The Hawk Springs Reservoir: An Environmental History
1875-1999
Venice Beske
American Environmental History
December 7, 1999
On the high plains of Wyoming, water is and has historically been a limited resource.
Wyoming’s history, public policy and settlement reflect this fact. Water resources in the form of
springs and streams have always been placed under multiple demands. The Hawk Springs
Reservoir, a 1200 acre impoundment in southern Goshen County Wyoming, is such a resource. It
lies at the south end of Goshen Hole between Bear Mountain and 66 Mountain. Its principal
source of water is from springs within the reservoir and the diversion of Horse Creek. It is
operated by the Horse Creek Conservation District. Surrounded by marsh and a woodland
consisting primarily of cottonwoods and willow, the reservoir has many uses including irrigation,
a fishery, habitat for waterfowl, and recreation.
Hawk Springs Reservoir was originally a series of springs known locally as Hawk Springs.
Legend differs as to how it was named. One story is that there were large trees around the springs
that hawks used for nesting.1 Another is that “Black” Hawk owned a saloon by the springs.2
Whatever the origin, the name appears on maps as early as 1875. Interestingly, on Holt’s New
Map of Wyoming, printed in 1883 and “compiled with permission from official records of the
U.S. Land Office,” the name appears as “Indian Springs.”
1
Hunter, Kent. History of Hawk Springs. 1976. Manuscript 899. Wyoming State
Archives.
2
Sherard, Nelson. “LaGrange History.” Torrington Telegram, Platte Valley Section.
(August 29, 1946), p. 2.
2
One can only imagine how Hawk Springs looked to its first users. Early reports from the
region indicate that bison, antelope, elk, mule deer, mountain lion, grizzly and black bear, and
bighorn sheep were present. Flora included grasses, a diversity of shrubs, and a few trees.3 The
aquatic habitat is unknown as early observations of such areas are rare.
According to a number of sources, Hawk Springs was a stop on one of the routes between
Denver and the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Indian Agencies. In 1875, Captain W. S. Stanton
began a three year project to complete a reconnaissance of the principal routes in Eastern
Nebraska, Western Wyoming and Southwestern Dakota for the Corp of Engineers, Department
of the Platte. One of the routes surveyed was the “former freight-route for Indian supplies” from
Camp Robinson, Nebraska to Cheyenne, Wyoming. The survey party started from Camp
Robinson and after traveling 93.12 miles came to Hawk Springs. They reported that there was a
ranch at the spring, the water was excellent, the grass fair, and that there was no wood.4
3
Dorn, Robert D. The Wyoming Landscape, 1805-1878.(Cheyenne: Mountain West
Publishing, 1986), pp. 17-20.
4
United States. Secretary of War. Report of the Secretary of War. Appendix RR. Annual
Report of Capt. W.S. Stanton, Corps of Engineers, for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1878
Explorations and Surveys in the Department of the Platte. Congressional Serial Set 45-3,
Ex.Doc.1, Part 2. No. 1846. (Washington: GPO, 1878), p. 1723.
3
In 1886, cattle from Texas began to be trailed through Wyoming on their way to Montana.
One of the “Texas Trails” came through Pine Bluffs to Horse Creek near LaGrange and on to
Hawk Springs. J. Ealy Moore rode for the XIT ranch that maintained a “finishing range” in
Montana for their cattle. In a diary kept by him on one trip, he notes that on June 18, the outfit
“got to Hawk Springs on Horse Creek.”5 The last herd from Texas came through LaGrange in
June of 1897.6
By this time, settlement was taking place in the area around Hawk Springs. General Land
Office and Goshen County records show that patents were issued in the area beginning in 1886.
The first patents were issued under the Cash Entry Act of 1820; subsequent patents were issued
under the Homestead Act of 1862.7
The early settlers were primarily cattlemen who were homesteading with respect to stock
water, natural meadow, pasture, and sheltered localities. The cattlemen did not need land for
agricultural purposes so they primarily filed for homestead lands along the waterways. They also
allowed their cattle to range freely and herd together, separating them at round-up. Under the
Desert Lands Act of 1877, some irrigation was done, but only to irrigate land on which to grow
winter feed for cattle. On May 15, 1893, certificate of appropriation number 482, priority number
5
Bastian, Jean, editor. “The Texas Trail.” History of Laramie County Wyoming. (Dallas:
Curtis Media Corporation, 1987), p. 12.
6
Chamberlain, Earl. History of LaGrange, Wyoming. 1951. Manuscript 304. Wyoming
State Archives.
7
United States. Department of the Interior. Bureau of Land Management. General Land
Office Land Patents. Cheyenne, Wyoming and Goshen County Clerk. Record Group 1012.
Abstracts of Land. 1878-1963. Wyoming State Archives.
4
one, for the Hawk Springs tributary was issued by the Wyoming Board of Control to Wm.
Sturgis, Jr. He was appropriated 8.57 cubic feet per second for the purpose of irrigating 600
acres.8
The Carey Act was passed in 1894; it provided for reclamation of additional lands beyond
the streams and springs. In 1895, the Wyoming State Legislature accepted the conditions of the
Carey Act for the reclamation of the desert lands within the state and made the selection,
management and disposal of the lands the responsibility of the Board of Land Commissioners.
The State Engineers Office was required to furnish the necessary engineering information.
In August and September of 1901, George I. Adams, assistant geologist for the United States
Geological Survey, surveyed the geology and water resources of a portion of eastern Wyoming
and western Nebraska. The area covered in the survey, the Patrick and Goshen Hole
Quadrangles, included Hawk Springs. The resulting report was published in 1902 in the USGS
series, Water-Supply and Irrigation Papers. In it, Adams reviewed and discussed the general
character of the country, soil and rock formations, grazing industry, surface features, water
supply, irrigation enterprises, and settlement and occupancy of the area under the Homestead,
Desert Land and Carey Acts. Regarding Hawk Springs, he stated that it “is perhaps the largest socalled spring in the Goshen Hole country. “
At this locality the ground is seepy, and the water rises at a number of
places. It has been dammed in so as to form a small pond, and an irrigation
ditch has been constructed to carry the flow onto pasture lands. From
examination of the valley of Horse Creek, farther south, and a study of the
8
Wyoming. State Engineer of Wyoming. Water Records. Cheyenne.
5
wells adjacent to it, it appears that a considerable quantity of ground water
passes laterally from the creek into gravels and sands, and it is not improbably
that Hawk Springs is the point of issuance of this water, which follows a
natural channel now obscured by surficial material.9
In 1903, the Hawk Springs Development Company was formed and plans begun for
construction of a reservoir that would impound Hawk Springs and include water from Bear and
Horse Creeks. On May 25, 1908, Reservoir Permit Number 1307 was issued by the State
Engineer of Wyoming to the Hawk Springs Development Company for development of the
Hawk Springs Reservoir with a capacity of 15,718 acre-feet. Other permits issued in 1908
included one for the Hawk Springs Canal, the distributing canal from which 12,334 acres of
lands would be irrigated and one for the enlargement of the Lowe Cattle Company Ditch to
supply Horse Creek water to the Reservoir. During that summer, a survey was made by J.A.
Whiting, engineer for the State of Wyoming. A map was completed that showed the proposed
reservoir covering 1280 acres in sections 9, 10, 15, and 16 of T20N R61W.
On September 23, 1908, B.F. Yoder, president of the Hawk Springs Development Company
wrote a letter to the State Board of Land Commissioners requesting the “selection by the State of
Wyoming under the provisions of the Act of Congress, commonly known as the Carey Act,” of
land northwest of Hawk Springs for the purpose of irrigation and reclamation. The list of lands
was designated as Wyoming Desert Land Segregation List No. 54 and included lands in T21N
9
Adams, George I. Geology and Water Resources of the Patrick and Goshen Hole
Quadrangles in Eastern Wyoming and Western Nebraska. Water-Supply and Irrigation Papers of
the United States Geological Survey No. 70. (Washington: GPO, 1902), pp. 27-28.
6
R61W and T22N R61W. The request for the withdrawal of these lands was forwarded by the
State Board to the U.S. Land Office of the Department of Interior. Initially, it was rejected
because it was thought that the lands had already been withdrawn under the Bureau of
Reclamation Services Goshen Hole Canal Project. An appeal was made and on March 25, 1909,
Wyoming Segregation List Number 54, Serial No. 0850 under the Carey Act was approved. A
contract between the Secretary of Interior and the State of Wyoming for the project was signed
on June 8, 1909 for the segregation of 12,238.16 acres. 10 The Hawk Springs Development
Company was formally organized under the laws of the State of Wyoming on May 31, 1910.11
Another corporation, the Hawk Springs Water Users Association was also organized. A contract
between the State of Wyoming and Hawk Springs Development Company was completed June
21, 1910 and the Carey Act Project known as the Hawk Springs or Yoder project was begun.
The next few years were involved in getting financing, rights of way for the lands involved
in the reservoir and canals, and additional permits from the State Engineer for waters to supply
the reservoir. A permit, reservoir number 2568, was also requested for the enlargement of the
reservoir to 19,443 acre feet. Finally, an agreement was made with the Lincoln Land Company,
new owner of part of the lands within the reservoir site and appropriation no. 482.
Work on the construction of the reservoir began in 1914. By November, the main dam,
known as Dam No. 1 had been built to a height of 25-30 feet and the Hawk Springs Ditch
completed. By July, 1915, the dam had been completed to a height of 50 feet and water allowed
10
Wyoming. State Board of Land Commissioners. Record Group 0110. Carey Act
Projects, 1896-1940. Hawk Springs Project, Box 7 and 8. Wyoming State Archives.
11
Horse Creek Conservation District. Hawk Springs Development Company
“Prospectus.” (Hawk Springs, Wyoming: Office Records, n.d.), p. 1.
7
to enter the reservoir. A notice appeared in the Goshen County Journal for two weeks beginning
October 7, 1915 of “opening to settlement of lands lying under the Hawk Springs Development
Company’s Irrigation System in Goshen County, Wyoming.”12
12
Goshen County Journal. II (October 7,1915 No. 46). p. 1.
8
On February 18, 1919 in a letter to the U.S. Land Office, Wyoming Land Commissioner
Henry Lloyd stated that the Hawk Springs Reservoir had been completed to a capacity of 8000
acre-feet. The state had opened to settlement 5000 acres under the project and approximately
2000 acres were settled. At this point, because of changes in the project, certain lands under List
no. 54 were relinquished and other lands requested to be segregated under List no.102. 13
The project was largely colonized with settlers from west central Nebraska. The bulk of the
settlement took place between 1921 and 1923. At the end of 1923, the project was almost 80%
complete, but the Hawk Springs Development Company was broke. It went into receivership,
and under the direction of F.N. Pearson of the Lincoln Land Company, one of the water users, the
construction was completed to the point where it was accepted by the Department of the
Interior.14 The Carey Act lands were patented to the State of Wyoming in 1926 and then patented
to the settlers by the State.15
13
State Board of Land Commissioners. Record Group 0110.
14
Horse Creek Conservation District. History of the Hawk Springs Project now owned
and operated by the Horse Creek Conservation Dist., p. 2.
15
Wyoming. Commissioner of Public Lands and Farm Loans. Eleventh Biennial Report.
(Cheyenne: Wyoming Labor Journal Publishing Company, 1926), p. 14.
9
On December 18, 1926, to provide for financial stability and independent management of the
project, the settlers petitioned for the organization of the Horse Creek Conservation District. It
was created by a decree of the Goshen County District Court on March 11, 1927. The District
proceeded to take over and acquire from the Hawk Springs Water Users Association and from
the receiver, all of the physical assets of the project, including its permits, reservoirs, ditches and
structures. The Horse Creek Conservation District has managed the project since then. 16
The primary purpose for the construction of the reservoir was to provide irrigation waters.
However, because some of the land inundated belonged to the state and because the water level
never covered the entire area, the public has had an opportunity for recreation activities on the
reservoir almost since its beginning. In 1936, Frank Cook, Game and Fish Department Fish
Warden, reported that 20,000 catfish were rescued from the Hawk Springs Reservoir by seining
and were placed in Lower Horse Creek.17 Game and Fish Department regulations existed for
Hawk Springs Reservoir in 1940. In 1941, Yellow perch (Perca flavescens) and black bullhead
(Ameiurus melas) were stocked in the reservoir; this stocking continued through the 1940's.
During the 1950's, brown trout (Salmo trutta), rainbow trout (Oncohynchus mykiss), white
sucker (Catostomus commersoni), largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), and walleye
(Stizostedion vitreum) were also introduced.18 Of these species, only the black bullhead and white
16
Horse Creek Conservation District. History of the Hawk Springs Project now owned
and operated by the Horse Creek Conservation Dist., pp. 2-3.
17
Wyoming. Game and Fish Department. “Catfish Were Planted,”Wyoming Wild Life
Magazine, 2 (October, 1937).
18
Snigg, M.A. Hawk Springs Reservoir fishermen use and harvest. Wyoming Game and
Fish Department, Fish Division Administrative Report. (Cheyenne: Wyoming Game and Fish
Department, 1991), pp. 18-19.
10
sucker are native to Wyoming.
In 1979, a Corps of Engineers inspection found several structural concerns with the
principal dam. The Horse Creek Conservation District and Wyoming Water Development
Commission began a water development program project evaluation in 1982.19 In 1983, the
district made a request to the Wyoming State Legislature for a $7,000,000 loan to rehabilitate the
Hawk Springs dam and water delivery system. In response, the Wyoming Legislature enacted
W.S. 41-2--216-218. Conditions of the bill were 1) that public access be guaranteed in perpetuity
to the Hawk Springs Reservoir proper and to all adjacent lands owned by the district or the state
for purposes of hunting, fishing and general recreation; 2) that monies be appropriated to Game
and Fish to construct public facilities; and 3) that a conservation pool of 261 surface acres be
established. In 1984, the original dam and outlet works were replaced. Prior to refilling, the
reservoir was chemically treated with rotenone to eliminate the fishes present. It was restocked
with walleye (Stizostedion vitreum), white crappie (Pomoxis annularis), largemouth bass
(Micropterus salmoides) and channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) in 1985. Later, that stocking
was supplemented with the game fish, smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieui) and the forage
fish, spottail shiner (Notropis hudsonius), yellow perch (Perca flavescens) and gizzard shad
(Dorosoma cepedianum). 20
19
Kaiser and Company. Wyoming Water Development Program Project Evaluations.
Prepared for Wyoming Water Development Commission. (Kaiser and Company, 1982), pp. 5-8.
20
Snigg, M.A. Hawk Springs Reservoir fishermen use and harvest. Wyoming Game and
Fish Department, Fish Division Administrative Report. (Cheyenne: Wyoming Game and Fish
Department, 1991), p. 1.
11
By the summer of 1985, a boat ramp, loop access road and a camping area had been
constructed and the pressure for recreational use of the reservoir increased substantially. In 1987,
the reservoir became part of the Wyoming State Parks and Historic Sites as the Hawk Springs
Recreation Area.21
Presently, as described briefly in the opening paragraph, demands upon the Hawk Springs
Reservoir are multiple. Approximately, 98 irrigators obtain water from the delivery system to
irrigate 10,180 acres.22 Crops raised include hay, sugar beets, beans, and corn. A fishery is
maintained. The Game and Fish Department Hawk Springs Basin Management Plan23 and the
Warmwater Basin Management Plan24 have as objectives to maintain the walleye fishery and
supplement it with a shore fishery of black crappie. This requires the annual stocking of walleye
and crappie plus gizzard shad for forage. Between 1990-1997, visitors to the Hawk Springs
Recreation Area increased 298%. Some of the kinds of recreation (jet-skiing, water skiing, and
boating) are in conflict with the fishery; this has resulted in a decrease in fishing pressure.25
21
Wyoming. State Parks and Cultural Resources. Personal Communication, 1999.
22
PMPC and Lidstone & Anderson, Inc. Final report, Horse Creek Conservation
District Improvement Project Level II. Prepared for Wyoming Water Development Commission.
(Saratoga, WY: PMPC, 1998), p.1-1.
23
Snigg, M.A. Hawk Springs Reservoir fishermen use and harvest. Wyoming Game and
Fish Department, Fish Division Administrative Report. (Cheyenne: Wyoming Game and Fish
Department, 1991), p. 14-15.
24
Miller, D. Warm water fisheries basin management plan. Wyoming Game and Fish
Department, Fish Division. (Cheyenne: Wyoming Game and Fish Department, 1996), p. .
25
Meyer, Curt. Hawk Springs Reservoir Sportfishery Evaluation. Wyoming Game and
Fish Department Fish Division Administrative Report. (Cheyenne: Wyoming Game and Fish
Department, 1998), p. 4.
12
The area is on the route of a Wyoming “Wildlife Viewing Tour.” A large population of
geese, ducks and other waterfowl use the area. A rookery exists that is used by cormorants, great
blue herons, egrets and night herons. Sandhill cranes often stop by the reservoir in the spring and
fall and bald eagles winter there.
Cabins are being built along the northern shore of the reservoir and they pose a potential
conflict for reservoir expansion. Demands exist from outside the area. In 1996, the Wyoming
Water Development Commission funded a study for a central water supply for the community of
Hawk Springs. One of the proposed alternatives was to develop a deep alluvial well field
consisting of 3 wells near Hawk Springs Reservoir. 26
The reservoir has come a long way since it was first used as a watering hole. Because it is a
short distance to Cheyenne and the front range, its use will continue to grow and conflicts will
undoubtedly increase.
26
BRS Inc. Hawk Springs Water Supply Project, Executive Summary. Prepared for
Wyoming Water Development Commission. ( Broomfield, CO: BRS Inc., 1996), p. 1.
13
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16