 ...,econd feet With a very early prioritLT. Wate- was appropriated by it for power purposes
prior adoption of the state Constitution, which mdae power
right inferior to 4sil irrigation right, and for this reas:.:1 its appropria-tion(wa ivf3,. equal staldip with th appropritions
,.when the.: adjiaicati.)n of rights t.:ok plce. Thus it often happened tIlat Water badl:, ntzledad for ,;.7.chEnge ha t - floN do.ln th rivr t : satisfy this right. Ia 1919 Aorth Poudre, Wnter E-D)ly .ncl storage, nd ar and 'i'feld Colpanies secured an r,bandon.awnt of this right to the river
by payne t mill co:vny 1200000. will no doubt sv.lt th exchaue operate mu:-1 eff ctively.
Water Rights.
Th• development or irrigtioa 'tis so rapid in th Cache la Poudre basin that the problem of a ?quit%hl . -ivision of the water 171 the stream
ro:...; earlier than ia an./ other .i,_ection the c:Juntry. Th need became pressing mith the construetim of 11-;,e ca-Jals in the lat seventies, and the effortl:, of the people of the valley t solve the problem resulted in Ux: Lu,uguration, in 1879-1881, of tho present system of water admin-istrtioL. Thsa first general adjuication of water rights in the Cache la
koure
c,nd its tributaries was held immediately after, nd with fewC. C r; „,,,„ 0 I fit's t.'s -t
4
LA
riARKINS
QUARRY.
ci Srociri,
w
-,..1-1
'
TO
69
.Ahre Rcs C ERTitouo Sun Oe rorr Ge /7e.s..1111•671.11•011M:-...-.1.1& di: MA mom mom,
„,e,
Rees,ee
er cs 7Y.* 2 W jOHN6TOwNOPP iorteRe.s.
Zomnas Res. 14 ‘4> 8 \t‘ am 47 Prc KMA 91.4 I'(TE5 s fr/ Crcnt Iii P ,V'4i2 0,Ofji‘W a i 4? -yowl"
r
61
Irrigrff-tion 131,5trict of
1\io.rthern .olorado
dut7e - 492//7e5,
03
8N.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
BULLETIN No. 1026 Contribution from the Bureau of Public Roads
THOMAS H. MacDONALD, Chief •
Washington, D. C. V May 16, 1922
IRRIGATION IN NORTHERN COLORADO
By
ROBERT G. HEMPHILL, Irrigation Engineer
CONTENTS • Page
Introduction 1 Cache la Poudre Valley 2 Meteorology 3 Soils 5 Water Resources 6 Seepage Return 10 Drainage Conditions 12 Exchange of Water 12 Page Water Rights 13 Distribution from River 19 Duty of the River 24 Canal Systems 26 Gross Duly for Canals 42 Farm Irrigation 51 Reservoirs 69 Summary and Conclusions 79
(Bawd on data gathered under cooperative agreement between the Bureau of Public Roads of the United States Department of Agriculture and the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station)
I . -. .P5. • 6 . .. . rP;=; •fkilb---.):0,.: " :, I-10. WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING 1922 0 — t 411-S%-% Is I.c '•=4.V• ' , . OFFICE
