Cañon City record., 1911-01-12
Canon City. Colorado.

your Flndlte committee HdNlu5 III
mind only the general welfare and
prosperity of the community, and
without any special direction or re-
quest upon the part of this council,
b. begs leave to submit to you for your
consideration, as well as for the con-
sideration of the citizens of this com
munity, the following statements;
this to show you the conclusions al
which the members of this committee
have. arrived, and the reasons for such
I conclusions
One of the matters which we again
wish to bring before you is the long
standing question of the disposition
of the surplus water of the city, to the
end that such disposition will accom-
plish the greatest good to the com
munity at large. As you are we'll
aware. this matter has been threshed
over at great length by special irri-
cation committee appointed by the
mayor over a year ago ,as well as by
this council as a whole. and after an
expenditure of a great deal of time
and thought on the matter this special
irrigation committee, as well as this
council. on the 9Th day of September,
approved and ratified a contract which
had been drawn up between the city
and The Fruitland Water Company.
Because II may not he clear to all
persons why the Fruitland Water
Company was finally decided upon as
rhe proper concern to utilize the sur
plus water ~ the city, il should be
stated that the surplus water which
the city has will exist as such only
as long as it is not needed for the do
mestic supply of the citv: that is TO
say. as time advances and the popu-
lation of the community increases, the
amount of surplus water available
will gradually decrease and just how
soon the surplus will he entirely ex-
hausted no one of us can say. In
casting about therefor. for consum-
er of this water. Il very quickly be-
came apparent that the water II used
for irrigation purposes. must be used
on land. in the course of time. as the
city grew. would become city proper
ty so that the water would automati-
cally revert from irrigation water to
domestic water. because the man who
uses ii for irrigation would no longer
require II 49, that purpose, having
subdivided bic property into city lots.
which would at that time create de-
mand for this same water as domestic
water: it will be very apparent to
anyone who gives the matter any con-
sideration, whatever. that the water
could not be handled or disposed of
to any other person or any other
concern and at the same time permit
such other person or concern to grant
anything like permanent water
right to their water users. Therefore.
your special irrigation committee, rs
well as the city council as a whole,
and early in the negotiations. decided
that The Fruitland Water Company
was the only rational consumer for
the city's surplus water.
As hereinbefore stated. negotiations
went forward and a contract was
finally agreed upon. only to find. on
the 18th day of November. that in the
minds of six of the members of this
council. some new idea had sprung
which had apparently never been
thought of before. and this idea SEEM
ed to be that the city. by permitting
this proposed contract to be executed.
was sacrificing very valuable asset:
that is to say. the use Of the water for
power purposes. and in this connec-
ton your committee offers the follow
ing statements which can he verified
by any responsible. competent engi-
neer
Early in 1910 the city secured. by
decree of the District Court. the right
to change the point of diversion of 19
second feet of water from the hydraul-
ic ditch to the intake of its new water
works system in the Royal Gorge. on
the condition that feet out of the
~ feet would be returned to the hy-
draulic ditch where Second st crosses
said ditch in Canon City: this 10 feet
OF water then. taken with whatever
additional rights the city may acquire
in an adjudication which is now pend
ing in the District Court constitutes
the entire water rights of the city 9TH
er than those owned in The Fruit
land Water Company ditch and other
than those which were acquired a few
years since in the Cottonwood Creek
water shed. The capacity OF the pipe
line through the Gorge to the reser-
voirs is closely approximate 10 22
second feet: the present requirements
OF the city for domestic water during
the summer months is very close to 3
second feet, this quantity Of course.
being somewhat reduced during the
winter months on account of there
being no lawn irrigation and said
winter consumption may not be in
excess of 1h second feet Domestic
use OF water, OF course. IS its primary
use, and must be first taken care Of
Subtracting the three second feet
from the 10 second feet leaves 1G sec
ond feet passing the reservoirs. out
OF which 4 feet must be returned TO
the hydraulic ditch and thus leaving
IL second feet available for irriga-
tion or power purposes. plus whatever
amount the city may at some future
date acquire in the Adjudication now
pending. and which amount however.
cannot be in excess Of . additional
second feet At the utmos, therefore.
we have about. 15 second feet OF water
with which to deal. The proposed con-
tract with The Fruifiend Water Com
pany provided gradual increase Of
the annual rental per cubic second