Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Gunnison Tunnel

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
NRHP Reference #
  
79000616

Added to NRHP
  
22 July 1979

Area
  
151 ha

Nearest city
  
Montrose

Gunnison Tunnel East Portal amp the Gunnison Tunnel Curecanti National Recreation

Location
  

The gunnison tunnel 100 years


The Gunnison Tunnel is a 5.8 mile (9.3 km) irrigation tunnel constructed between 1905 and 1909 by the Bureau of Reclamation. At the time of its completion, it was the longest irrigation tunnel in the world. The tunnel diverts water from the Gunnison River in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison to the arid Uncompahgre Valley around Montrose, Colorado.

Contents

Gunnison Tunnel Portfolio Walter Lubken

The idea for a tunnel is credited to Frank Lauzon, a miner and prospector. By the early 1890s he was farming in Montrose. Popular lore is that idea came to him in a dream that the waters of the Gunnison River should be brought to the valley.

Gunnison Tunnel Gunnison Tunnel Photographs from archive of Bureau of Recl Flickr

As construction was undertaken, two advances in technology made work safer and easier. Jackhammers fed by a compressor replaced hand-turned drill bits to set holes for blasting charges. Dynamite replaced black powder for blasting. By 1906 shifts of workers up to 30 at a time worked in the tunnel.

Gunnison Tunnel Gunnison Tunnel greened valley fortunes The Denver Post

The tunnel opened in 1909 to much fanfare with a dedication ceremony attended by President William Howard Taft.

In 1972, the tunnel was designated a National Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

Gunnison Tunnel httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Montrose colorado gunnison tunnel project


Gunnison Tunnel FileUncompahgre Project Gunnison Tunnel Finished section of

Gunnison Tunnel Today Colorado State University Colorado39s Gunnison Tunnel

References

Gunnison Tunnel Wikipedia


Similar Topics