BOULDER’S WATERWORKS

More documents

Recommendations

Info

service. From 1876 to 1880, Maxwell served his first term as state senator, overlapping the years 1878 to 1880, when he also was Boulder’s mayor. 28 Meanwhile, Maxwell had purchased 15 acres of North Boulder land known as the “Maxwell Addition.” In order to develop his subdivision and make it attractive to prospective buyers, he needed water, but the City refused new connections. Maxwell and his partner George S. Oliver (listed as a feed store clerk in the 1880 federal census) formed a plan to build reservoirs high in the mountains and deliver stored water for the elegant new Mapleton Hill residences through a ditch on higher ground than the existing Farmers Ditch. Laborers are shown, in 1888, constructing the wooden flume for the Silver Lake Ditch in Boulder Canyon. The line of the narrow gauge railroad (then the Greeley, Salt Lake & Pacific) is visible between the flume and Boulder Creek. Carnegie Branch Library for Local History, Boulder (511-2-1 #1) 20 In 1887, Maxwell and Oliver began construction of Silver Lake Reservoir near the headwaters of North Boulder Creek northwest of Nederland, just below the Continental Divide. At the outlet of the natural Silver Lake, the men built a dam of earth, rock, and timber which held back some water, but, more importantly, it established their claim to the water. 29 Maxwell also stocked Silver Lake with fish. 30 In 1888, the men formed the Silver Lake Ditch and Reservoir Company to deliver water throughout Mapleton Hill and to the lands north of Boulder. Their Silver Lake Ditch ran on the far western edge of Boulder and wound through Mapleton Hill. In 1890, the company would begin construction on a second mountain reservoir, Island Lake.
Silver Lake Ditch had five wooden flumes (stretching 1,300 feet) pinned to the walls of Boulder Canyon, as well as a 185-foot-long tunnel dug through a rock formation known as Elephant Buttress. 31 Beginning in the 1890s, laterals from the ditch watered maple saplings that Maxwell had planted along Mapleton Avenue. The Silver Lake Ditch Company was different from other ditch companies since it was a for-profit company owned solely by Maxwell and Oliver. (Maxwell later bought out his partner and became the sole owner of the company.) The company delivered water under paid contracts to specific parcels of land and did not allow the contract water users to use that water anywhere else. Other companies were mutual ditch companies whose water rights were considered to be owned by the shareholders of the ditch companies and company shares could be freely bought and sold for use on other land served by the ditch. This distinction would prove important in 1906 when Maxwell entered into a contract selling all of the mountain reservoirs and storage water rights to the City of Boulder. Individual contract water users of the Silver Lake Ditch then became reliant on Boulder to deliver water from city-owned sources to the ditch under the terms of a separate city/company contract. (Maxwell later sold the company to the Degge family who then sold it to contract water users.) During the next decade, the ditch’s five wooden flumes were replaced with the steel pipes that now hang on the walls of Boulder Canyon. 32 James P. Maxwell knew Boulder’s waterworks both as a private investor and as a public official. Carnegie Branch Library for Local History, Boulder Historical Society collection (220-5-4) James P. Maxwell filed for a land patent from the federal government that encompassed Silver Lake and Island Lake, high in the mountains above 10,000 feet. In 1896, he received title from the federal government for 160 acres. Maxwell was actively involved in water issues for the rest of his life. In the early 1890s, he was also state engineer, having authority over all of Colorado’s irrigation diversions. He then became an active player in efforts to improve Boulder’s municipal water supply sources in the early 1900s. 21
Page 1 and 2: BOULDER’S WATERWORKS PAST & PRESE
Page 3 and 4: BOULDER’S WATERWORKS -- PAST & PR
Page 5 and 6: • Water System Security Improveme
Page 7 and 8: INTRODUCTION The story of Boulder
Page 9 and 10: SETTLEMENT& DITCHES Boulder City To
Page 11 and 12: 1859, they dug small ditches from B
Page 13 and 14: “Shovel diplomacy,” however, di
Page 15 and 16: state senator. In January 1873, the
Page 17 and 18: PUBLIC WATERWORKS & PROBLEMS • 18
Page 19 and 20: Above, the Town of Boulder Reservoi
Page 21 and 22: BOULDER’S EARLY WATERWORKS PRESEN
Page 23 and 24: Ditch laterals paralleled 12th Stre
Page 25: A few weeks later, the City Council
Page 29 and 30: NEED FOR NEW RESERVOIRS • 1891, O
Page 31 and 32: Continued population growth in Boul
Page 33 and 34: In Boulder, laborers replaced pipes
Page 35 and 36: INTO THE 20TH CENTURY Discovery of
Page 37 and 38: In 1904, glacier hikers even includ
Page 39 and 40: The Maxwells also made a similar pr
Page 41 and 42: LAKEWOOD, LAKEWOOD RESERVOIR & TUNS
Page 43 and 44: In addition, the City acquired ease
Page 45 and 46: The Act that conveyed the first gra
Page 47 and 48: BOULDER HYDRO SYSTEM, 1910 The twen
Page 49 and 50: The dam was photographed on April 1
Page 51 and 52: producing 5,000 kilowatts (KW) of p
Page 53 and 54: On August 4, 1910, a ceremony was h
Page 55 and 56: This drawing of the original two ge
Page 57 and 58: ADDITIONAL WATERSHED DEVELOPMENTS A
Page 59 and 60: Silver Lake Pipeline In the years p
Page 61 and 62: pieces, are we justified in denying
Page 63 and 64: The WPA built much of Boulder’s w
Page 65 and 66: mission lines which, in places, has
Page 67 and 68: older clay tile pipe on the pipelin
Page 69 and 70: NEW WATER SUPPLIES & GROWTH, 1950s-
Page 71 and 72: One of the surge chambers for the p
Page 73 and 74: At this time, Boulder was beginning
Page 75 and 76: The City entered into an agreement
Page 77 and 78:
Beginning in 1947, CBT Project wate
Page 79 and 80:
The next water rights used to fill
Page 81 and 82:
Atmospheric Research’s proposed b
Page 83 and 84:
BETASSO WATER TREATMENT PLANT, 1964
Page 85 and 86:
A new raw water pipeline was constr
Page 87 and 88:
In 1976, the Betasso Water Treatmen
Page 89 and 90:
83
Page 91 and 92:
BOULDER RESERVOIR WATER TREATMENT P
Page 93 and 94:
Throughout the 1970s, employees of
Page 95 and 96:
WATER AND POWER FOR THE FUTURE, 198
Page 97 and 98:
In 1989, roller-compacted concrete
Page 99 and 100:
pressure zone into the lower zone.
Page 101 and 102:
costs would rise to $999,000. Hartm
Page 103 and 104:
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE 1990s From the
Page 105 and 106:
Reconstruction of Silver Lake Pipel
Page 107 and 108:
water shortages should occur. The c
Page 109 and 110:
Water Treatment Plant improvements
Page 111 and 112:
The dispute escalated when the City
Page 113 and 114:
TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY PROGRESS As th
Page 115 and 116:
Meanwhile, the City wanted to gain
Page 117 and 118:
Repair of the Barker Gravity Line F
Page 119 and 120:
Lakewood Pipeline reconstruction Bu
Page 121 and 122:
struction of the Lakewood Pipeline
Page 123 and 124:
the pipe manufacturer for enough mo
Page 125 and 126:
sions, City staff surprised themsel
Page 127 and 128:
Dealing with Drought In April 2002,
Page 129 and 130:
PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE Boulder is
Page 131 and 132:
Boulder Feeder Canal, and that was
Page 133 and 134:
Problem 3 - Discharging water back
Page 135 and 136:
Above, a new generator and turbine,
Page 137 and 138:
The Feeder Canal would require repa
Page 139 and 140:
APPENDIX Recent Water Utilities Wor
Page 141 and 142:
ENDNOTES 1 The word “Arapaho” c
Page 143 and 144:
35 Daily Camera, October 20, 1891.
Page 145 and 146:
71 Deed between The Cashier Mining
Page 147 and 148:
Supply, April 2009, pages 3-10. 104
Page 149 and 150:
135 Preliminary Design Memorandum,
Page 151 and 152:
167 The Windy Gap Project, Municipa
Page 153 and 154:
198 City of Boulder Utilities Repor
Page 155 and 156:
149
show all

BOULDER’S WATERWORKS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?