February 2026, Issue #69
Celebrating anniversaries
This year you may frequently encounter two uncommon words: sesquicentennial and semiquincentennial. They, respectively, refer to periods of 150 and 250 years and in 2026 recognize anniversaries of Colorado’s statehood and the Declaration of Independence. Uniquely in the country, Colorado is the only state with these dual celebrations.
Adding to the uniqueness, the Archives and Special Collections department at the CSU Libraries celebrates its fiftieth year, and this July the Water Resources Archive reaches its 25th anniversary. While we could learn to pronounce the word quadranscentennial, let’s instead focus on learning from the important historical documentation gathered and made available over the past quarter century.
Furthering the anniversary theme, our partner, the Colorado Water Center, will be celebrating its sixty years of water-related education and research with a special evening. Following an open reception, our two organizations will jointly host Water Tables, a distinctive fundraising dinner. Read on for more details, as well as a puzzler that recognizes 145 years of state water administration.
– Patty Rettig, archivist, Water Resources Archive
Register now: Water Tables 2026!
Water Tables, our distinctive fundraising dinner, will be held March 26, at the Lory Student Center on CSU’s Fort Collins campus. We are very excited to partner with the Colorado Water Center to hold this unique event and celebrate their sixtieth anniversary!
We have more than 20 table hosts ready to facilitate fascinating conversations with attendees. These distinguished guests range from state water leaders to CSU water experts along with a few western water luminaries from beyond Colorado. Joining us will be many familiar names among the water community as well as emerging leaders, so the networking opportunities will be outstanding. Attendees have their choice of table host upon registering. We expect seats to go quickly, so register now for Water Tables 2026!
Proceeds support both the Colorado Water Center and the Water Resources Archive. We look forward to sharing a wonderful evening celebrating water history, education, research, and outreach!
Sesquicentennial documents
Celebrating Colorado’s 150 years got us digging through our documents. Not surprisingly, the Water Resources Archive has very few documents dating back to 1876 or before. Our oldest ditch company minute book is that of the Section No. 3 Ditch Company, incorporated in Weld County in March 1870. The handwritten minutes start in that year and cover company business and decisions up to 1910, when the company was renamed the Godfrey Ditch Company and a new volume was begun.
More personally, we have an 1876 diary written by Leroy Carpenter, an early settler in the Union Colony and Delph Carpenter’s father. Leroy kept diaries beginning in 1862 at age 19 up to his death in 1927, creating a remarkable record of an ordinary American during a notable period in history. Being a farmer, the most frequent subject he recorded was the daily weather. On July 4, 1876 (excerpt pictured above), he noted that “a little breeze prevented its being very hot” and that he went with his wife Martha and others to “the exercises at Lincoln Park,” meaning the holiday celebration in Greeley.
These are just two of the fascinating documents connecting us back to the momentous year of 1876. Search our digitized documents to explore further.
Water puzzler
Colorado’s 1876 constitution is the foundational document for water rights in the state. It took another five years to establish the office and duties of a state engineer, officially operative June 3, 1881. The legislation passed in March of that year also established the first three water divisions: South Platte, Arkansas, and Rio Grande. The law aimed “for the better regulation of the distribution of water for irrigation … in times of scarcity” and specified making flow measurements “commencing with those streams most used for irrigation.” Starting in the most agriculturally active areas made sense. The first state engineer, Eugene K. Stimson, wrote in his 1882 biennial report of hiring an assistant and “the work of gauging” beginning June 20. Stimson and his assistant, J. S. Greene, each established a gauging station on different South Platte tributaries. Which two streams saw the start of state flow measurements 145 years ago? (Hint: Photo above shows a man making measurements in 1903 on one of the two.)
- Cache la Poudre River
- Big Thompson River
- Boulder Creek
- Cherry Creek
Can’t attend Water Tables?
We know not everyone can make it to Fort Collins for a Thursday evening event in March. If you’d like to participate in Water Tables from afar by contributing funds to the Water Resources Archive, simply go to our online giving page and select Water Resources Archive from the dropdown menu. If you’d like to buy a seat for someone else (such as a student), please contact Patty Rettig (Patricia.Rettig@colostate.edu). We’ll miss your presence, but appreciate your present!
Water wisdom
a) Cache la Poudre River and b) Big Thompson River
This electronic newsletter provides updates about the Water Resources Archive. To be added to this distribution list, please email Patty Rettig (Patricia.Rettig@colostate.edu) with your name and a request to subscribe.
This newsletter is created by Patty Rettig
Designed by Demi Connelley
All images courtesy of CSU Libraries Archives & Special Collections