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INTRODUCTION

 

This is a story about water – a precious resource that makes the existence of life possible in Montrose and the entire Uncompahgre River Valley. Expert photographer and historian Vern Jetley wrote in Ref. 5: “Without the development of water, Montrose would probably not be much more than a highway intersection surrounded by cactus and brush, where the only thing a traveler would have on his mind would be whether to turn north towards the Grand Junction area or south towards the San Juan Mountains.”

The Jetley article in Ref. 5 titled: “Water Development” is a must-read for anyone interested in the subject. He describes the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) projects on the Gunnison and Uncompahgre Rivers from the early days of settlement after the Ute Indians were cruelly resettled in 1881. As a photographer for the Bureau, he took literally thousands of photos documenting these projects.

As described in Ref. 6: “In 1912, the Uncompahgre Project, one of the first Federal reclamation developments, began delivering water from the Gunnison River through the Gunnison Tunnel to lands around Montrose, Olathe, and Delta. After the successful irrigation of lands in the lower Uncompahgre Valley, interest developed in constructing a water delivery system for potential farmlands on Log Hill Mesa, south of Ridgway, and along the upper Uncompahgre River and its tributaries”.

Our story of the Dallas Creek Project (DCP) was published in Ref. 1. That story is reprinted on p. 10, Background.

The construction of the Ridgway Dam and Reservoir was approved and set to begin. However with the election of President Jimmy Carter in 1976, one of his first actions was to cancel funding for 19 water projects including the DCP. (Ref. 8)

This stirred the Tri-County Water Conservancy District (TCWCD), the Montrose City Council and the citizens of the Uncompahgre River Valley to action. The “Save the Dallas/Montrose Mouse” campaign was organized by the Montrose City Government as described starting on p. 15.


 

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