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Show Keeping W Up P 11911 h Clen e 0 0Sci Sci n erv e e Science ServiceWNU Service-WNtJ Service WNtJ Service -WNU WNU - WNU ServiceWaters Service ServiceWaters Waters of Colorado ColoradoSoon ColoradoSoon Soon to Irrigate Irrigatethe Irrigatethe the Platte VaUey Valley VaUeyBy ValleyBy By ROVAU RO'iALD ROiALD I0ONALD ' ) L l\ES l ES lESDener n Il \ ES ESDens Dem Dens Den\er Den er \ er ColaWaters ColoWaters Colo Cola -Waters Waters - Waters now nowroarmg nowroaring nowroaring roarmg roaring down the unvisIted unvisItedcanJ unvisitedcan unvisitedcannons Colo Colorado Colorado Colorado canJ can ons tons of the upper rado nver rIver soon will npple ripple nppleplacldly rippleplacidly rippleplacidly placldly placidly thi thiough thlOUgh ough the irriga unga- unga irriga- ungahon irrigation irrigation - tion hon ditches of the Platte val val- valle valle valley - le ley ) , 40 miles to the east of the thern theriser themer rn riser er gorges and across the the14 14 000 foot - high Colorado Coloradofront Coloradofront Coloradofront front range Work has begunon begun : on the long debated ColoradoBig ColoradoBig Colorado JBig Big Thompson Transmoun Transmountam Transmountarn Transmountain tam tarn Diversion projectArmed projectArmed project projectArmed Armed with good maps and $40 40 $40000 40000 $ 000 000 hard rock men of the Umted United UmtedStates UnitedStates UnitedStates States bureau of reclamation reclamabon have havestarted havestarted havestarted started the r drills roaring roarmg in the thefirst thefirst thefirst first bores for the 134 13 ; } 4 mile mlJe tunnel tunnelthrough tunnelthrough tunnelthrough through the backbone of the contment contment con tment J3rand Grand lake lahe carved long ago from the 1 vmg granite gramtc by Ice age ageglaciers ageglaciers agglaciers glaciers will wall become an reservo r storing stormg "a a " water ter tha that t \ \ later gurgle through the great tun tunnel tunnel tunnel nel to issue near the 1 ttle ttJe town of ofEstes ofEstes Estes Park and fall into mto a power powerpenstock powerpenstock penstock penstockAfter After general generat ng power the water waterwill waterwill waterwill will flow to storage reservoirs at the theedge theedge theedge edge of the great plains plams and later latergo latergo latergo go to the thirsty thusty beet fields of the thePIa thePlatte thePlatte PIa Platte tte valleyDesigned valleyDesigned valley valleyDesigned Designed to remove forever the thespectre thespectre thespectre spectre of water shortage from the thefarms thefarms thefarms farms of northeastern Colorado and andto andto andto to generate cheap power for farm farmmachlI1es farmmachetes farmmachines machlI1es machetes and mining mmmg equ pment pmentthIS pmentthis pmentthis thIS d vers on project will bring brmg no nonew nonew nonew new land under c1 cultivation . hvatIon Only Onlylands Onlylands Onlylands lands now under IrrigationIU irrigation \ will \\IU IU re recelve receive receive celve ceive water from theColorada the Colorado rIverFast riverFast river riverFast Fast becoming becommg a dustbowl wIth wIthsurface withsurface withsurface surface water ent rely used for Irri IrrigatIon irrigation irngallon gatIon and underground water sup suppI suppI suppi pI es mined mmed out during durmg the last lastdrouth lastdrouth lastdrouth drouth the water needs of the thePlatte thePlatte thePlatte Platte valley Colorado s Sugar SugarBowl SugarBowl SugarBowl Bowl have increased lIlcreased yearly yearlyDitches yearlyDitches yearlyDitches Ditches already have been run runm runmiles runmiles m miles es back into mto the hills halls to catch catcheach catcheach catcheach each little stream at its source sourceNow sourceNow sourceNow Now all aU the streams on the east eastern eastern eastern ern slope are harnessed and there thereis IS no poss pass bility bIhty bality of getting gettJng more wa water water water ter from themColorado themColorado them themColorado Colorado river " , water ater until now nowlargely nowlargelywasted nowlargely largely largelywasted wasted mvrolent in m violent sprmg sprmgfloods sprmgfloodscaused sprmgfloodscaused floods floodscaused caused by sudden melting melllng ot of the themountam themountain themountain mountam mountain snow and flowing tlowmg through throughlands throughlands throughlands lands unsuited unswted to cultivatIon cultivatIonseemed cultivationseemed cultivationseemed seemed the only solution soluhon to the Platte valley vaHey s problem The Tbe Front FrontRange FrontRange FrontRange Range rising rlsmg more than tban a m Ie le Ieabove leabove Ieabove above the rI\ rI n\er n er rIer riser \ er valley presented presentedonlv presentedonly presentedonlv onlv only one of several obstacles Now Noww Noww w \ th tunnel construct on plarmed planned plarmedand plannedand plannedand and storage reservoir constructIon constructIonstartmg constructionstarting constructionstarting startmg starting the transmountain transmountam water waterd d vers on will soon be an accom aecom accompI aecompl accompi pI pl shed fact . . From the reservoirs resenolrs ditches will willextend willextend willextend extend 1 I ke the arms of an octopus octopusto to gather in m the water ot of each 1 ttle ttlestream ttlestream ttlestream stream in m an the reg on A lower res reservolr reservoir reservoir ervolr ervoir bu It in the melting meItmg basin basm of ofthe ofthe ofthe the long extinct extmct Monarch Valley gla glacler glacier glacier cler cier with a dam in m the deep cut cutgran cutgran cutgran gran te to canyon ot of the Colorado nv rlV riv rlVer river ! er will collect coHect the water as it at runs runsm runsan runsin m an Above at the tunnel tunneJ mouth mouthGrand mouthGrand mouthGrand Grand lake will wall be enlarged and andfitted andfitted andfitted fitted w th special sp llways 11ays 11\\ 11 \ ays to keep keepItS keepits keepits ItS level constant Power generat generated generated generated ed at the eastern end of the tunnel tunnelwall tunnelwill wall \ \ 111 be wired across the storm stormswept stormswept stormswept swept range and used to pump water wa water water ter from the lower reservoir to the theUpper theupper theupper Upper _ _ . |