The region's farmers and ranchers soon coveted the Gunnison River's waters for their crops and livestock. The 6-mile Gunnison Tunnel was cut through a mesa to deliver the water to the Uncompagre Valley. In 1965, Blue Mesa Dam was completed, and the largest body of water in Colorado, Blue Mesa Reservoir, began to fill. Blue Mesa, Morrow Point and Crystal reservoirs are collectively called the Wayne N. Aspinall Storage Unit, and were created primarily to provide water storage to the Upper Colorado River Basin states of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah.