| Lodgepole Creek[1] | |
|---|---|
Lodgepole Creek north of Kimball, Nebraska |
|
| Mouth | Confluence with South Platte River |
| Progression | South Platte—Platte—Missouri—Mississippi |
| Length | 278 mi (447 km) |
| Mouth elevation | 3,517 ft (1,072 m) |
Lodgepole Creek is a tributary of the South Platte River, approximately 278 miles (447 km) long,[2] in the U.S. states of Wyoming, Nebraska and Colorado. Lodgepole Creek drains a basin in the interior of a low plateau which lies between the South Platte Basin and the North Platte Basin in the southeastern corner of Wyoming, the southern edge of the Nebraska Panhandle and several small portions of northeastern Colorado. As its name implies, Lodgepole Creek is a very small stream; for nearly all of its length it flows through the semiarid High Plains. The Lodgepole Creek Valley has been a major transportation route for over 100 years; the line of the original transcontinental railroad, the Lincoln Highway/U.S. Highway 30 and Interstate 80 all run along the stream for much of its length.
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Lodgepole Creek rises on the east slope of the Laramie Mountains of southeastern Wyoming, about 10 miles (16 km) east of Laramie, Wyoming. The creek flows east, north of Cheyenne; it enters Nebraska just east of Pine Bluffs, Wyoming. In Nebraska, it flows to the east past Kimball, Sidney and Chappell; at Chappell, Lodgepole Creek turns to the southeast and flows into Colorado. The stream, by this point flowing south, empties into the South Platte River at Ovid, 3 miles (5 km) south of the Nebraska/Colorado border.
The first irrigation in western Nebraska was in the Lodgepole valley, and was practiced by the soldiers under the command of General Dudley of Fort Sidney in 1871. A dam was built across the creek and the waters thus impounded were used to irrigate the tracts of land allotted to the companies. Rivalry existed between the companies is growing the best gardens. Let it be known to the credit of this early tillage that the soldiers raised nice gardens, but the grasshoppers discouraged their efforts. The first produce was intended to supply two hundred and fifty enlisted men and their officers and finally ended in the addition of several hundred dollars worth of produce being sold in town. When the fort was abandoned in 1894, trees two or three feet in diameter were flourishing. After the valley was settled more densely, ditches were constructed until irrigation was practiced extensively along the borders of the entire creek. The dams averaged from three to ten feet in height and seventy-five to one hundred feet in length, and were located from a half to three-quarters of a mile apart along the course of the stream. The discharge of Lodgepole Creek is small in comparison with many other streams thus utilized in Nebraska. This is explained by the fact that the stream is fed from numerous springs along its entire course and also by the fact of the valley being from one to three miles in width. The irrigation of such land thus being very close proximity to the stream that water reappears promptly, after being spread over the bordering land. It has been observed frequently that when all the flow was being diverted at one point the stream a half mile further down would flow again the same as if no water had been diverted above.[3]