The Greeley tribune., 1905-04-27
GROWS
THE WATER SUPPLY FROM
THOMPSON SHAPING
B. D. Sanborn to Construct Boyd
Lake Reservoir-Exchange
System is Being Well
Planned

The plan for securing the supply
of mountain water for Greeley,
briefly mentioned in last weeks
Tribune is beginning to take definite
form, and looks now as though it
was simply question of the city
officials taking up the matter.
B. D. Sanborn, the best authority
Oh reservoir matters in this section,
and probably in the entire state, is
working on plan Of exchange with
reservoirs on the Thompson, similar
to the Fossil Creek exchange. This
simply means the cutting of an out
let from the great Boyd lake and
making this into reservoir,
the water of which can be exchanged
to some OF the old bitches on the
Thompson river, for the water the
city OF Greeley would take out up
above the Home Supply or Handy
dam, where the original plans of
former Mayor Watson, contemplated
taking the water that w. r. Adams
contracted to sell the city. Be-
cause OF adverse court decisions in
this matter the original plan was
dropped and the Poudre river looked
to as the only source of a supply.
/ Not alone will the shorter dis
tance to the canon of the Thompson,
make the cost of constructing the
pipe line approximately 800, 600
less than to build to the Poudre
canon, but the water of the Thomp-
son is said to be fully as good In
quality as that Of the Poudre. The
Poudre valley, 1t is claimed, is one
great cattle range that contaminates
the water.
Mr.. Sanborn is now in position to
personally construct the Boyd lake
reservoir, and is going right ahead
with the work. regardless of whether
or not the city takes up with the
plan.
Boyd lake is by far the largest
storage reservoir in northern Colo
RADIO, and could be made to hold a
supply sufficient for the city for
twenty years, without refilling. OF
course. it is not the intention of CIV
ing this storage water direct to the
city, but simply to take the nice soft
water that comes out of the canon
and pipe it to Greeley, giving an
equal amount of reservoir water to
the bitches below the reservoir. The
Hillsboro ditch, for instance, claims
81 feet of water, of priority No. l OF
the Big Thompson. The supreme
court recently heard final arguments
upon this water. and there is not
the slightest probability of this be-
ing cut down to less than 25 feet.
AS 10 feet of water is all that the
city would require, it will be seen
that there Is great marign.
The attorneys of the city agree
that, granting proper arrangements
are made between people controlling
the Greeley water under the Greeley
and Loveland system and Hillsboro
ditch, tnat all the water needed can
be delivered both summer and winter
and every day in the year, to the city
of Greeley, the winter flow simply
requiring an arrangement with one
or two of the older reservoirs; as all
the arrangements contemplated
would be an actual benefit to every
body concerned, there will be no
difficulty in making the necessary
contracts.
Last Saturday afternoon meeting
o. the board of directors of the
Greeley s. Loveland Irrigation COM
pany was held to talk over the plans
of Mr.. Sanborn, who is a director of
the company. Mr.. Sanborn then
proposed that this company take up
the project of the Boyd lake reser-
voir. The majority, however, be-
lieved that it would be best not to
go into the scheme as company al
ready organized, but granted Mr..
Sanborn permission to cut an outlet
for the reservoir under the Greeley &
Loveland ditch. This ditch runs
along the south rim Of the big lake,
and is too high to be directly bene-
fitted by the water, except by ex-
change. 1t will therefore be neces-
sary to cut the outlet right under
the ditch, construct an outlet ditch
/ about ono and a half riloS RI tto