Beneath Blue Mesa: The Gunnison River Valley Before the Reservoir

by David M Primus

In the late 1950s, the United States Bureau of Reclamation was authorized to construct the Curecanti Project, consisting of three dams on the Gunnison River. The largest, Blue Mesa Reservoir, was created by the construction of a 390-foot dam at the start of the Black Canyon, inundating 23 miles of the Gunnison River Valley in the 1960s.

This is the story of the loss of three towns (Iola, Cebolla, and Sapinero), sixteen fishing resorts, and fifteen ranches along the scenic Gunnison River west of Gunnison, Colorado. Local historian David M. Primus has spent over twenty years researching what was once beneath Blue Mesa Reservoir. He has interviewed dozens of people who grew up in the valley and have generously shared their photographs and stories. It is to the many people who were displaced by the reservoir this book is dedicated.

The book includes over 200 photographs and many stories of life in the valley before the reservoir. It can be used as a tour, allowing the reader to stop at various points and imagine what was there before.


About the
Growing up on the Front Range of Colorado in the 1960s, David’s family spent summer weekends west of Denver. Walking along the Colorado Central railroad grade between Georgetown and Silver Plume, his grandfather pointed out the large rock abutments of the long-gone high bridge on the Georgetown Loop. Thus began a fascination for “what was there before.”

David moved to the Gunnison, Colorado to attend Western State College (now Western Colorado University) in 1978. After graduating and beginning a career in technology, his avocation was focused on researching the history of the Gunnison Country. He has presented historical slide shows, conducted tours, and helped produce a GIS (Geographic Information System) database and map of historic sites in the Gunnison Country.

Based on his grandfather's stories of growing up in Steamboat Springs in the early 1900s, David researched and wrote the book, Steamboat Memories of a Young Colorado Pioneer . He was a member of a team contracted to research, write, and publish the book Medicine in the The Remarkable Storied History of Health Care in Lake City for the LCMC Endowment Fund, Inc.

David has served as a long-time member of the Gunnison Historic Preservation Commission and as a board member of the Denver, South Park, and Pacific Railroad Historical Society.

203 pages, Paperback

Published October 18, 2022

Reviews

[Brittany Cogan]

I grew up in a town not far from Blue Mesa. I had always known about the towns under the reservoir but never gave them much thought. In 2018 when the water levels dropped enough to see Iola and it was my first gimps at what was hiding, but to be honest I still didn’t grasp just how much had been covered. Fast forward to early this year when I came across Go As a River by Shelly Read. I fell in love with the book and my interest in what lay under Blue Mesa was sparked! I started looking into it and reading newspaper articles, Facebook threads, and anything else I could find. Not long into my search I found a Facebook thread with old photos of Iola and Beneath Blue Mesa was mentioned in the comments. This book has so many ranches, resorts, and other sites included that I hadn’t seen anywhere else. I really enjoyed all the first hand accounts of what life in the valley was like and could have happily read another 100 pages. There are so many incredible photos included that make understand the locations much easier. You’re able to compare current land marks with those in the photos and piece together what the valley used to be. It’s is absolutely mind blowing to me just how much was lost because of the damn. Thinking about the Gunnison River valley now, I can’t even begin to fathom the all the emotions these people must have felt. To lose something you and your family worked so hard to build all for the “greater good”… After seeing everything that was lost can we really say it was worth it?

[Sheri]

I absolutely loved this book! The pictures are a wonderful addition. My husband grew up in Gunnison, so it was fun to read the names of people he knows and learn about the why and how of the creation of Blue Mesa Reservoir. I read this book to accompany a fiction book I had read that was set during the time before the destroying of the small towns to create the reservoir. Go as a River by Shelley Read is that book. Another fabulous read!

[Anna Shaw]

I find this whole historical event to be absolutely fascinating. I decided to read this book after falling in love with Shelley Read's Go as a River last year, she cited this book as vital to her research for the historical fiction novel. I just can't believe that they flooded three towns and such a lively area for the Blue Mesa Reservoir, and now with so much drought the past two decades, it almost doesn't seem worth it. The before and after pictures, then drought pictures show the area as totally desiccated. It's sad! But I'm so glad that I've visited this area and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, too, so that I feel more familiar with and can picture everything exactly. It's nuts. Want to visit again now that I've read up on the area, but I do feel a sense of guilt in enjoying the recreation of the area.