Show Reservoir the Brough yourself it Mr project By Lyle Taylor CEO CEf County The year old dream of the Ouray Park Irrigation Company Company Company Com Com- pany finally came true this year with the completion and filling of the Brough Reservoir Traveling through the bad lands from Vernal to Randlett a person can now make a slight detour and see a beautiful blue body of water covering acres of the desert In 1925 Byron 0 O. Colton then thena a surveyor for the Ouray Park Irrigation Company discovered the natural reservoir reservoir reservoir reser reser- voir site just west of the old Brough Ranch named Little Valley in Randlett Uintah County Mr Colton then made the necessary water filings to preserve this valuable site for future development by water users of Ouray Valley The filing was approved by the Sta State te Engineer May 19 1926 Because of hard times and poor crops nothing was done on the project for ma many y years IN 1970 the board of directors felt it was time to start developing the filings made so many years ago The Little Valley site had been withdrawn as a site by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1943 After many meetings and still unable to get it released the board of directors decided another site should be found lound if possible Willard Wall was assigned to work with the Soil Conservation Service to see if a suitable site could be found With the help of Lorin Hunt and inspecting every possible site the Brough Reservoir was chosen as the most feasible In 1974 the officers of the company Willard Wall president Ron Hon Dudley vice president and directors Val Labrum Joe Frost and William Harris decided something had to be done or they would lose this valuable water right The State Engineer could not give further ext extensions of time lime beyond 50 years and the water could also b be used under the Central Utah Project It Ii m meant nt the reservoir must b W be d developed d dor or the water would possibly possibly-be be lost loot to the county TilE THE IRRIGATION company officers contracted with the Uintah Engineering Engineering and and Land Surveying Company to make the necessary surveying and plans for the reservoir The survey called for a cubic yard earth fill dam that would be 76 s feet high and a dike 2500 feet feel long and up to 13 feet high The dam was to be built between two hills and was a natural site It could have been built even higher but the 76 foot high dam was figured to be the most moot economical size The reservoir holds acre feet of water and covers a surface area of acres The Uintah Engineers estimated the reservoir could be built for around Everything was looking good until the construction bids were let and opened Four bids were received They ranged from a alow alow alow low of to This averaged about for each of the 40 participants and it looked like an impossibility especially when the area was a designated drought area and many of the farms wouldn't see any irrigation water in 1974 Most of the livestock in the area had to be hauled to Colorado or other areas for summer pasture THE Till IUDS BIDS looked especially high to some of the stockholders who have had construction experience Why not build the J ta oj js I. I i J uA tr 4 y d i v. v r 4 d q yV rd 4 i Y k 9 is p t A- A c ly r r vY r r a r r e BROUGH RESERVOIRS RESERVOIR In Randlett filled to capacity for forthe the first time this year The project was built by local farmers renting heavy equipment and doing their own work at about savings Picture was taken token on the dam looking west r reservoir themselves Many of ot the farmers would have to get a ajob ajob ajob job on the side anyway until the drought was over Arrangement were made to rent equipment from Wheeler Machinery Company of Salt Lake City Rocky Hocky Mountain Machinery D. D E. E Casada Phillips Construction Company and the stockholders The equipment rented eventually cost them The farmers with experience on heavy earth moving equipment soon taught the others how it was done The learners were a little slow at first but were able to keep the equipment moving most moot of the time A significant savings was realized and a lot of valuable experience was picked up by bythe bythe bythe the farmers TillS THIS PROVED to be a great savings as the project was completed for less than which included lan land purchase engin engineering ering an and l' l equipment rental It included for Cor extra concrete plus considerable considerable con con- extra yardage not Inthe in inthe inthe the original bid Willard Wall in summarizing their their do it yourself experience said We probably got the job done for about one-half one it would have cost had we contracted all the work The irrigation group also requested sharing cost-sharing from the local County Committee The local committee committee committee com com- recognizing the importance importance importance im im- im- im of the project approved approved approved ap ap- ap- ap proved or nearly one- one half naif of the county allocation on the thc project In addition the State Committee was contacted and they in turn provided cost cost Share Share Corthe for Cor forthe forthe the reservoir Other groups and agencies lending support to the project were Soil Conservation Service Service Service Ser Ser- vice Uintah Basin Soil Conservation Conservation Conservation Con District Berkley Bank of operatives Co-operatives Uintah County Commissioners Bureau of Land Management Ouray National Bird Refuge Utah State Wildlife Resources and Uintah Association of Govern Govern- ments The stockholders are cooperating with the Utah Wildlife Resources to provide a conservation pool in the reservoir for fish production THE WILDLIFE Resources have purchased the bottom acre feet of water based on the average construction cost per acre foot They plan to plant the reservoir with Brown Trout in about one year A years year's delay is needed in order to establish a good forage base and to correlate the fish production with irrigation uses The Brown Trout will greatly improve the variety of fishing in the Uintah Basin as there are presently no reservoirs in the area with Brown Trout as the only fish species Farmers under the system expect to benefit for many years from the extra water this trus reservoir will store The direct flow rights of the Ouray Park Irrigation n Company have always been the last priority on the Uintah and Whiterocks Rivers As a result farmers under the system usually have to wait f for r the spring run-off run during May and June before planting their crops In drought years they did very little planting and just tried to keep their hay and pasture from killing Now th the reservoir can be filled during the winter and used in early spring to start crops The water from the reservoir is also much warmer than the water from snow melt coming out of the mountains and therefore b better for early spring spring Irrigating ling The reservoir can be filled again during high water to be used as supplementary water during the latter part of the irrigation season to assure that crops will mature and for late lat season pasture The reservoir in addition to other reservoirs the company already had provides 15 acre feet of storage for every acre of the acres under the system ALMOST AS important as the extra water is the regulatory effect the reservoir will have on the system since the canal anal will run through the reservoir Being on on the end of the canal and having the lowest priority on the Uintah River the Ouray Valley farmers usually had too much or or- orno no water at all The system can now deliver water on call and crops can be irrigated when they need t to be Before much of f the the the- irrigated irrigated- land Irrigated was saturated with two acre feet of water when it was available in June Now the farmers can expect a steady dependable stream when it is wanted to irrigate a particular crop The people of W f a t l. l r 9 f rj y W YI R 1 iM m r 1 n t 4 BROUGH RESERVOIR after afler completion being Inspected by Uintah Basin Conservation tour The earth fill earth fill dike rises 76 feet high and 2500 feet long Capacity of the reservoir Is acre feet feel of water waler v f f f W 1 f 1 jo tl 1 1 t. t J ii w r L. L J r rl 1 tI w R t. t I f I a h. h ti t t f f. f j 0 l 4 A 1 c cEARLY i tl ld ii J f r k t h 1 t fi MP 1 I lot I it It tJ v r J r f x O ri 11 U 1 EARLY CONSTRUCTION WORK on the Brough Reservoir Ouray Valley farmers did the actual heavy construction operation to be able to build a storage reservoir they could afford offord this valley are hopeful that the extra production will make it possible for them to stay in f farming in an area of declining population where their school and church have in recent years been combined with those of neighboring areas i That day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham saying saying say say- ing Unto thy seed have I given this land |