SEEPAGE OR RETURN WATERS FROM IRRIGATION. 
9 
valley is needed with reference to its irrigation. The crops grown 
in the valley are principally the cereals, alfalfa, and potatoes. Pota¬ 
toes have been extensively grown only during the last few years, 
and the greater part of this crop has been grown near the lower end 
of the valley. The upper end of the valley is confined almost 
exclusively to alfalfa and grain, with some market gardens. The 
distribution of the crops affects the application of the water, both 
in amount and in time of application. The grains receive water 
early in the season, and rarely any after July 1. Alfalfa receives 
from one to three irrigations, commonly two, one often in May. 
Two will be given, then, and if late water be sufficient, a third in 
August, after the second cutting ; this is by flooding. For potatoes, 
the ground may be irrigated before plowing. If not, then irrigation 
will usually be commenced in July or early in August, and is 
practically over by the end of the first week in September, the 
active period being confined to five or six weeks. With the crops 
thus grown, irrigation extends from May to September, with minor 
quantities applied to orchards and gardens both earlier and later. 
More water is applied in June than in any other month. Until the de¬ 
velopment of storage capacity by the construction of reservoirs, the 
amount of water applied in August was necessarily limited by the 
stage of the river Since then, more is applied, and this being for 
potatoes, is largely applied to the section composing the east half 
of the valley. 
§ 10. Of the canals shown on the north side of the river, the 
Cache a la Poudre No. 'Z is the oldest of the large canals, being one of 
the original Greeley colony canals. The land irrigated under the 
Cache a la Poudre No. 2 has been almost fully occupied for a num¬ 
ber of years. Some of the land near the upper end has become too 
wet to need water, and the stock representing the water hitherto 
applied to this land has been sold and the water is now largely 
api)lied to land lower down the canal, and largely drains into the 
Lone Tree creek, which empties into the Platte just below the mouth 
of the Poudre. The Larimer & Weld comes next in point of 
time of construction, dating from 1879—81. It is the largest of the 
ditches, having an appropriation of 720 cubic feet per second, and 
a capacity still greater for a portion of its length. The amount of 
land brought under irrigation from this canal has largely increased 
during the past few years. The Larimer County canal has been 
still more recently constructed, and waters the country still farther 
from the river to the extent of something like 16,000 or 20,000 
acres. Owing to the later appropriation of this canal, and the low 
stage of w^ater in the river for some years, this canal has not been 
able to apply as much water compared with its land as the others 
mentioned, until within the last few years. Recently, by the devel¬ 
opment of their system of storage reservoirs, combined with the 
