Description:
A black metal plaque 12 1/2″ w x 10″ h located on the southeast end ofthe bridge spanning 14th Avenue at 13th Street in Greeley. The plaque was dedicated October 22, 1990. Faces west.
How to get there:
From northbound Business US-85 in Greeley, which is 8th Avenue turn left (west) at 13th Street for 6 blocks to 14th Avenue. The bridge is on the left.
#3 DITCH MARKER
WATER ENTERED THIS #3 DITCH, 9 MILES LONG,
JUNE 10, 1870. MARCH 13, 1875 UNION COLONY DEEDED
TO THE TOWN OF GREELEY WATER SUPPLIED BY DITCH #3
FOR THE SUM OF $488.00.
IN 1882 THIS DITCH WAS DEEDED TO THE GREELEY
IRRIGATION COMPANY FOR THE SUM OF $1.00.
IRRIGATION MADE FARMING A SCIENTIFIC INSTEAD OF
AN UNCERTAIN PURSUIT
MARKED OCTOBER 22,1990
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
CENTENNIAL STATE CHAPTER
History:
In 1869, Union Colony was organized in New York City with Nathan C. Meeker, agricultural editor of the New York Thbune, as president, General Robert A. Cameron as vice president, and Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Thbune, as treasurer. Meeker was to be massacred at the White River Agency in western Colorado in 1879. Early in 1870 Meeker, Cameron, W.C. Fisk and H.T. West went to Colorado and selected an area near Evans, then the terminus of the Denver Pacific Railway. They bought about 11,917 acres of land, 9,324 from the railroad, the balance from private individuals. Individual members were persuaded to file on an additional 60,000 acres of public land. In May of 1870, the first 50 families of the 500 members of the colony arrived. That same year, the colony constructed Ditch #3, running from the Cache la Poudre River to the South Platte River, a distance of about nine miles. It was to supply water to the houses of Greeley and 5,000 acres of local farmland. It is considered to have played a significant part in the growth of Greeley. Immediately thereafter, another ditch, #2, was constructed on the north side of the Cache la Poudre to irrigate 50,000 acres of outlying farmland. Ditch #3, now known as Union Colony #3 Canal, runs from the Cache la Poudre at 71st Avenue on the west to Fern Avenue near the Greeley-Weld County Airport on the east. It is presently owned by the Greeley Irrigation Company. It is still in use.
