Rueter–Hess Reservoir

Colorado

A rancher sold her land on one condition: the reservoir had to carry both her married name and her maiden name.

engineeringhistorical

The reservoir southwest of Parker carries two family names, and both of them belong to the same woman. When the Parker Water and Sanitation District needed the land in Newlin Gulch, it had to buy out several long time ranching families. One of them was Rosie Hess, born Rosie Rueter. She agreed to sell, with a condition. The reservoir would be named after her married name and her maiden name both. So it is the Rueter-Hess Reservoir. Ground broke in two thousand four on a project meant to hold seventeen thousand acre feet of water, finished by late two thousand seven, for a bit over a hundred and twenty million dollars. Then, with construction nearly done, other water districts asked to join. The plan swelled to more than seventy thousand acre feet. It was finally finished in twenty twelve, at around a hundred and seventy million dollars, and that figure leaves out the land.

This is the first of 2 parts. The rest runs about 2 minutes and is read to you as you drive past. Hear the whole piece.

What this was written from
One of her conditions of sale was the naming of the reservoir after both her married and maiden names.

Written from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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