Lee's Ferry and Lonely Dell Ranch - Irrigation

Irrigation

Lee started construction of the first earthen dam on the Paria River in January 1872 and by March irrigated his first crop. By April this first dam washed out. Lee soon replaced the dam reinforced with a large base log packed with brush, rocks, and dirt. The dam was subsequently washed out and rebuilt many times over the coming years. In 1883, in order to bring water to an upper field, Warren Johnson constructed a dam on a second site higher up the Paria. By 1900, the dams were replaced with new ones made of logs and sandbags. In 1905, Irving Pierce constructed a tunnel-and-flume delivery system to replace the ditches bringing water from the upper dam to the fields. By the time Leo Weaver bought the ranch in 1935, several more dams had been washed out. Weaver's attempt to replace the dams also failed. Gus and Warren Griffin made improvements upon the system, including a stone lined ditch. Most of what exists today is related to the Griffin improvements In 1965, the consortium that owned the ranch created two holding ponds for irrigation water against the west wall of Paria canyon. In 1977, the National Park Service pumped water from the Colorado River instead of the Paria. The Park Service constructed a new holding tank near the south end of the site, at the same time removing remains of the flume system and valve platform for a trail. This system remains in use as of 1999.