1902. 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



325 



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Total Irrigated Area 



1611.271 Acrea 



SKETCH MAP 



COLORADO 



SHOWTNC THE 



IRRIGATED AREAS 



ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OP 



1900. 



Scale.. 



mentioned are tributaries of the Colorado 

 of the West. The state has been divided 

 by law into six large drainage divisions, 

 corresponding with the natural hydro- 

 graphic basins of the above-named six 

 principal rivers. For administrative 

 purposes, these divisions are subdivided 

 into water districts. 



The most important drainage basin in 

 Colorado is that of the South Platte 

 River. The headwaters of the South 

 Platte are in vSouth Park, in Park county. 

 In the mountains the stream has a consid- 

 erable fall, which gradually diminishes 

 as it enters the plains. lyikemost streams 

 in this region, it is subject to great fluc- 

 tuations in volume. During the spring 

 floods its channel is nearly a mile wide 

 and the discharge is very great, while 

 at other seasons it sinks into its sandv 



bed and becomes almost dry. The area 

 comprised in the drainage basin of this 

 stream and its branches is 90,01 1 square 

 miles. 



On no river in the United States has 

 irrigation been more largely developed 

 or extended to a larger area than on the 

 South Platte and its tributaries. Em- 

 braced in its drainage system are many 

 populous cities and towns and the rich- 

 est farming communities in the state. 

 The area under ditches and canals di- 

 verting water from the main Platte and 

 its tributaries in Colorado, Wyoming, 

 and Nebraska is approximately 2 , 000 , 000 

 acres. In Colorado the area irrigated in 

 1899 was 711,192 acres, an increase since 

 1889 of 68.4 per cent. In this section 

 are 38.9 per cent of the total number of 

 irrigated farms in the state. 



