20 What (he NATIONAL FORESTS Mean to the WATER USER 



No less important is the use of the water for domestic and municipal 

 purposes. Denver has its main storage reservoir, Lake Cheesman, with a 

 capacity of about 26,000,000,000 gallons and a watershed of 1,152,000 

 acres, in the heart of the Pike Forest. Colorado Springs has a series of 

 reservoirs which also get their supply from the Pike. Altogether, some 

 35 cities and towns with an aggregate population of 275,000, and an invest- 

 ment in waterworks of over $17,600,000, obtain their domestic supply 

 from this Forest. The watersheds supplying Denver, Colorado Springs, 

 Manitou, Cascade, and Idaho Springs are given special protection against 

 fire. At the request of local residents, Congress has added nearly 28,000 

 acres to the Pike Forest, while farther north, on the Colorado National 

 Forest, Congress in 191 6 authorized the addition of some 540,000 acres for 

 the purpose of watershed protection. 



Where fire has destroyed the forest cover on certain of the watersheds 

 within the Pike, young trees are being planted. Already some 3,000 acres 

 have been planted by the Poorest Service on the watersheds denuded by 

 the great fire of 1866, from which Colorado Springs and its suburbs obtain 

 their water, and plans have been perfected for the reforestation of an 

 additional 9,000 acres. 



The development of hydroelectric power bids fair to constitute another 

 important use of the streams which take their rise in the Pike National 

 Forest. It is only in recent years that water in this region has been utilized 

 for power, but the possibilities for development offered by the streams are 

 tremendous. 



Placer mining, which, aside from drinking and bathing, probablv 

 called for the first use of water on the Pike National Forest, is now practic- 

 ally a thing of the past. The use of water in the milling of ores, however, is 

 quite common in a number of districts, and there are manv mills which 

 could not operate without an abundant and constant supply. 



The value of water as a scenic, or esthetic, asset, and its contribution 

 to recreation in the region, should also not be overlooked. To the Pikes 

 Peak region come thousands of visitors every year, attracted by the scenery 

 and climate. Periodically dry streams and eroded stream beds are far from 

 attractive, and in helping to prevent erosion and to maintain a steady 

 stream flow the forest adds materially to the value of the region for the 

 tourist and pleasure seeker. 



