THE GUNNISON TUNNEL 



ON THE 23d of September the 

 state of Colorado celebrated, in 

 the presence of the President, 

 the opening of the Gunnison Tunnel, 

 one of the greatest projects ever under- 

 taken by any government in the world. 



In a little valley in western Colorado 

 an engineering miracle has been per- 

 formed. The Uncompahgre River flows 

 through lands whose marvelous fertility 

 has been concealed by the sage-brush 

 desert. Beyond a formidable mountain 

 range, the waters which might deliver 

 it flowed between frowning canyon 

 walls, but Uncle Sam's magician, the 

 civil engineer, smote the rock, and lo ! 

 the desert is changing under our very 

 eyes to a land flowing with milk and 

 honey. 



The story of the construction of Gun- 

 nison Tunnel is one of unequaled dar- 

 ing and devotion to duty. It is the ful- 

 fillment of a long-cherished dream to 

 the residents of Colorado, for upon its 

 completion depended the reclamation of 

 one of the richest valleys in the whole 

 West. 



Years ago, when the Ute Indian res- 

 ervation was thrown open to white set- 

 tlement, thousands of homeseekers 

 rushed in and took up farms, for the 

 fame of the wonderful yields, even un- 

 der the imperfect farming methods of 

 the Indians, had gone abroad. It was 

 only a short time, however, before they 

 discovered that the Uncompahgre River 

 did not carry water sufficient to irri- 

 gate more than a small portion of the 

 lands. The only hope of relief lay in 

 the Gunnison River, flowing uselessly in 

 a canyon more than 2,000 feet below 

 the surface of the earth. A wall of 

 rock six miles thick intervened, and en- 

 gineers wdio viewed it shook their heads 

 and departed for more promising fields. 



But among the farmers who had se- 

 cured one of the first water-rights and 

 whose land was yielding bountiful 



crops, there was a man who still had 

 faith in the feasibility of the under- 

 taking. So well did farming pay him 

 that he finally found time to represent 

 his district in the state legislature, and 

 there he so imbued his colleagues with 

 his spirit of optimism that they voted 

 $25,000 toward building a tunnel 

 through the mountains. This sum, how- 

 ever, was not sufficient for even the 

 preliminary work, and when the Rec- 

 lamation Act became a law the resi- 

 dents petitioned the Government to 

 come out and help them. 



So one day there came to the resi- 

 dent engineer of the Reclamation Serv- 

 ice at Denver an order which read : 

 "Advise me if it is feasible to construct 

 a tunnel under Vernal Mesa to carry 

 the waters of Gunnison River to Un- 

 compahgre Valley." The order was 

 signed by the chief engineer. 



No man had ever lived to pass through 

 the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, but 

 without hesitation the engineer, A. L. 

 Fellows, and assistant engineer, W. W. 

 Torrence, prepared to make a recon- 

 naissance. Straight down 2,500 feet 

 over the jagged rock walls to where the 

 river raced between the perpendicular 

 cliff's they were lowered, carrying only 

 a rubber mattress, a few surveying in- 

 struments, and a scant food supply. 

 The story of the twelve days those men 

 spent down in that inferno, whirling 

 through rapids, clinging to slippery 

 rocks, and making notes, shivering, 

 drenched, and hungry, found no place 

 in the report which came back to Wash- 

 ington ; and when, at the end of the 

 twelfth day, they emerged at the mouth 

 of Devil's Slide, exhausted and nearly 

 naked, but with their surveying notes 

 safely encased in water-tight oilskin 

 sacks, the first thing they did was to 

 wire to the chief engineer: "The Gun- 

 nison Tunnel is feasible." 



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