IRRIGATION IN NORTHERN COLORADO. 
73 
and a small embankment. Some of these reservoirs have been en- 
larged since 1903 and the cost to date would give a lower unit cost 
than is shown by the table, 
Table 28. — First cost of reservoirs of the valley. 
Reservoir. 
Cost. 
Capacity 
in acre- 
feet. 
Cost per 
acre-foot. 
Cache la Poudre No. 2 
Terry Lake (Larimer and Weld) . 
Windsor Reservoir 
Rocky Ridge 
Long Pond 
North Poudre No. 1 
North Poudre No. 2 
North Poudre No. 3 
North Poudre No. 4 
Coal Creek (Clark's Lakes) 
Fossil Creek 
Douglass 
Windsor Lake 
S105, 
70, 
50, 
12, 
12, 
3, 
7, 
5, 
5, 
6, 
160, 
50, 
k 
8,035 
6,887 
11,708 
4,726 
3,922 
674 
5,000 
2,550 
1,074 
4,477 
11,478 
10,547 
918 
S12.07 
10.16 
4.27 
2.54 
3.06 
4.45 
1.50 
1.96 
4.66 
L34 
13.94 
4.74 
1.09 
,75 
The sale of reservoir water and the rental of rights for a season is 
a common practice in the valley. Many reservoirs are owned by in- 
dividuals and were built expressly for the purpose of selling the water 
stored in them, while others are owned by cooperative companies 
which impose no restrictions as to where the water may be used. 
Many farmers own an excess of rights in these reservoirs, and others 
have an excess when their scheme of rotation of crops brings them 
around to a year in which they have a preponderance of crops re- 
quiring only early irrigation. To offset this supply there is always 
more or less demand from farmers who have not quite enough water 
for ordinary conditions and who suffer from a real shortage in dry 
weather, or from farmers who have a sufficient supply in average 
years but who are growing a large acreage of crops requiring heavy 
late irrigation. In ordinary years under the Greeley Canal No. 2, a 
second-foot for 24 hours will sell for $5, and there will be an addi- 
tional charge of $1 for carriage in the canal, but in dry years the 
price may be as much as $16 per second-foot for a day. Rights in 
Terry Lake, carrying between 45 and 50 acre-feet per season, have 
rented for from $40 to $300, but the average charge is close to $75. 
North Poudre shares, carrying \\ to 2-J acre-feet, average about $10 
per season. It is natural that under these conditions there should be 
a certain amount of speculation. In the early spring the speculator 
buys water or rents rights to be held and later rented or sold to others. 
Whether he makes or losses depends chiefly on the dryness of the 
season. Water for which he paid $2 an acre-foot may sell for $8 or 
$10, or there may be no market at all for it. 
The land served in 1916 by the more important independent reser- 
voirs of the valley is shown in Plates XVIII to XXIII, inclusive. 
