The artifact is a sheet of letterhead stationery illustration a dam at Wagon Wheel Gap, near Creede, in the San Luis Valley. The sponsoring agency is the San Luis Valley Water Conservancy District, headquartered in Alamosa, Colorado.
The fact that the dam was never built relates to Colorado history in that many projects were either delayed or never begun, due to the demands on resources posed by World War II. The management of water, its storage and basin transfer, continue to be important to the state and will continue to do so. The letterhead stationery is one such piece of the water picture.
Water development in the Valley has always been an important issue. Being a high mountain desert, the Valley receives only seven inches of rain in an average year. Irrigation is crucial to farming and ranching, and these industries have been the mainstay of life here. Water storage and development continue to be crucial issues, and the Wagon wheel Gap Dam was an effort to increase storage and hence irrigation water.
Monte Vista Historical Society
110 Jefferson St
Monte Vista, CO 81144
United States