The Skyline Ditch, one of the first successful transbasin diversions in the Cache la Poudre River Basin, distributes water from the Laramie River and its tributaries to the north end of Chambers Lake. [1. The Cameron Pass Ditch, built in 1882, was the first.] In July 1891, Larimer County Ditch Company (later Water Supply and […]
In 1903, John McNabb and William Rist collaborated to file for a water rights claim for a snow ditch over Cameron Pass. The ditch started at Lake Agnes or Island Lake, and reached the Michigan River about halfway to the pass, where it carried the water over the pass and into the Poudre River watershed. […]
In 1906, the Water Supply and Storage Company proposed constructing a dam across La Poudre Pass Creek (also known as Long Draw Creek). The resulting reservoir would prevent the overburdening of the Poudre River and permit more efficient operation of the Grand River Ditch. However, much of the land at the site was part of […]
In 1902, the Links Lake Company, founded by Wallis Link and the Akin brothers (Abram, Harris, and Myron), planned to build a series of ditches and reservoirs to divert water from the Laramie River to the Poudre. They surveyed the area in 1903, and later that same year began a collection ditch along Rawah Creek. […]
In 1902, William Rist and John McNabb filed on a site to construct a storage facility at Cameron Pass Reservoir (renamed Joe Wright Reservoir in 1915 after the creek that it dams at the top of Cameron Pass). This reservoir would connect to the Michigan Ditch, a snow ditch at the top of Cameron Pass, […]
In 1891, Larimer County Water Supply Company filed on the water flowing from Never Summer Range to the Grand (now Colorado) River. The company planned to construct a “snow ditch” to carry water to Long Draw Creek and then to the Poudre River. Water Supply and Storage Company took over the project in 1895, and […]
Chambers Lake, at 9,300 feet above sea level in the Medicine Bow Range, is named for trapper Robert Chambers, who camped there with his son in 1858. One day while the son was away from the camp, Indians killed and scalped Chambers Sr. Nine years later in 1867, Robert Jr. told the Union Pacific Railroad […]
Chambers Lake Coy Ditch Grand River Ditch Joe Wright Reservoir Laramie-Poudre Diversion Long Draw Reservoir Michigan Ditch Skyline Ditch
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