| Bijou Creek[1] | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • coordinates | 39°51′25″N104°07′10″W / 39.85694°N 104.11944°W /39.85694; -104.11944 |
| Mouth | |
• location | Confluence withSouth Platte |
• coordinates | 40°17′07″N103°51′40″W / 40.28528°N 103.86111°W /40.28528; -103.86111 |
• elevation | 4,291 ft (1,308 m) |
| Basin size | 1,395 sq mi (3,610 km2) |
| Basin features | |
| Progression | South Platte—Platte— Missouri—Mississippi |
Bijou Creek is a 45.5-mile-long (73.2 km)[2] tributary of theSouth Platte River inColorado. The creek flows northeast from elevated terrain in southeasternAdams County to aconfluence with the South Platte nearFort Morgan. Bijou Creek is subject toflash floods from time to time.[3]
Bijou Creek, originally named Bijeau Creek, was named forJoseph Bijeau, a guide onStephen Harriman Long'sexpedition of the Great Plains in 1820.[4][5]
The alluvium that irrigators in the lower Bijou Basin drew water from since 1935 when the first wells were dug is deposited in a shallow channel eroded inPierre Shale which is flanked on its sides by theFox Hills Formation.[6] The ground water in the alluvium, for the most part, originates in the flow of Bijou Creek. The area where irrigation occurred, as of 1961, was about 84 square miles, or 53,750 acres.[6] It was estimated, in a CSU study, that about 1 million acre-feet of ground water was present in the alluvium as of 1948. At a depletion rate of 70,000 acre-feet per year, the supply was forecast to eventually be exhausted by irrigators.[6] 173 operating irrigation wells were serving some 15,500 acres of crop lands in 1956.[6]
GEOLOGICALSURVEYWATER-SUPPLYPAPER1850-B
Bulletin 512-S Agricultural Experiment Station, Colorado State University, Fort Collins
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| National | |
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