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Show Ranchers Successfully Battle Erosion In Willow Greek Area Controlling and diverting water wa-ter from the creek has always been a major problem for the farmers and ranchers living on Willow Creek in the southern part of Uintah county. Conditions Condi-tions have been getting steadily worse as the creek continues to wash deeper year after year. In the spring of 1947 Abe and Golden Hatch, Louis Thorne and Dick Brewer, decided to" construct con-struct a' concrete erosion control and diversion dam in the creek where their diversion laterals headed about two hundred feet below Agency Draw. Golden Hatch explains that they had struggled for years and spent a large amount of money on brush, rock and log structures and just when irrigation water was needed a flood would come along and take them out, leaving the farms dry for the rest of the year and causing the farmers to lose their crops. It was a big undertaking for such a small group. Gravel had to be hauled 30 miles from the gravel pits near Ouray, over some bad roads. The cement had to come from Vernal, but as Mr. Louis Thorne explained, "We had fought the creek long enough to know that we had to do this job right." The group discussed their plans with the Uintah County AAA Committee and after getting get-ting their approval for the job, they located an ideal spot with rock base and started laying out the dam. The AAA allowed them a portion of the cost, in this way encouraging them to go ahead on construction. In all, the group used 168 cubic yards of concrete and about five tons of reinforcement, taking tak-ing about a month to construct. The structure is 46 feet wide with a drop of 15 feet, the cutoff cut-off wall being 3 feet thick and extending 8 feet below the creek bed in solid ledge rock. Jim Lube says, "We are plenty plen-ty proud of the job, it has already al-ready stood two of the largest floods ever seen on the creek. We not only have done a good job for ourselves but for future generations as well."- The water is diverted from the creek to irrigate 600 acres of land lying on both sides of the creek and for five or six miles down the canyon. The majority of the cropland is devoted to raising alfalfa hay and some small grains. The hay is fed to cattle wintered on the ranches. |