Rocky Ford enterprise., 1911-02-17

of sufficient size for a given amount
of water for so much money and turn
the proposition over with guarantee
of sufficient water. for certain
length of time, or il company can
and will deliver water to the city for
given amount pen 1000 gallons. un-
der the present circumstances, l be-
licvc the people would approve OF 1t.
But in my judgment the city should
own its own water system. and It can.
The Pearl Springs company. the Old
Faw company, the Columbia Land
and Cattle Company nor any other
concern owns only small portion
OF this immense water basin. The
three companies above mentioned con-
troll about 10 per cent together OF the
karca that water can be developed up
on; nor does the water become con-
taminatcd with alkalin and other i'm
puritics as soon as it flows from the
lands of any of the above to adjacent
lands. And while those companies
own considerable land along Horse
Creek, they DO NOT OWN THE
CREEK according to the laws of Col
orado governing water rights; II
might be well for the city to pur-
chase one of the most desirable rights
and sites for the purpose OF develop
ing water providing however it can be
purchased for a very reasonable price.
But to pay any company or individual
bonus for the privilege Of taking
water from this great natural water
reservoir which nature has provided
as the receptacle for water flowing
from an area OF 1000 square miles OF
water shed seems ridiculous when it
is considered that it only costs a few
thousand dollars to install a gather
ing head for this system.
A word in regard to the feasibility
of obtaining good. pure water from
the Horse Creek Basin. There is no
element of chance in it. 1t is no cx-
pertinent. The underfiow is being de-
velopcd every day for irrigation and
domestic purposes. 1t has been tried
out in other parts Of Colorado. in
Kansas, Arizona. New Mexico. Cali
| fornia and many other states. The
water is there without any doubt
whatever. And it falls upon this wat
er shed nearly IN feet annually.
Say 3-Io flows off; 6-Io evaporates
and only Ito sinks into the ground
which is undcrlain with shalc which
is impervious to water: this shalc var
les in thickness under this water shed
| from 1000 to 5000 feet and comes
within a few feet Of the surface. in
| many places within 10 feet and within
40 feet. The water bearing gravel
and sands are Immediately above all
this shalc and this sand and gravel
vary in depth from 4 to I'D feet and
as I said II LILO OF the precipitation
sinks into this it would be sufficient
water to supply III cities of the size
| of Rocky Ford as you will observe
by the following figures. The precip-
itation would equal 10000 acre feet
or 34.848. 10000 cubic feet and LILO
of this amount would irrigate 10000
acres three times with 4 inches OF
water at each irrigation or a. total of
3.I84. BOO 600 cubic feet or 26.oo6, 3oI,- :
600 gallons annually.
The city authorities should appoint
a board of engineers to investigate
this proposition before anything is
done; board of 3 or S members
should make a report on this water
supply; this will not curtail a very
large expense as one or two can make
the necessary survey and tests for
board: this data can then be simmer
ed down to a final decision by the
board With the knowledge have
of the proposition am satisfied that
the expense would not exceed S2,-
600 and the city can have the advice
of the best engineers. too. II the
city prefers they can import an engi-
ncer as chief advisor of the board
they can go to Arizona or California
or any other place where they have
extensive experience of this charac-
ter. Our own local engineers have
had vast amount of experience and