DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE, 177 
Creek and Uncompahgre River, but these were found to be entirely 
inadequate for the irrigation of the entire valley. It was then de- 
cided to tunnel through Vernal Mesa (the granite mesa on the right) 
and bring the waters of Gunnison River to the region. The attempt 
was made, but funds could not be obtained to complete the project. 
The Reclamation Service then took up the problem 
Cedar Creek. eat 
Flevation 6,752 feet. 
Denver 341 miles. 
a tunnel was started a mile below Cedar Creek 
and continued to the river in the almost inaccessible 
depths of Black Canyon, a distance of 6 miles. 
Work was begun in 1905, and the tunnel was formally opened by 
President Taft in 1909. Views of the two portals and the interior 
of the tunnel are shown in Plate LX XIV. By this tunnel sufficient 
water to irrigate 150,000 acres was obtained.** 
From the west end of Gunnison tunnel the water is carried to 
Uncompahgre River by a canal 11 miles long. It is turned into the 
* The settlement of the Uncompah- 
ts) from Uncompahgre River 
prevailed, and 1884 ditches for irri- 
gati large acreage had been pro- 
e 
proved that the water sippy was in- 
adequate, and 20,000 acres out of the 
00 acres that had been patented 
nest 
os 
y local subscription. 1901 the 
seo alliage edi and work 
begun on the great tunnel. A 
Nee ie when the appropriation 
had been exhausted, the State and citi- 
zens requested that the Reclamation 
examina 
found a better site for oe tunnel, and 
on June 7, 1904, the retary of the 
Interior ordered the construction to 
begin. 
The Gunnison tunnel, as_ finally 
built, is 30,645 feet long (about 5.8 
miles) and has a uniform grade of 
10.7 feet to the mile. The bottom is 
flat and is 10 feet wide, the straight 
sides are 10 feet high and batter out- 
ward 6 inches, and the roof is arched 
24 feet. The flow of water that can 
be cae through the tunnel is 
t 1,300 ond-feet 
1 mile from 
the west portal. The tunnel complete, 
with apps lining, was finished and 
water for irrigation was flowing 
through it on ges 6, 1910. 
It is interesting to note that this 
tunnel passes through the fault shown 
(p. 175), at the contact of 
the shale which constitutes the coun- 
try rock in the western and the 
granite in which the river canyon is 
of 
ad 
feet tows a fault zone badly shat- 
tered and tilted at widely divergent — 
angles Pg a very ir manner, 
High temperature, hot and cold water, 
coal, marble, hard and soft sandstone, 
limestone, and carbonic-acid gas in | 
