%1 http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/ en Grand Valley Irrigation http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/grand-valley-irrigation <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Grand Valley Irrigation</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--2471--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--2471.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/irrigation-ditches-grand-junction"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Grand_Valley_Irrigation_01.jpeg?itok=xKLtn_en" width="1000" height="717" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/irrigation-ditches-grand-junction" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"> Irrigation Ditches in Grand Junction</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>By 1886 the Grand Valley Canal was completed, watering about 45,000 acres. But by the early 1900s the valley’s rampant agricultural growth demanded even more water, prompting several additional irrigation projects.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2016-08-01T13:06:03-06:00" title="Monday, August 1, 2016 - 13:06" class="datetime">Mon, 08/01/2016 - 13:06</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/grand-valley-irrigation" data-a2a-title="Grand Valley Irrigation"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fgrand-valley-irrigation&amp;title=Grand%20Valley%20Irrigation"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>The story of <a href="/article/irrigation-colorado"><strong>irrigation</strong></a> in Colorado’s Grand Valley speaks volumes about the reciprocal relationship between land and community in the arid American West. Early white colonizers of Colorado’s <a href="/article/western-slope"><strong>Western Slope</strong></a> espoused concepts of landscape and <a href="/article/water-colorado"><strong>water</strong></a> control that physically transformed the landscape from salt brush desert to green garden. In turn, the metamorphosis of landscape fashioned the valley’s unique community.</p><p>Building irrigation ditches engendered a culture in which individuals valued both personal grit and collective action. The Grand Valley’s story of survival within the arid landscape reflects the process by which a culture interacts with nature, and how people shape and are shaped by their environment.</p><h2>Location and Geology</h2><p><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="/image/grand-valley"><img class="image-large" style="float:left;height:272px;margin:15px;" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Grand_Valley_Irrigation_02_2.jpg" alt="Grand Valley " width="480"></a> The Grand Valley, named for the <a href="/article/colorado-river"><strong>Colorado River</strong></a>—once known as the “Grand River”—that runs through it, is located on the Western Slope of Colorado’s <a href="/article/rocky-mountains"><strong>Rocky Mountains</strong></a>. Averaging 4,700 feet in elevation and roughly twelve miles in width, the arid valley stretches some thirty miles between the towns of <strong>Palisade</strong> and Mack. The Colorado River meets the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/gunnison-river"><strong>Gunnison River</strong></a> in the city of <a href="/article/grand-junction"><strong>Grand Junction</strong></a>. On September 26, 1881, shortly after the <a href="/search/google/ute"><strong>Nuche</strong></a> were driven from the area,&nbsp;three men—James W. Bucklin, Richard D. Mobley, and George A. Crawford—saw the promise of a town at the confluence of the rivers. Like many who colonized the American West, water represented to them the hope of the future. The geology and hydrology of the Grand Valley allowed for individual farmers to stake their futures on water.</p><p>The physical realities of geology and hydrology, however, mandated that the settlers of the Grand Valley join to build irrigation systems. Shallow groundwater is not accessible in the region due to the Mancos Shale that underlies most of the Grand Valley. As a result, irrigation water must either come from drilling deep down to the Jurassic sandstone or from diverting water from the Colorado or <a href="/article/gunnison-river"><strong>Gunnison River</strong></a>. Both of these are expensive, difficult endeavors, which required early settlers to work cooperatively. The water used within the Grand Valley originates in the snowpack of the northern <a href="/article/front-range"><strong>Front Range</strong></a>, <strong>Middle Park</strong>, <strong>Gore Range</strong>, <strong>Elk Mountains</strong>, <strong>Grand Mesa</strong>, and other smaller ranges in northern and central Colorado. Runoff from these distant mountains would provide life for the newly developing town.</p><h2>A Community Rooted in Irrigation</h2><p>The founders of Grand Junction recognized the agricultural potential of the area’s sunny climate and abundant runoff. On October 13, 1881, George Crawford officially established the Grand Junction Town Company for the purposes of obtaining water and establishing law. One year later, the company oversaw the building of the Pioneer Ditch and the Pacific Slope Ditch. In October 1882, the newly established <em>Grand Junction News</em> recognized the importance of ditches for the valley’s future and proclaimed, “All that is needed is more capital to ditch the valley and good farmers with good means to cultivate it.” Here, the newspaper reflected the desires of early white settlers across the American West: lay down roots within a good community, make the land into something productive, and prosper individually and collectively.</p><p>While settlers shaped the land, the land shaped their community. The building and maintenance of irrigation systems demanded both grit and teamwork. Virgil Hickman, an early settler of the Grand Valley, remembered as a young boy watching the construction of one of the early town dams and vividly recalled the backbreaking work required to build them.</p><p>The urgent need for dams across the valley resulted in group labor and use of horse teams and wagons to supply the town with water. For example, the building of Pioneer Ditch required the collaboration of twenty-two men, a considerable number for a small, new, and struggling community with few extra hands to spare. But their canal building eventually brought orchards to fruition and strengthened bonds within the developing community.</p><p>Water from these early irrigation projects provided for the growth of pears, peaches, and apples, and peaches soon became the fruit of choice in the Grand Valley. At the turn of the century, “Peach Day” became a yearly event that further served as a bonding agent for the growing town.</p><h2>Irrigation Expansion</h2><p>By 1886 the Grand Valley Canal was completed, watering about 45,000 acres. But by the early 1900s the valley’s rampant agricultural growth demanded even more water, prompting several additional irrigation projects.</p><p>From 1904 to 1906, five distinct irrigation districts were created that still serve the Grand Valley today. Furthermore, the <a href="/article/bureau-reclamation-colorado"><strong>US</strong> <strong>Bureau of Reclamation</strong></a> (USBR), established in 1902 as the Reclamation Service, collaborated with the newly created irrigation districts to build the Grand Valley Project. The project officially began in 1912 and involved the construction of several canals, a dam, and a power plant, constituting one of the region’s main water sources for the rest of the twentieth century.</p><p>Increased agricultural and population demands created high water use through open ditches and channels. In turn, the water resources of the Grand Valley began suffering from high levels of salinity. By the 1980s the USBR and Grand Valley irrigation districts started shifting open ditch canals to a lined or piped system with salinity control to improve water quality.</p><p>By the year 2000, the Grand Valley Project turned toward water resource management, which included improvements to existing canals in order to make water usage more efficient by limiting the amount of water diverted from the river.</p></div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/albers-samantha-arbeiter" hreflang="und">Albers, Samantha Arbeiter </a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/irrigation-grand-valley" hreflang="en">irrigation in grand valley</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-river-irrigation" hreflang="en">colorado river irrigation</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/grand-junction-irrigation-history" hreflang="en">grand junction irrigation history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-irrigation-history" hreflang="en">colorado irrigation history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/western-slope-irrigation" hreflang="en">western slope irrigation</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/western-slope-water" hreflang="en">western slope water</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/water-history" hreflang="en">water history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/gunnison-tunnel" hreflang="en">gunnison tunnel</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/wayne-aspinall" hreflang="en">wayne aspinall</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/palisade" hreflang="en">palisade</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/mack" hreflang="en">mack</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/george-crawford" hreflang="en">george crawford</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/bureau-reclamation" hreflang="en">bureau of reclamation</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/grand-valley-canal" hreflang="en">grand valley canal</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/canals" hreflang="en">canals</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Ken Baird, Don MacKendrick, and Karl Johnson, “M.C. Historical Society Panel on Mesa County History,” transcript OH-495, May 24, 1982 (Grand Junction, CO: Historical Museum and Institute of Western Colorado and Mesa County Library Biographical Library).</p><p>Bureau of Reclamation, “<a href="http://www.usbr.gov/projects/Project.jsp?proj_Name=Grand+Valley+Project">Grand Valley Project</a>,” last modified May 10, 2011.</p><p>Halka Chronic, <em>Roadside Geology of Colorado </em>(Missoula, MT: Mountain Press, 1980).</p><p>Robert Hine, <em>Community on the American Frontier: Separate but not Alone</em> (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980).</p><p>&nbsp;“A Few News Items,” <em>Colorado Fruit Grower Magazine</em> 9 (January 1906).“Irrigation,”<em> Grand Junction News, </em>October 28, 1882.</p><p>Steven Mehls, <em>The Valley of Opportunity: A History of West-Central Colorado </em>(Denver: Bureau of Land Management, 1982).</p><p>Mesa County Water Association, “<a href="http://www.mesacountywater.org">Grand Valley Irrigation History</a>,” February 14, 2009.</p><p>“Peach Day,”<em> Daily Sentinel </em>(Grand Junction, CO), September 11, 1900.</p><p>“Virgil Hickman,” Interview by Joe Schwarz, April 3, 1980, transcript OH-349 #1, 2–4 (Grand Junction, CO: Museum of the West, 1980).</p></div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Don Davidson, “The Grand River Ditch: A Short History of Pioneering Irrigation in Colorado’s Grand Valley,” <em>Journal of the Western Slope</em>&nbsp;1, no. 4 (Fall 1986).</p><p>Mark Fiege, <em>Irrigated Eden: The Making of an Agricultural Landscape in the American West</em> (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1999).</p><p>Arthur F. McEvoy, “Toward an Interactive Theory of Nature and Culture: Ecology, Production, and Cognition in the California Fishing Industry,” <em>Environmental Review </em>11 (Winter 1987).</p><p>Richard Ott, ed., <em>When the River Was Grand </em>(Palisade, CO: Gazette Press, 1976).</p><p>Mary Rait, “Grand Junction, Colorado” (master’s thesis, University of Colorado, 1931).</p><p><a href="https://www.museumofwesternco.com/collections/">Mesa County Oral History Collection</a></p><p>William H. Nelson Water Collection, <a href="https://www.coloradomesa.edu/library/special-collections/index.html">Colorado Mesa University Special Collections</a>.</p></div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Mon, 01 Aug 2016 19:06:03 +0000 yongli 1541 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org