31 
Losses occur in transit from numerous causes. To have a keeper at 
the lake is an expense, and communication between the lake and the 
farm is slow and difficult. 
On the Big Thompson few reservoirs are owned by the ditch com- 
panies or by tin 4 users in common; the majority being private in their 
character, are used principally to irrigate the lands of the owners. If 
a reservoir owner has a surplus, however, he may sell water to his 
neighbors. Becoming a chattel when stored, reservoir water i- under 
the absolute control of its owner, and valuable accordingly. 
Reservoirs were developed much later than ditches, for until a 
scarcity was felt there was no necessity for them. Prior to the time, 
however, when such necessity existed, reservoirs were, nevertheless, 
coming into existence through natural causes and through no effort on 
the part of the irrigator. In the natural depressions mentioned, the 
surplus, the waste, and seepage water found a resting place. Land 
being abundant, no effort was made to drain the natural lakes so 
formed, which were found to be useful for stock purposes. Later fish 
were put into them, ice was cut, and in numerous ways their conven- 
ience and value became apparent. When the ditches were not running, 
it was soon discovered that by a little labor in excavating a trench 
through the rim water could be taken from these lakes for irrigating 
early crops or for plowing, and the uses naturally grew as water 
became more scarce. This was the condition until about 1880, when 
it began to be recognized that the rivers were overappropriatcd dur- 
ing low water, and the ditches constructed about that time saw in 
stored water their only assurance of an adequate suppl}\ The Home 
Supply Ditch Compan} T was the first deliberately to build a canal in 
the face of a short supply with the avowed purpose of storing the 
floods and using reservoir water as its main supply. Its wisdom 
has been demonstrated by the success of this canal and reservoir sys- 
tem, which, notwithstanding the lateness of the decree, always has 
an abundance of water. Before 1880 there was little diversity in the 
crops sown in the district. Aside from native hay, grain was the prin- 
cipal product and required irrigation at about the time of the maxi- 
mum discharge of the river. These conditions, together with a more 
evenly distributed as w T ell as later maximum How than now, delayed 
the recognition of the overappropriation of the river and the neces- 
sity for reservoirs. The increase of the area cultivated at length 
show r ed the overappropriation and the growing of alfalfa increased the 
demand for late water for the irrigation of its second and third crops. 
Requiring little engineering skill and but a small amount of capital 
and labor, the construction of the reservoirs kept pace with the demand 
until now the time has arrived when there is a scarcity of water for 
storage purposes. With the numerous demands upon the river, unless 
the reservoir has a fairly early priority, or is small, or has a very large 
