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Ignacio reservoir and Animas River Valley. La Plata County, Colorado. 1908.

U.S. Geological Survey · 1908 · U.S. Geological Survey

A long reservoir lies in a broad timbered valley seen from a clifftop, with cleared fields along the far shore and low ranges fading into haze beyond.
From the archive · U.S. Geological Survey · 1908 Ignacio reservoir and Animas River Valley. La Plata County, Colorado. 1908. U.S. Geological Survey

U.S. Geological Survey, USGS Library Photographic Collection U.S. government work; public domain. Archive record ↗ · Rights

Source Archival record · verify at U.S. Geological Survey ↗

Storage in the Animas valley from the top of the Hermosa cliffs, 1908. The interest is the pattern: the water at the valley floor, the cleared ground arranged around it, and everything above it left alone.

Shows: Early irrigation storage in south-west Colorado, and the farmland it was built to serve.

What this does not let you conclude: The reservoir's capacity or its rights, then or now. The album caption places the camera on top of the Hermosa cliffs south of the gap of Elbert Creek, looking south-easterly.

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The archive’s record did not answer our check on 2026-10-12 (refused automated check, HTTP 403). Our copy above is unaffected; the credit stands. A person will look.

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