By Donald E. Frick, P.E., Esq.
The Cache la Poudre River has long been both a working system and a shared lifeline. Long before formal water law, flow measurement, or infrastructure shaped its use, the river supported travel, survival, and early settlement. This piece looks back at the origins of the Poudre’s name and the early decisions that began shaping its role in the valley.
Fur Trade Beginnings
Long before irrigation networks crossed the valley and before Larimer County was formally organized, a young Antione Janis rode west with French fur trappers under the leadership of his father. The Rocky Mountain fur trade was still active, and trapping brigades moved along river corridors in search of beaver, navigating by water and experience rather than surveyed maps. Rivers were highways, lifelines, and measures of survival.
It was during this era that the river we now call the Cache la Poudre received its name.
“Cache la Poudre” — Hide the Powder
According to accounts handed down from the trapping period, a party of French trappers traveling along the river were overtaken by an early autumn snowstorm. Fearing moisture would ruin their gunpowder—their most essential supply—they buried, or cached, it along the riverbank before seeking shelter. The river became known as Cache la Poudre— “Hide the Powder.”
Whether refined over time or told precisely as it occurred, the story captures the precariousness of frontier life. Powder meant protection, food, and trade. The riverbank became a vault against the storm. When Janis accompanied the brigades, the name would have been newly spoken in French among men who depended entirely on rivers like the Poudre.
From Fur Trapper to Irrigator
As the fur trade declined in the mid-nineteenth century, many trappers moved on. Janis did not. Having traveled the region extensively, he understood the terrain and the seasonal rhythms of the river. Rather than remain part of a mobile trade economy, he chose permanence.
In 1861, Janis dug one of the earliest irrigation ditches in Colorado, diverting water from the Cache la Poudre to his lands near Laporte. That early diversion would later evolve into what became known as the Jackson Ditch. This act marked a turning point not only for Janis but for the valley itself.
These early diversions preceded the formal codification of Colorado’s prior appropriation doctrine — “first in time, first in right” — yet they laid the practical groundwork for it. The Poudre Valley would become one of the most intensively appropriated river systems in the state, shaped by the belief that water, if carefully managed, could anchor permanent community.
From Diversion to Measurement: A Lasting Legacy
The original point of diversion associated with Janis’s early ditch would later become significant in another chapter of Colorado water history. In the early twentieth century, engineer Ralph Parshall established a research station at that location to develop improved methods for measuring irrigation flows. His work led to the invention of the Parshall Flume, a standardized device for accurately measuring open-channel flow.
The Parshall Flume remains in use throughout the American West and around the world today. Its development reflects the next evolution in the valley’s relationship with water: not merely diverting it but measuring and managing it with precision. From buried gunpowder to early ditches to engineered measurement devices, the Cache la Poudre has continually shaped innovation.
A Physical Link to the Present
Today, one of the most tangible reminders of Janis remains standing in downtown Fort Collins. His original 1858 cabin has been preserved in Heritage Courtyard at Library Park. It is among the oldest surviving European-built structures in northern Colorado.
Visitors can stand beside its rough-hewn logs and consider the arc of history it represents: a young man riding with fur trappers along a newly named river; a settler carving one of Colorado’s earliest irrigation ditches; an engineer developing tools to measure and refine the use of that water; and a valley transforming from frontier corridor to agricultural center.
Why Janis Matters
The name “Cache la Poudre” preserves a moment of urgency—men burying powder along a riverbank to protect their future. The 1861 ditch preserves something equally powerful: the belief that water could sustain that future. The Parshall Flume preserves the commitment to measure and steward that water responsibly.
Janis was present at the river’s naming and at its early agricultural shaping. His legacy extends beyond settlement into the ongoing refinement of water management that continues today. The Cache la Poudre carried trappers who hid their powder from the snow. It carried settlers who diverted its waters to grow crops. It continues to carry a community committed to shaping its future with knowledge and care.
The Poudre River Forum brings together people with different perspectives but a shared commitment to a healthy, working river. The history traced here reflects a long tradition of adaptation, measurement, and stewardship that continues to shape how the Poudre is managed today. Moore Engineering and Lytle Water Solutions share in that legacy through decades of work supporting surface water management, water rights, modeling, and environmental permitting across Colorado’s river systems.
About the Author
Donald E. Frick is a Senior Professional Engineer with Moore Engineering, Inc., where he focuses on water rights engineering. He previously served as General Manager for the Jackson Ditch Company, the Water Supply and Storage Company, and the Tunnel Water Company. Prior to his work in water management, he spent fifteen years practicing water law at Fischer, Brown, Bartlett & Gunn, P.C., working extensively on water rights, augmentation plans, and water court matters across Colorado.
