PAWNEE GAP RESERVOIR SHfE. 



While in Colorado recently the writer was invited by the citizens 

 of Sterling, Colo., to visit the proposed site of the Pawnee Gap res- 

 ervoir, located about fourteen miles northwest of that thriving city. 

 The invitation was extended through the South Plat be delegation to 

 the National Irrigation Congress held at Colorado Springs, 



As a consequence the writer accompanied by a photographer and 

 Mr. Price, editor of the Democrat, Sterling, made the trip on Saturday 

 October 11. That the site is an admirable one is shown plainly by the 

 formation of the proposed dam site, back of which is a water shed 

 seventy miles in length with a natural stone formation coming to two 

 points reaching in semicircular form to within one and a quarter miles 

 of each other and between which lies the narrow pass or valley of 

 Pawnee Creek. In commenting on this site one writer says: 



"It now transpires that the most extravagant dreams of the irri- 

 gating farmer are about to be realized Colorado is the first state of 

 the arid region to be benefitted by the law of Congress passed at its 

 late session in aid of irrigation, and the South Platte Valley will have 

 the first reservoir to be constructed by the national government. For 

 years the Hydrographic department has worked to ascertain to what 

 extent the arid lands could be reclaimed, but the new irrrigation bill 

 embodies an entirely new feature, namely: What lands will repay the 

 cost of reclamation, which with a reasonable outlay, will show the 

 quickest returns to the government. The site of this reservoir, se- 

 lected by Hydrographer F. H. Newell of the United States Geological 

 Survey in July last, is known as Pawnee Basin, situated fourteen 

 miles northwest of Sterling, in Logan County, and will, when com- 

 pleted, be named the Pawnee Pass Reservoir. The basin is thirteen 

 miles long and two miles wide. It is one of the largest and most 

 nearly natural reservoirs in the arid west, and has a water-storage 

 capacity computed at 12,444,903,608 cubic feet, forming a huge lake, 

 covering 6,896 acres. The portions of Weld, Morgan, Logan and 

 Sedgwick counties which will receive water from this great reservoir, 

 skirt the Union Pacific Railroad throughout the South Platte Valley 

 in Northeastern Colorado. 



To fill this vast basin a canal will be run from the South Platte 

 river, at some point six'ty to seventy-five miles above Sterling, having 

 a capacity of 1,500 to 2,500 cubic feet of water a second. Besides 

 this, Pawnee Creek, which empties into the basin, is at flood-tide a 

 raging torrent, and at various seasons of the year will be a material 

 factor in filling the reservoir. 



This Pawnee Reservoir site, without a doubt, is exceptional in 



