The Delta independent., 1911-03-24
History of Gunnison Tunnel.

Taken from report prepared by
Engineer c. T. Pease, in charge of
the reclamation project, the follow
ing condensed report was placed in
the cornerstone of the new Masonic
temple recently laid in Montrose:
81 he construction of the Uncom-
pahgre Valley Project is being car
ried on under authority of the act
of Congress generally known as the
Reclamation Act, approved June H.,
1902. Its purpose is to irrigate that
portion of the Uncompahgre valley
lying north of the Ouray-M Montrose
county line, covering an area of
ESQ square miles. Within this area
are 100000 acres of irrigable land.
The construction of this enterprise
was authorized by the secretary of
the interior on June Z, 1904 Actual
construction work was begun in
The same fall and has been steadily
prosecuted to date.
The plan of the project is to di-
vert water from the canyon of the
Gunnison river by means of a six
mile tunnel to supplement the flow
OF the Uncompahgre river for the ir
rigation of lands in the Uncompah-
gre valley. To distribute the waters
of the Uncompahgre and Gunnison
rivers thus combined, eight distrib-
uting systems will be constructed;
seven of these taking their water
direct from the Uncompahgre river,
which will form the main artery of
the system, the eight having the
south canal for it's base. From these
eight distributing systems the water
will be taken to the lands to be
irrigated by means of the numerous
laterals
The two principal construction
features of the project are the Gun
nison tunnel and the south canal.
The total length of the tunnel is
20. .5S2.S6 feet. the elevation at the
upper end is 6,i33 feet above sea
level, the grade of the tunnel is
2.02 feet per thousand the bottom
is 5 feet, the sides batter outward
at the top inches in 10 feet, the
roof is arched with a span of II
feet and a rise of y feet, the
Water-carrying cross section is 100
square feet and the capacity of the
tunnel is estimated at 800 cubic
49, "a e1NtA PEI StiCAh
The south canal is TX miles in
length and extends from the west
portal of the Gunnison tunnel to a
point on the Uncompahgre river
about nine miles southeast OF Mont
rose. Its main purpose is to con-
vey the Gunnison water from the
tunnel to the Uncompahgre river. 1t
is designed to carry 1.24O second
feet for the first eight miles and
-,lI5 feet for the remainder of the
way. The canal involves the fol-
loving features:
Earth channel. 35. .793 lineal feet.
Concrete lined channel, 1854
lineal feet.
Five tunnels having an aggregate
length of 2.263 lireal feet.
The total length is 1886 feet
In the. concrete lined channels are
included twelve vertical drops and
three inclined chutes giving a total
fall of EOS feet. There are eleven
concrete pit culverts and FIVE con-
purposes; three highway bridges and
nine diversion gates.
AT this date the tunnel and the
south canal are practically completed
and the work of constructing the
distributing systems will be pushed
as rapidly as possible to completion
Since the Inauguration of the
projec the work has been under the
supervision OF the following named
officials:
Secretaries of the interior-Ethan
Allen Hitchcock, James Rudolph
Garfield. Richard Achilles BaIlinger.
Director of the reclamation ser
vice-Fredrick Haynes Newell.
Chief Engineer-Arthur Powell
Davis.
Supervising engineers. H
Quinton, l. w. Mcconnell. R. F.
Walter.
Project Engineers w. McCon-
nell. +. E. Sands. C. Pease
Superintendents of construction
John Knowles. w. II. Davis. II. l..
Daniels. C. E. Highly. A. F. Ross, L.
A. Mcconnell"