376 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



September, 



slope. The forests of the western slope 

 are somewhat denser and more valua- 

 ble, and on that account are also attract- 

 ing the man with the axe. They, too, 

 suffer extremely from forest fires, but the 

 snowfall and the water supply of that 

 slope is more than sufficient for the very 

 narrow valleys that can be irrigated on 

 that side. 



As early as fourteen or fifteen years 

 ago the engineer of the unfortunate 

 company that succeeded to the interests 

 of the famous Carter Cotton, projector 

 and developer of the North Poudre 

 ditch, saw that owing to the very late 

 priority of his company's ditch it would 

 not only be very desirable, but abso- 

 lutely necessary, to construct several 

 storage reservoirs for the impounding 

 f the waters that came down to the 

 head of the ditch at a time when they 

 were least needed. Although the res- 

 ervoirs that he caused to be built were 

 comparatively small, nevertheless here 

 was the beginning of an idea that has 

 grown and expanded in all directions, 

 till within the last few months we have 

 the completion of the famous Fossil 

 Creek Reservoir. This reservoir, ow- 

 ing to its advantageous position as well 

 as to its size, gives every evidence of be- 

 ing what its projectors have all along 

 hoped for: absolutely the best of storage 

 reservoirs in northern Colorado. This 

 reservoir is the essential factor in the 

 working out of what may be called the 

 " transfer idea." 



To refer back to the disappointed 

 Carter Cotton and to his successors, 

 every season added to the undeniable 

 fact that the North Poudre ditch could 

 have water only in the very earliest days 

 of the irrigating season. When the real 

 necessity for irrigation water came upon 

 it, and when crops gave promise of a 

 good harvest, except for a ' ' dry ditch, ' ' 

 it would be found wanting. 



The North Fork of the Cache la 

 Poudre, from which the North Poudre 

 ditch takes water, is what is known as 

 an " early stream." Early in the year 

 there is usualh' an abundance of water 

 for storage purposes from this source, 

 in addition to the regular amount of 

 water required for direct irrigation. 



With this one fact in their favor, the 

 North Poudre Irrigation Company, the 

 successor in ownership of the North 

 Poudre ditch and 20,000 acres of land 

 lying under it, entered upon a sys- 

 tematic and scientific development of 

 the reservoir idea. They have built, 

 or rather completed, the reservoirs that 

 nature has all but built for them on their 

 lands lying immediately under and 

 below the North Poudre ditch. These 

 include in all twelve reservoirs, covering 

 in the aggregate about 3,500 acres, with 

 a total capacity of 2,450,000,000 cubic 

 feet of water. In these reservoirs it is 

 the plan to store the surplus waters that 

 come down in the early spring. How- 

 ever, owing to the fact that most of 

 these reservoirs lay below the level of 

 the best of the company's lands, they 

 have been, on that account, of little use 

 to their owners. To borrow from the 

 " perpetual - motion idea," another 

 wheel was wanting. 



Strange enough, this missing wheel 

 was found yet farther down ; not only 

 farther down the Cache la Poudre Val- 

 ley, but entirely below any lands owned 

 by the company. It was found in the 

 shape of what is now the Fossil Creek 

 Reservoir, a huge basin with a dam 48 

 feet high, 206 feet wide on the base, 

 and 60 feet in width at high-water line. 

 In the making of this dam the require- 

 ments were 279,585 cubic yards of 

 clay loam, 300 car-loads of stone of 40 

 tons each, and four car-loads of Port- 

 land cement. There were employed on 

 the various parts of the work of con- 

 structing this reservoir, during a great 

 part of last winter, 325 men, 300 teams, 

 and seven large machine graders. The 

 reservoir, with its inlet ditch from the 

 Cache la Poudre River, with a capacit}' 

 of 400 cubic feet per second, was com- 

 pleted June I, 1902, at a total cost for 

 site, right of way, and construction of 

 $180,000. 



A good feature of this dam is its stone 

 pavement covering the entire inner face 

 one foot thick, and another not less 

 important feature is the width of its 

 safety wastewa}-, through which water 

 can be allowed to escape without danger 

 to the dam in a stream 600 feet wide 



