La Junta tribune., 1910-01-01

WAS asked 10 write tns
past history Of the Fort
Lyoo Canal and will give II
- - best can from the first
sf IL equalization.
In 1853 there was . company form.
- By two unclss Of R. @. Dalton.
Dr present postnaster. This COM
Dany aDpointsA Mr.. Haskell general
S1aAAsR. He had charge until this
een0oAy so,d on. rs ditch was
0rA bulit to Horss Greek. being com.
plsted during the summer Of 1884.
AA1 water vas turned into II on the
~ e July. OF course this was .
esoat 1eal more Important than eel.
serathg the declaration Of indepen.
asAee.
he original charter was for .
z stxty.five foot ditch. but ~ the gov.
sf.os d Colombo at that time was
Interested in the northern part Of the
state, he blocked the company on
every turn. 30 II was first built TWEEN
y feet on the bottom. The first de-
cree from the river was for 900 feet,
but on account of the delay Of the
work that charter was withdrawn and
that the Intentions Of the company
were all right the first headgate was
sixty feet. I would like to mention
right here that the company was Of
fered $500 for their charter before
they did any work. This was offered
through man named Emery. These
people had ~ sorts Of trouble with
their little ditcA, j remember an old
hner telling Of the Aan ssias out. OF
course they blamed ~. Haskell and
vers-soqhs 10 1Dv -dll -suk-assAa4
had . little more sand piled up and
got the water turned into the ditch
and everything was all right. X. G..
Dalton was supervisor at the time.
but never heard where he was at
this time until after the farmers had
thrown away their rope and gone
home.
In 1887 the Haskell Company sold
out to T. c. Henry. Am sorry to say
We are not quite rid Of him yet. Mr..
Henry ~idened the ditch to thirty
feet on the bottom and ll3 miles long
and would have been selling water
yet {: the farmers had not stopped
him. Mr.. Henry took out a second
decree OF 5s7 cubic teet dating March
/. 1887. making at that time 76i feet.
We also have later decree. but
these two old charters is what makes
the Fort Lyon shine. The ditch was
widened later on to capacity OF l,s00
feet and II Is now fifty feet wide on
the bottom. We have not had break
no as to have to shut the water out
for fourteen years.
still We were not satisfied with the
best ditch In the country and u good
supply OF early water. We wanted an
everlasting and neyer.failing supply.
! The only way to get that was to build
Iescrvoirs first We got a good site
Vbward the lower end that We could
fill with flood and winter water.
This had capacity OF 5.ts3 acre
feet Then We discovered 4 fine site
near Horse Greek. We took an i'm
mensc ditch out to catch the flood
waters from the creek. This resor.
voir at present holds 10000 acre
feet and can be developed to hold
$4,000 II now has $4,000 acre feet
Of water In ready for spring use. We
did not stop Mt that. however We
found another splendid site toward
tho lower end which has n capacity
of 5000 acre feet. We mi II with
winter and flood water through the
main ditch. then take y ditch out on
q less grade and drop In lower down.
but. not being content with that we
sent an engineer out on another
hunt for something bigger. II was
discovered. He found 4 natural site
near Adobe Greek with an available
capacity Of $1,000 acre feet. and
also discovered that by going five
miles up Adobe Greek he could take
. ditch out that would empty Into
Il. 30 We put . dam across the en-.
tire basin and made an immense
ditch TO the reservoir. would like
70 say now that the Adobe reservoir
can be developed to $4,000 acre feet.
which will be done soon.
Our last. but not least scheme. was
70 take another dpch out Of the river
10 fid these big reservoirs when the
Dcreeks could not supply the water.