Irrigation, Settlement, and Change on the Cache la Poudre River
Irrigation, Settlement, and Change on the Cache la Poudre River

Author: Rose Laflin

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13:

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The Cache la Poudre River drains 1,890 square miles of land in the Mummy and Never Summer ranges in Colorado and Wyoming. It begins on the Continental Divide, flows through mountain canyons on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and onto the plains, before joining the South Platte River. American settlers first diverted the Poudres water into ditches and canals to facilitate irrigation on the plains in the early 1860s. This examination of the water delivery system of the Cache la Poudre which includes small ditches, large canals, and reservoirs documents the use of the water for agriculture, municipal, industrial and recreational use. A synthesis of information from public sources such as university libraries, local history archives, the Colorado State Archives, the Colorado State University Water Resources Archive, and the Denver Public Library's Western History Department, this environmental history addresses the development of the water delivery system; the impact of the delivery system on society, economy, laws, technology, hydrology, and the environment; and some attention to Colorado water law.

The Greater Plains
The Greater Plains

Author: Brian Frehner

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2021-07

Total Pages: 406

ISBN-13: 1496225074

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This collection of essays represents an attempt to move beyond degradation and exploitation as the defining ecological narratives of the Great Plains by examining the region through the interrelated themes of water, grasses, animals, and energy.

A Land Made from Water
A Land Made from Water

Author: Robert R. Crifasi

Publisher: University Press of Colorado

Published: 2015-10-29

Total Pages: 564

ISBN-13: 1457197197

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"A Land Made from Water chronicles how the appropriation and development of water and riparian resources in Colorado changed the face of the Front Range—an area that was once a desert and is now an irrigated oasis suitable for the habitation and support of millions of people. This comprehensive history of human intervention in the Boulder Creek and Lefthand Creek valleys explores the complex interactions between environmental and historical factors to show how thoroughly the environment along the Front Range is a product of human influence.Author Robert Crifasi examines the events that took place in nineteenth-century Boulder County, Colorado, and set the stage for much of the water development that occurred throughout Colorado and the American West over the following century. Settlers planned and constructed ditches, irrigation systems, and reservoirs; initiated the seminal court decisions establishing the appropriation doctrine; and instigated war to wrest control of the region from the local Native American population. Additionally, Crifasi places these river valleys in the context of a continent-wide historical perspective.By examining the complex interaction of people and the environment over time, A Land Made from Water links contemporary issues facing Front Range water users to the historical evolution of the current water management system and demonstrates the critical role people have played in creating ecosystems that are often presented to the public as “natural” or “native.” It will appeal to students, scholars, professionals, and general readers interested in water history, water management, water law, environmental management, political ecology, or local natural history."

Cattle Beet Capital
Cattle Beet Capital

Author: Michael Weeks

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2022-07

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13: 1496232305

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In 1870 several hundred settlers arrived at a patch of land at the confluence of the South Platte and Cache la Poudre Rivers in Colorado Territory. Their planned agricultural community, which they named Greeley, was centered around small landholdings, shared irrigation, and a variety of market crops. One hundred years later, Greeley was the home of the world's largest concentrated cattle-feeding operation, with the resources of an entire region directed toward manufacturing beef. How did that transformation happen? Cattle Beet Capital is animated by that question. Expanding outward from Greeley to all of northern Colorado, Cattle Beet Capital shows how the beet sugar industry came to dominate the region in the early twentieth century through a reciprocal relationship with its growers that supported a healthy and sustainable agriculture while simultaneously exploiting tens of thousands of migrant laborers. Michael Weeks shows how the state provided much of the scaffolding for the industry in the form of tariffs and research that synchronized with the agendas of industry and large farmers. The transformations that led to commercial feedlots began during the 1930s as farmers replaced crop rotations and seasonal livestock operations with densely packed cattle pens, mono-cropped corn, and the products pouring out of agro-industrial labs and factories. Using the lens of the northern Colorado region, Cattle Beet Capital illuminates the historical processes that made our modern food systems.

Water and Agriculture in Colorado and the American West
Water and Agriculture in Colorado and the American West

Author: David Stiller

Publisher: University of Nevada Press

Published: 2021-06-15

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 1948908816

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Water has always been one of the American West’s most precious and limited resources. The earliest inhabitants—Native Americans and later Hispanics—learned to share the region’s scant rainfall and snowmelt. When Euro-Americans arrived in the middle of the nineteenth century, they brought with them not only an interest in large-scale commercial agriculture but also new practices and laws about access to, and control of, the water essential for their survival and success. This included the concept of private rights to water, a critical resource that had previously been regarded as a communal asset. David Stiller’s thoughtful study focuses on the history of agricultural water use of the Rio Grande in Colorado’s San Luis Valley. After surveying the practices of early farmers in the region, he focuses on the impacts of Euro-American settlement and the ways these new agrarians endeavored to control the river. Using the Rio Grande as a case study, Stiller offers an informed and accessible history of the development of practices and technologies to store, distribute, and exploit water in Colorado and other western states, as well as an account of the creation of water rights and laws that govern this essential commodity throughout the West to this day. Stiller’s work ranges from meticulously monitored fields of irrigated alfalfa and potatoes to the local and state water agencies and halls of Congress. He also includes perceptive comments on the future of western water as these arid states become increasingly urbanized during a period of worsening drought and climate change. An excellent read for anyone curious about important issues in the West, Water and Agriculture in Colorado and the American West offers a succinct summary and analysis of Colorado’s use of water by agricultural interests, in addition to a valuable discussion of the past, present, and future of struggles over this necessary and endangered resource.