6 
COLORADO EXPERIMENT STATION. 
weather, and the extreme bottom is covered with. thin silt, which 
when soaked is nearly impervious to water. On the sloping sides 
the soil consists of a gravelly loam or sandy clay, but lacking the 
natural impervious coating. 
METHOD OF OBSERVATION. 
§ 8. At the first visit of the season, some well marked and per- 
manent object was selected as a reference point. If none was con- 
venient, a stake was driven where it would remain undisturbed 
through the winter ; the top was used as a reference point. The ele- 
vation of the water surface was compared with the height of the top 
of the stake by an engineer’s level. In case of ripples or waves, the 
observer was instructed to take the mean water level as near as it 
could be estimated. Any heaping of the water on one side of the 
lake from wind was not eliminated. Such cause may effect some of 
the observations, but the effect has been slight, and can affect but 
few. April 17, 1897, was windy, and the greatest effect is thought 
to have been on that day. As the reservoirs were filled immediatly 
thereafter, this was the last observation that could be made, and has 
been used. 
For a portion of the winter the lakes were covered with ice. 
When this was the case, holes were cut, and the elevation of the 
water surface taken. In almost no case did the water rise to the 
surface of the ice. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE LAKES. 
§ 9. Loomis lake is one and one half miles west of the Agricul- 
tural College. It is a shallow natural basin, which by the construc- 
tion of an embankment on the north side has been converted into a 
reservoir. The Larimer County Canal No. 2 runs close to the west 
side of the lake, and for rods the embankment of the canal forms 
the only separation between the two. The basin is but little below 
the plain. Trees and brush on the ditch embankment protect the 
lake to some extent from west winds. The lake may receive water by 
seepage from lands to the west, principally lands irrigated from the 
Pleasant Valley and Lake Canal. Any surface drainage is inter- 
cepted by the New Mercer and the Larimer Co. No. 2 Canals, with 
the exception of that from a strip on the south and east covering 
but a couple of acres. The lake receives the waste water from some 
of the neighboring farms. The lake showed a gain in the winter 
of 1895-6, and a loss in the winter of 1896-7. It is probable that 
some water wasted into the lake the first winter. 
No Name lake is a lake of about an acre, to the east of the res- 
ervoir of the Larimer and Weld Reservoir Company, about two 
miles north of Fort Collins. It has but a small drainage area. It 
is filled from the Larimer County Canal. 
