Water Resources

Pathfinder #3: Resources for water research

Scope    back to top

This pathfinder is designed to guide patrons of Delaney and Reed Libraries at Fort Lewis College in beginning their research of resources on water in the Southwest. The listed collections are held in the archives at Delaney Library and are available for use in the library only. The compiled list includes collections of various primary source materials, such as manuscripts, maps, oral histories, and microfilm.

While other collections at the Center of Southwest Studies may also contain documents that are useful, the following are likely to be the richest source for information about water issues pertaining to the Four Corners region. The arrangement of this list is alphabetical by collection title.

Key Terms    back to top

Key Library of Congress Subject Headings
Groundwater--Government policy--Southwestern States.
Municipal water supply--Southwestern States.
Water rights--Southwestern States.
Water--Southwest, New--History.
Water-supply--Government policy--Southwest, New.

Keyword Search Terms
aquifer
Animas-La Plata project
Colorado River
drainage
San Juan River
surface water

Archival Collections (listed alphabetically by title)    back to top

M 092	Animas-La Plata collection inventory: Records retained from several sources regarding this federal water development project near Durango, Colorado. The collection strengths are printed materials by both proponents and opponents of the project (especially the latter); eleven folders of public responses to environmental impact study reports; newspaper clippings; and materials documenting the project's legislation. At the end of this collection are several folders of materials pertaining to a related federal project, the Dolores River Project.
M 022	Colorado River Basin Pilot Project records: Weather records, including temperature and precipitation data compiled by Western Scientific Services, Inc. (Fort Collins, CO), 1969-1975. 5 boxes.
M 091	Colorado Water Conservation Board publications: Reports, publicity, and other records and publications, 1950-1969. 2 document cases and 1 records box.
I 011	H.H., Carracas, Animas, and Ignacio Mesa Ditch companies: Includes microfilmed records of irrigation disputes of the H.H., Carracas, Animas, and Ignacio Mesa Ditch companies, circa 1905-1911. Located at the end of roll 4.
C 004	Hayden Survey maps: (Colorado and adjacent territory, mid-1870s). Two series of maps: the first (four sheets) each covering the whole State of Colorado; the second (twelve sheets) presenting the results of the field work of 1873-76, covering the entire State of Colorado and adjacent portions of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.
M 032	Jim Dyer collection inventory: Records retained from Jim Dyer's personal and political life, including the Colorado state legislature. See the inventory’s index for records pertaining to water.
M 201	Montezuma Valley Water Supply Company (CO) records inventory: The Company's bills and receipts, cancelled checks, financial documents, legal evidence, payrolls, stock certificates, and vouchers, from 1886-1889 (bulk 1887-1888). In 2 document cases.
M 103 and I 052	Pine River Irrigation District (La Plata County, CO) records: Records relating to the construction and operation of Vallecito Reservoir (Bayfield, CO) and related irrigation in La Plata County and vicinity. Includes annual reports, operations reports and statistics. In 10 document cases and 3 rolls of microfilm.
M 154	San Luis Valley water resources collection: Printed materials, 1988-1991, compiled and produced by a student researcher (Laura J. Rohland) regarding American Water Development, Inc. and the use of San Luis Valley water resources. 1/2 a document case.
M 119	Snow survey and irrigation water forecast records: Four files, each from 1940-1949, of forecasts for the Colorado River Drainage, Gila and Salt River Drainages in Arizona, Rio Grande Drainage, and Missouri-Arkansas Drainage.
I 095	Southwest water resources records on microfiche: Includes reports on Sediment discharge in the Colorado River near De Beque, Colorado, by David L. Butler, 1986 (1 fiche); Adequacy of NASQAN data to describe areal and temporal variability of water quality of the San Juan River drainage basin upstream from Shiprock, New Mexico, by Carole L. Goetz, 1987 (2 fiche).
C 007	Southwest U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) maps collection: More than 2,500 United States Geological Survey topographic maps of the Southwest, especially of the Four Corners states, for the period from 1889 through the 1990s (bulk 1947-1987).
M 161	Southwestern Water Conservation District records: Minutes, correspondence, reports, newspaper clippings, maps and other publications, legal documents and records pertaining to water issues in the Four Corners region. Topics include Rainbow Bridge National Monument and the Animas-La Plata project, bulk 1930-1980. In 8 records boxes and 2 document cases.
I 054	State water resources reports on microfilm: Arizona State Water Commissioner's annual reports #s 1-11 for 1921-1940 (1 roll) and New Mexico Engineering Department's biennial reports #s 1-14 of surface water supply of New Mexico, 1913-1932 (2 rolls).
U 002	Vallecito Dam Oral History Project Oral history interviews: 10 interviews.
M 020	Western Slope water projects reports: 1980s. In one box.

Books at Delaney Library (listed alphabetically by author) back to top

• Barilleaux, Ryan J. The politics of southwestern water. El Paso: Texas Western Press, 1984.

• Colorado Water Workshop (16th : 1991: Western State College of Colorado) Proceedings: Colorado Water Workshop, July 21-23, 1991: From the dome to the ditches : translating environmental legislation into practice / presented by Western State College of Colorado. Fort Collins, CO: Colorado Water Resources Research Institute, Colorado State University, [1991].

• Colorado Water Workshop (17th : 1992 : Gunnison, CO) Proceedings Colorado Water Workshop [electronic resource]: July 22-24, 1992: showdown on the Colorado River / presented by Western State College of Colorado; edited by Jennifer Roberts. Fort Collins, CO: Colorado Water Resources Research Institute, Colorado State University, [1993?]

• Espeland, Wendy Nelson. The struggle for water: politics, rationality, and identity in the American Southwest. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.

• Folk-Williams, John A. Western water flows to the cities: a sourcebook / by John A. Folk-Williams, Susan C. Fry, and Lucy Hilgendorf; editorial assistance, Anna M. Deardorff. Santa Fe, N.M.: Western Network, 1985.

• Meyer, Michael C. Water in the Hispanic Southwest: a social and legal history, 1550-1850. Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona Press, 1984.

• Smith, Zachary A. Groundwater policy in the Southwest. El Paso: Texas Western Press, University of Texas at El Paso, 1985.

• Smith, Zachary A., editor. Water and the future of the Southwest. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, c1989.

More Resources back to top

• Water Resources Archive at Colorado State University, in coordination with the Colorado Water Resources Research Institute.

• Colorado State Archives: online indexes of water rights adjudication records, etc.

• Nevada State Library and Archives: Colorado River Commission records, inclusive dates: 1920-1992. 5 cubic ft. These files appertain to many of the activities of the Colorado River Commission of Nevada (CRCN), from its inception as an informal body created by Governor Emmet D. Boyle. The records include incoming and outgoing correspondence, minutes of CRCN meetings, maps, proceedings and minutes of interstate and regional organizations, tentative and final forms of the Colorado River Compact of 1922, state and federal legislation, proposed legislation, memoranda, reports, contracts, leases, legal documents, statements of estimated generation charges, work programs, notices of meetings, finance files, and land files.

• Wyoming State Archives: Colorado River Commission records, 1880-1989 (bulk 1920-1960). 9.5 cubic ft. Note: forms part of the Wyoming State Engineer records. Includes correspondence (1920-1949), commission policy statements, minutes of meetings and conferences (1898-1949), project records (1922-1989), Colorado River Compact drafts (1922-1923), legislative records (1880-1954), reports and data on the Green River Basin (1922-1930), reports (1902-1987), litigation (1897-1960), records on hearings (1909-1938), and various records related to the activities of the Committee of Fourteen and Sixteen (1937-1988). Topics include Boulder Canyon and other projects, water utilization, the Mexican Water Treaty, the League of the Southwest, irrigation, water appropriation law, water supply, development, protests, salinity, and various committees.