While irrigators built more and larger reservoirs, they still depended on the Poudre River to fill them. A dry year on the Poudre meant reservoirs and ditches ran low, and locals searched for new water sources. The Poudre’s headwaters lie relatively close to those of other river basins. Investors saw potential; with high-elevation ditch-digging directing, snowmelt into the Poudre River.
The best-known trans-mountain diversion is the Grand River Ditch, which started in 1890 and was completed in 1936. While irrigators built more and larger reservoirs, they still depended on the Poudre River to fill their lakes.
