By 1862, the bottomlands in Boulder were spoken for and settlers were homesteading higher ground. They were clamoring for water, because without it, their land was worthless. Groups of landowners cooperated to raise the capital and labor to build more ambitious ditches such as Anderson, Jones & Donnelly, Farmers, North Boulder Farmers, McGinn, Wellman, Green, South Boulder & Bear Creek and East Boulder Ditch.

Right: Boulder County News, January 1874; and an ad for Colorado Irrigation, courtesy of Greg Hobbs Collection.