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The South Canal changed everything.

In 1909, the fledgling U.S. Bureau of Reclamation revealed its first major project, the 5.8 mile Gunnison Tunnel, an engineering marvel and the longest irrigation tunnel in the world at the time. Then president, William Howard Taft was present to officially open the tunnel, enabling a semi-arid zone in the southwest to be transformed into a thriving agricultural community. The tunnel exits underground a few miles east of Montrose where water ebters South Canal which delivers water from the Gunnison Tunnel to the valley. The Canal skirts the adobe hills for miles to the south, dumping it's flow into the Uncompahgre River, swelling it's flow to several times the amount it would normally carry. Immediately water is drawn for irrigation along it's course and this process continues at many points as the river flows north to eventually join the Gunnison River at Delta, Colorado, completing full circle, retuning water to where it would have flowed should the tunnel not have ever captured it.The West Canal diversion is by far the primary point of water diversion as the Uncompahgre River flows down the valley.

 

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Uploaded on March 14, 2014
Taken on May 19, 2013