The Wilmington morning star., 1947-02-09
COLORADO
PROJECT PLANNED
Man Punctures Continents
Backbone In Effort To
Water Colorado Plain

DENVER, Feb. B. Up On the
western slope of tn e continental
divide, surplus waters cascaded
wastefully down toward the Gulf
of California. On the plains sweep
ing eastward from the divide were
parched farm crops that needed it.
For o than half a century,
Colorado studied ways of trans
porting this waste rainfall over the
Rocky Mountain range stretching
in a formidable unbroken wall
from north to south through the
heart of the state.
Now at last, with the aid of the
U. S. Bureau of Reclamation, Col
oradans have overcome the natu-
raj law that waters west of the
divide must flow to the Pacific.
The answer is the big Thompson
Transmountain Water Diversion
project, first of it's kind in the
nation.
This S128, ITO, 12O m arve of
modern engineering. h C h in
cludeS a l-mile tunnel. through
the solid granite of the continental
divide, will force water across the
Rockies FOR the first time to ir-
rigate 615, 900 acres of cultivated
land and increase farm production
$40, oO0, 900 a year.
In the course of its drop from
the high plateaus of the western
Slope to the plains below, this wa
ter will generate 600, 900, 900 kilo-
watt hours of electric power an
nually-enough to serve a city of
$780, 900.
The power Will be carried
through an intricate system of
transmission lines to virtually all
communities Of northeast Colo
RADIO, where it will be a prime
attraction for new heavy industries
N a region now predominately ag-
ricultural.
Big Thompson embraces 10 ma
Jor engineering jobs-dams. reser-
volrs. tunnels, power plants, cleo
trlcal transmission lines and irri-
cation canals. Heart of the system
is the S12, 400, 900 Alva B. Adams
tunnel which was ''holed through
on June 10, 1914.
-Four years before. workmen be-
gan boring in simultaneously from
the east and west sides of the
divide toward a triumph in engi-
neerlng e%xactness. When the crews
faced each other eight miles I'M
der ground from the east portal.
the shafts were only one-tenth of
an inch out CO line.
Other major units of the under
taking r the So, 46, 288 Green
Mountain reservoir and power
plant; the SIG, 1874, 900 CRANKY res
ervolr and pumping plant; the ST.
oo0,0OO Shadow Mountain dam and
reservoir; h e $14, ATS, 496 Estes
Aqueduct and Power development;
the S25. Sc, IT'S Eastern Foothills
oJotCiIl, lHG SZU, oSU, lOU
Horsetooth Reservoir and Storage
system; the So, 2O2, 051 Carter Lake
reservoir. and a $14, 500, 900 system
OF power transmission lines.
Roughly speaking, big Thomp-
sons job is to collect surplus wa
tiers from the Colorado river and
its tributaries over the western
slope and store them in the Gran
by reservoir.
From there the water will be
forced uphill by the CRANKY pump
ing plant into Shadow Mountain
Lake, then diverted through the
tunnel and stored in the Carter
Lake, Flatiron and Horsetooth res
ervoIrs in the eastern foothills.
From these reservoirs. the water
will be released through supply
canals into the Poudre and Big
Thompson rivers and South St.
Vra1n creek, later to be rediverted
through canal systems to the farm
lands of northeast C01orado