Paonia Project

State: Colorado
Region: Upper Colorado Basin Region

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Paonia Project History (52 KB)

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Construction

The Fire Mountain Diversion Dam and Canal was built primarily from 1949-53, with the diversion dam being located about six miles downstream from the Paonia Dam near the coal town of Somerset. The diversion dam is a timber-sheet piling, rockfill structure with a height of 11 feet and a total crest length of 187 feet. Its headworks consist of one 12-foot square radial gate and has a capacity of 180 cfs. The Fire Mountain Canal, whose width ranges from 4 ft (the concrete stretch) to 10 feet (clay-lined), extends 34.7 miles roughly paralleling the north side of the North Fork River. It has an initial capacity of 180 cfs which is reduced to 100 cfs by the time it reaches the westernmost Leroux Creek regions of the project area.26 The operation and maintenance of the Paonia Project was assumed by the NFWCD in June, 1962, although it was soon thereafter transferred by contract to the Fire Mountain Canal and Reservoir Company (FMCRC). In 1962 the project served 163 farms on 13,070 acres.27 The contract for the construction of Paonia Dam was awarded January 7, 1959, and work was completed in January 1962. Contracts for extension and lining of Fire Mountain Canal were awarded in 1959 and 1960, and work was completed in 1962. The project assures a full supply of water for irrigated lands. The general type of farming formerly practiced in the area has been continued with project development, but the additional irrigation supplies make possible more intensive crop production. Livestock feed and apples, peaches, and cherries are the major crops grown. Dairy and beef cattle are the principal livestock of the area. Fishing, hunting, picnicking, and water sports are available at Paonia Reservoir. Recreation facilities are administered by the Colorado Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation. Visitor days totaled 8,345 in 1996. For specific information about recreational opportunities at Paonia Reservoir click on the name below. http://www.recreation.gov/detail.cfm?ID=57 Flood dangers on North Fork River are reduced by emptying the reservoir each year and by reserving storage space through forecasts of snowmelt runoff, and regulation of floodflows. The Paonia Reservoir (http://www.usbr.gov/dataweb/html/paonia.html) has 2,280 acre feet of capacity assigned to flood control. The Paonia Project has provided an accumulated $253,000 in flood control benefits from 1950 to 1999. The North Fork River Valley has long been known as an aberration of sorts. Although it is surrounded on three sides by a snow-capped, high alpine setting, the valley is famous for doing what normally takes place in warmer, lower, southern climes such as California and Florida, not the Colorado Rockies. What they do in this meteorologically-fortunate valley is grow fruit, and lots of it, from apples and cherries, to peaches, pears, and apricots. But beginning in the 1930s, the future of this idyllic agricultural setting was in doubt, for the valley`s all-important water supply was increasingly unreliable due to a vast over-appropriation of it. Agricultural growth had put so much pressure on the area`s streams, its water supply, that unless one held senior water rights, he would not be assured a supply when it was most needed - in the dry late summer months when streams were at their lowest. As a result, many crops failed. An area long dependent on its agricultural economy was reeling. For over seventeen years, area water proponents and local congressmen battled to get an irrigation system built for the valley. Most people in Congress, especially Easterners, believed irrigation farming in high-altitude terrain was a losing proposition, that the farmers would not be able to pay for the project. Also, over the years the cost of the proposed Paonia Project had increased. It was not until the huge Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) came along in the early 1950s, when it was decided to tap the resources of the Upper Colorado River Basin to which the North Fork Valley belonged, that construction of the Paonia Project - soon to be made affordable by subsidization - was assured (authorization of the CRSP was April, 11, 1956). The Paonia Project is named after the west-central Colorado town of Paonia, the largest settlement in the North Fork River Valley served by the project (1990 population: 1403). Other towns in the narrow, east-west running valley include Somerset, Bowie, Hotchkiss, and Lazear. The towns and project works are located in Delta and Gunnison Counties. The general area has taken on as its moniker a shortened form of the name of the river which bisects the mesas, terraces, and isolated shale hills and ridges of this diverse agricultural landscape - the North Fork of the Gunnison River, or just the `North Fork` as it is called locally. The North Fork River flow is comprised of high country streams that belong to the West Elk and Grand Mesa watersheds, the most prominent features of which can be located primarily to the southeast and northwest of the project area, respectively. The North Fork Valley lies approximately fifty miles southeast of Grand Junction, Colorado. The valley begins about four miles above the town of Paonia where the steep-walled canyon of the Gunnison River tributary gives way to a three-mile wide, alluvial-floored expanse that extends west-southwest for 16 miles until it meets the main stem of the Gunnison River, itself a tributary of the Colorado River which it joins further downstream at Grand Junction. The Paonia Project`s Paonia Dam is located about fifteen miles upstream from where the valley begins to open westward, staking its claim to West Elk backcountry where it captures and regulates the flow of another Gunnison tributary, the aptly-named Muddy Creek, for the purpose of supplying the downstream Fire Mountain Diversion Dam and its 34.7 mile canal with a contracted agricultural supply. It is about one mile below the Paonia Dam that Muddy Creek combines with smaller streams to form the North Fork of the Gunnison, which has an average annual flow of 312,000 acre-feet (ac-ft).1 Paonia Project lands are the recipient of fortunate geography, located as they are at the end of a valley that often serves as a receptacle for the prevailing mild and arid breezes which emanate from the desert-like plateau region to the west. This `Million Dollar Wind,` as some local farmers have labeled it, results in an annual average of 12.5 inches of precipitation for the area and keeps the valley frost-free for an average of 160 days a year, giving the North Fork Valley a growing season with a duration second only to the Grand Valley`s among Colorado intermountain agricultural regions.2 The area`s beneficent climate has combined with project water supplies to produce an intensive and high-value agriculture. Fruits such as apples, peaches, cherries, and pears are grown in the area, as well as forage for the substantial local cattle and dairy industry. The 15,300 acres of project lands are located primarily in the Fire Mountain and Leroux Creek areas above Paonia and Hotchkiss on the north side of the river valley. The Paonia Project area lies in a transition zone between a high alpine setting and the arid, rocky Colorado Plateau region to its west. While the Plateau was home to ancient cultures such as the Anasazi of southwest Colorado and the Fremont of northwest Colorado from approximately 500 A.D. to 1200 A.D., there is no evidence of prehistoric peoples in the North Fork Valley until post-1600 when it is believed that the Utes migrated into the west-central Colorado region from the Great Basin.3 The aggressive, nomadic Utes were the sole Native American occupants of the Colorado intermountain region until American settlement in the late 1800`s, having driven away any who attempted to settle within their traditional western Colorado lands. Rumors of gold brought the first recorded European expedition to visit the region into the North Fork vicinity between 1761 and 1765. The Juan de Rivera expedition party traveled north from Taos into the plateau country where it traded with the Utes but got discouraging reports about the precious metals for which it was searching. The Rivera expedition probably traveled as far as present-day Delta, where the Gunnison and Uncompahgre Rivers meet. The Spanish padres Francisco Dominguez and Silvestre Escalante also traveled through the region in 1776. They were hoping to find a convenient route which would link Santa Fe to Monterey, California. They likely crossed the North Fork just downstream of Hotchkiss. During the expedition they also encountered Ute Indians.4 Mexican independence opened the area to American fur trade after 1821 and it was not long before the area flourished as a hunting and trading ground. In 1828 Antoine Robidoux built a trading post near present-day Delta, Colorado (twenty miles west of the project area), that flourished until 1840. Fort Robidoux`s trade served as a link between the New Mexico communities to the south and the trapping areas of northwestern Colorado and Wyoming. River valleys such as the North Fork were used as both trapping sites and transportation routes.5 Federal exploration of the region came in the 1850`s after victory in the Mexican War and gold discovery in California. The task of such expeditions as were led by John C. Fremont (from 1843-1853) and John Gunnison (1853) was to locate both transportation routes and minerals. Little of either was found in west-central Colorado, for the 12,000 to 14,000 foot mountains that surrounded the area presented an imposing obstacle. More understanding of the region came with the United States Geological Survey`s (USGS) cataloguing and mapping of the area in the 1870`s by such figures as John Wesley Powell, Clarence King, and with particular regard to Paonia Project lands, Ferdinand Hayden, who between 1873 and 1876 accomplished the most comprehensive surveying of the North Fork vicinity. In the process, he effectively opened the area up to settlement.6 The influx of miners and farmers into western Colorado brought the Americans and Utes into conflict with one another. The Hunt Treaty of 1868 attempted to provide for reservation lands for all seven Ute bands but hostilities continued as more and more Americans streamed into mining boom towns located on former Ute lands. These conflicts culminated in the Meeker Massacre of 1879 which resulted in Ute bands being relegated to lands in Utah and a small reservation in southwestern Colorado. By the 1880`s, removal of the Utes and a continued mining boom had stimulated the rapid development of agriculture and transportation throughout western Colorado. The North Fork Valley`s agricultural possibilities were discovered early on when, in 1881, Enos Hotchkiss and Sam Wade planted a variety of fruit trees near present-day Paonia and Hotchkiss. Because of the valley`s fertile soil, mild climate, and numerous streams which provided an irrigation supply (albeit short-lived), the results were remarkable. By 1885 the valley was widely recognized for its fruit growing, as well as its large herds of cattle, with local rancher Sam Hartman reportedly having one of the largest in Colorado. The area`s economy was further balanced by the construction of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad through nearby Delta which allowed for the delivery of crops to Denver and other markets by 1890, as well as a burgeoning coal mining industry which began in 1903 in the Somerset area.7 Farmers in the North Fork Valley learned early on that little precipitation fell in the area, particularly in the summer and fall. Irrigation was required to grow crops so local streams were immediately appropriated to such a scale that by the turn-of-the-century useful water rights were no longer available. Early irrigation schemes attempted to store the spring run-off for use in later months, but due to the number of water developments there was not enough water for all the farmers in the valley. Those with junior water rights were often left high and dry come August and September when water was most needed for crops. Tributaries such as Leroux Creek were so critically over-appropriated that in anything but the wettest years crop failures were widespread due to the lack of a late season supply. The situation grew more serious with time, for the lack of a coordinated local water system began to retard development of the North Fork Valley community.8 Unfortunately, the valley topography did not cooperate with regard to the feasibility of reservoir construction. The higher country where a dam might be located was steep, narrow, and had an ill-suited soil. The few workable sites looked at by State of Colorado investigators in 1934 were so expensive as to require Federal participation so the North Fork Water Conservancy District (NFWCD) put in a call to Congressman Edward Taylor, the area`s representative in Washington who also happened to be an irrigation champion and head of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.9 As a result, the Bureau of Reclamation was asked to participate in additional analysis of the area and commenced its own investigation in 1936.10 Reclamation`s report, issued in 1938, suggested the construction of a dam and reservoir at the Upper Horse Ranch site on Anthracite Creek (a few miles southeast of the present dam site) to supplement lands that were presently served by the Fire Mountain Canal, as well as a reservoir at the Beaver damsite to serve the same purpose for ditches diverting from Minnesota Creek, another tributary which flowed into the North Fork from lands to the south of Paonia. It was on the strength of this report, along with a strong push from Congressman Taylor - he had been embarrassed by earlier approval of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, which diverted his own district`s water for the use of Front Range farmers, without having been reciprocated with any reclamation projects for his district - that the Paonia Project was authorized under Reclamation Law by President Roosevelt on March 18, 1939.11 A pre-construction appropriation of $300,000 was also put toward the project at this time.12 Additional study of the proposed project area warranted a revised report in 1940 which dealt only with the Fire Mountain Division. This report pointed out that relief could be provided for upper Leroux Creek lands if all other lands were serviced by an enlarged Fire Mountain Canal which would be supplied by North Fork flowage regulated by a new dam to be built by Reclamation at the new Spring Creek site. Cost estimates showed that this site would be less expensive and provide a more reliable supply than Horse Ranch. It was believed that the canal enlargement could be paid for with proceeds from the sale of lower Leroux Creek water rights to those proposed beneficiaries of relief on the upper Leroux, as well as with funds from water purchases at the planned Spring Creek Reservoir. This plan was not favored by users, however, and authorization was not requested.13 The war years brought more delays for the Paonia Project. During World War II, Reclamation projects without the capacity to generate power were often shelved. The ongoing war, project alterations, and wartime inflation also caused project costs to escalate and labor to be hard to find. Options such as building a work camp so as to provide for Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers or even conscientious religious objectors such as the Mennonites were considered briefly but rejected. Attempts to claim project repayment funds under either the Case-Wheeler Act or the Water Conservation and Utilization Act were also unsuccessful.14 In 1946, the project plan was further revised to include construction of a dam at the Spring Creek site to form a 14,000 a-f reservoir, enlargement and improvement of both the Fire Mountain and Overland Canals, and the transfer of water rights to upstream Leroux Creek users from those who would now benefit from the enlarged canal. This plan was authorized by Congress on June 25, 1947.15 Unfortunately, when bids for construction of Spring Creek Dam were opened in August of that year the lowest bid was 54% higher than Reclamation`s estimate, even exceeding the total expenditure authorized for all project features ($3.03 million). No justification for such high bids could be found and all bids were rejected, although it was determined that the extension and improvement of both the Fire Mountain Diversion Dam and Canal and Overland Canal were feasible at the time since construction repayment had already been provided for in the contract between Reclamation and water users.16 By February, 1951, ongoing investigations revealed that the amount of sedimentation in the upper North Fork basin would require construction of a larger reservoir than originally planned, rendering the Spring Creek site infeasible. Yet another revised - and more expensive - plan recommended building an 18,000 ac-ft capacity dam 5.5 miles downstream of the former damsite at the Paonia location, additional extensions of the canals, and construction of a siphon and pumping plant to convey irrigation water from the Fire Mountain Canal to 2,000 acres along Minnesota Creek. This plan was to provide supplemental water for 14,830 acres of land and 2,210 acres of unirrigated land. North Fork Valley water users were financially incapable of paying for such a project, though, and the bill was defeated in Congress in September, 1951.17 Again, a powerful friend in Washington came to the North Fork Valley`s rescue, this time in the form of local Congressman Wayne Aspinall. Just when it seemed no funds were available for non-energy-producing, high-altitude (meaning low revenue-producing to most congressmen), localized irrigation projects such as Paonia, `Mr. Reclamation,` the legislator from Palisade, won several water projects for his district upon passage of the vast, (estimated) $1.5 billion-dollar Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) in April, 1956. While most prior Colorado River Basin Reclamation projects, such as Boulder Canyon, had taken place in the lower basin and were for the benefit of booming Southern California, passage of CRSP called for water for the upper basin`s use (as dictated by the 1922 Colorado River Compact). In fact, it was much of Aspinall`s home district, of which Paonia was included, that would benefit.18 Passage of the CRSP meant that water users in the North Fork Valley could now afford the long-planned and oft-revised Paonia Project because, while the bill called for the construction of large, multi-use, power generating dams such as Glen Canyon and Flaming Gorge in the Upper Colorado Basin, it also had attached to it provisions for the construction of several smaller `participating` Reclamation irrigation projects, such as Paonia, whose repayment would be assisted by power revenues gained from the big `cash register` dams. The idea of having the power features of the CRSP essentially subsidize the irrigation side of the project was, to say the least, controversial on the floors of Congress. Senator Paul Douglas of Illinois, in particular, voiced special concerns as to why a project such as Paonia, with non-interest project costs estimated at $873 per acre (costs including interest were over $2000 an acre) was even being built when the land itself would never be worth more than $150 an acre, even after irrigation. While the majority of Paonia Project lands were worth more than Senator Douglas` estimate (some prime fruit orchard land was, in fact, quite valuable), his logic was not far off in the case of many other participating projects where forage was the extent of crops to be grown on cold, high, arid project lands. Such projects, argued Douglas, would constitute a terrible investment of taxpayers` money since the funds put into these high desert farms with such short growing seasons would never come close to turning a profit.19 Douglas` opposition to the CRSP was all for naught, though, due to the coalition of powerful Western Congressmen such as Aspinall, Carl Hayden (Arizona), and Clinton Anderson (New Mexico) that was able to secure wide-ranging support of the CRSP bill. In the end, Aspinall`s bloc was able to hang the Paonia Project onto the CRSP`s coattails, thus assuring the project`s affordability for North Fork farmers. Consequently, the third time was the `charm` for the Paonia Project. It was officially reauthorized as a participating project under the $1.5 billion CRSP by act on April 11, 1956. While study and authorization of the Paonia Project ultimately lasted over seventeen years and spanned all or part of the Great Depression, World War II, and the Korean War, the patient farmers of the North Fork Valley would ultimately get to see the day that water would be delivered to their often parched fruit orchards and alfalfa fields.20 Final plan modifications included the elimination of the 2,000-acre Minnesota Creek area from project provisions since users there had decided to build their own small reservoir; enlargement of Fire Mountain coverage from 8,920 acres to 9,770; reduction of the Leroux area service from 6,110 to 5,530 (for a total irrigated acreage of 15,300); no enlargement of the Overland Ditch; another reservoir capacity increase from 18,000 to 21,000 a-f for sedimentation purposes; and lastly, the concrete-lining of 4.6 miles of the Fire Mountain Canal. It was also planned for the Paonia Dam to handle an incidental amount of flood control and that recreation in the form of fishing, camping, and boating would also take place on the 334-acre Paonia Reservoir. Estimated construction costs for the expanded Paonia Dam now approached $6 million, double the original estimates. Total costs for the project were approximately $8.4 million, with close to $6 million of this figure being repaid out of the CRSP`s energy receipts, or Upper Colorado River Development Fund.21 The Bureau of Reclamation named Robert Jennings as the Paonia Project Manager and Paul H. Fetzner as its Construction Engineer. Bids for construction of the Paonia Project opened in December, 1958, although most of the prior-approved Fire Mountain Diversion Dam and Canal improvement and enlargement work had been completed by Young & Smith Construction Company by 1953. As to the present apportionment, Bud King Construction Company of Missoula, Montana, would build the dam, winning the contract with a low bid of $3.3 million. The company was given notice to proceed on January 7, 1959. Bud King subcontracted the tunnelling of the dam outlet works and shaft to Phillips and Davis, Inc., who began the job in April, 1959, and finished in July. Additional Paonia Project work went to Johnson & Son Construction Company, which was to line the Fire Mountain Canal and C.D. Robinson Construction Company, which was to both clear the reservoir and relocate Colorado Highway 133.22 Upon termination of the outlet works tunnel and shaft driving by the subcontractor in July, 1959, construction of the main project features by Bud King Construction resumed, with the contractor focusing primarily on the outlet tunnel and spillway, and dam embankment foundation excavation. Once again, the soft, crumbly shale in the project area and most particularly, on the damsite, presented problems. Excavation at the west end of the damsite revealed a steep-sloped sandstone layer that project engineer Paul Fetzner feared would crumble and fall on the dam and into the setting basin unless corrected. This was done without causing considerable delay to the project by reducing the steepness of the slope.23 Most of the dam embankment was placed by November, 1960. With the nearby Smith Fork Project having been authorized, as well, a premium was put on time in order that equipment and personnel could be made available to the other project. Consequently, Bud King Construction Company increased its labor force and working hours. By placing a temporary bulkhead with a slidegate in the stoplog spot of the intake structure of the outlet works, the end of 1961 even saw the storage of late season rains in the Paonia Reservoir.24 All project features were done by early 1962, allowing the reservoir to fill and spill upon impoundment of the spring runoff by May 11, 1962. Over 1.3 million cubic yards of material was moved to build the zoned, earthfill Paonia Dam. The embankment`s upstream face is protected by riprap and the downstream face by a rockfill section. The crest, at elevation 6,460, is 35-feet wide and 770 feet long. The spillway, an uncontrolled overflow structure, is located at the right abutment. It consists of an ogee crest, chute, and common outlet works-spillway stilling basin. Its design capacity is 12,600 cu-ft-sec. Also located in the right abutment, the outlet works consists of an intake tower, 11-foot wide concrete tunnel controlled by two 2.75-foot-square high pressure gates. The outlet works capacity is 1,130 cfs.25

Plan

Paonia Reservoir stores the flows of Muddy Creek upstream of its confluence with the North Fork of the Gunnison River. Downstream, the Fire Mountain Diversion Dam and Canal divert flows from the river for delivery to project lands in the Fire Mountain Division. Leroux Creek Division water, used downstream of the Fire Mountain Canal extension, is exchanged with the Fire Mountain Canal and Reservoir Company. These shares are used as project water by the Leroux Creek Water Users Association for irrigation of Leroux Division lands above the Fire Mountain Canal. Fire Mountain Division water is then used by the Leroux Division lands on Rogers Mesa downstream of the Fire Mountain Canal system. Improvement of existing small reservoirs in the Leroux Creek Division was accomplished independently by water users. Paonia Dam is on Muddy Creek about 1 mile upstream of its junction with Anthracite Creek, which in turn forms the North Fork of the Gunnison River. The dam is an earthfill structure containing 1,302,000 cubic yards of embankment with an interior impervious zone, blanketed upstream and downstream by zones of sand, gravel, and cobbles. The upstream face is protected by a layer of riprap and the downstream face by a layer of rockfill. The crest of the dam is 35 feet wide and 770 feet long; the structure stands 199 feet above foundation. The outlet works on the right abutment of the dam consists of a concrete intake tower, concrete-lined tunnel, gate chamber near the dam axis, and a combination stilling basin for both the outlet works and spillway. The outlet works also includes a concrete shaft house and concrete-lined shaft and add it between the gate chamber and access shaft. The capacity of the outlet works is 1,250 cubic feet per second at maximum water surface elevation. The spillway, also on the right abutment, consists of an uncontrolled ogee crest and open chute having a design capacity of 12,500 cubic feet per second. The chute joins the combined outlet works-spillway stilling basin. Paonia Reservoir has a surface area of 334 acres with a total capacity of 20,950 acre-feet and an active capacity of 18,150 acre-feet. Operation and maintenance was assumed by the North Fork Water Conservancy District on June 1, 1962. By contract, the district transferred the physical operation and maintenance of the project to the Fire Mountain Canal and Reservoir Company. Fire Mountain Diversion Dam, located on the North Fork of the Gunnison River near Somerset, is a timber sheet-piling, rockfill structure. It has a height above streambed of 11 feet. Fire Mountain Canal extends 34.7 miles along the north side of the valley. It has an initial capacity of 200 cubic feet per second, reducing to 100 cubic feet per second at the Leroux Creek crossing.

Contact

Title: Area Office Manager
Organization: Western Colorado Area Office - Grand Junction
Address: 445 W. Gunnison Ave., Suite 221
City: Grand Junction, CO 81501
Phone: 970-248-0600

Owner

Title: Public Affairs Officer
Organization: Upper Colorado Regional Office
Address: 125 South State Street, Rm 7102
City: Salt Lake City, UT 84138-1102
Fax: 801-524-5499
Phone: 801-524-3774

Contact

Organization: Leroux Creek Water Users Association
Address: PO Box 275
City: Hotchkiss, CO 81419
Phone: 970-872-2196

Contact

Organization: North Fork Water Conservancy District
Address: PO Box 217
City: Hotchkiss, CO 81419
Fax: 970-872-2489
Phone: 970-872-2488

Contact

Organization: Fire Mountain Canal and Reservoir Company
Address: P.O. Box 414
City: Paonia, CO 81428
Fax: 970-527-3023
Phone: 970-527-3662

PROJECTS & FACILITIES

Paonia Project

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