John Martin Reservoir
| John Martin Reservoir | |
|---|---|
View of the reservoir looking west from John Martin Dam (2014)
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| Location | Bent County, Colorado |
| Coordinates | 38°04′23″N 103°01′41″W / 38.07306°N 103.02806°WCoordinates: 38°04′23″N 103°01′41″W / 38.07306°N 103.02806°W |
| Type | Reservoir |
| Primary inflows | Arkansas River |
| Primary outflows | Arkansas River |
| Catchment area | 18,915 sq mi (48,990 km2) |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Managing agency | U.S. Army Corps of Engineers |
| Built | 1939 |
| First flooded | January 1943 |
| Surface area | 11,658 acres (47.18 km2) |
| Average depth | 5–10 ft (1.5–3.0 m) |
| Max. depth | 60 ft (18 m) |
| Water volume |
Full: 340,771 acre·ft (420,335,000 m3) Current (Dec. 2015): 224,000 acre·ft (276,000,000 m3) |
| Shore length1 | 22 mi (35 km) |
| Surface elevation |
Full: 3,852 ft (1,174 m) Current (Dec. 2015): 3,840 ft (1,170 m) |
| Settlements | Caddoa, Hasty, Las Animas |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
John Martin Reservoir is a reservoir on the Arkansas River in southeastern Colorado. Built and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it is used for flood control, irrigation, and recreation.John Martin Reservoir State Park lies on its shore.
In the 1930s, U.S. Representative from Colorado John Martin successfully advocated for legislation in the U.S. Congress approving the building of a reservoir on the Arkansas River for the purposes of flood control. Signed into law in 1939 by President Roosevelt, the legislation assigned the task of construction to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The effort required the U.S. government to buy more than 20,000 acres (81 km2) of land and relocate 21 miles (34 km) of Santa Fe Railway track.
Construction of Caddoa Dam and Reservoir started in the fall of 1939. Rep. Martin died that year, and, in June 1940, both the dam and reservoir were renamed in his honor. Storage of water in the reservoir began in January 1943. The diversion of resources to fighting World War II caused delays in the project until 1946. The dam was finally completed in October 1948.
In December 1948, the state governments of Colorado and Kansas signed the Arkansas River Compact, an agreement governing the two states' access to the river's water, including John Martin Reservoir. In 1980, the states developed a plan allocating 60% of the reservoir's water to Colorado and 40% to Kansas. Adherence to the Compact has been a recurrent source of controversy between the two states, serving as a primary factor in the decades-long water conflict litigation Kansas v. Colorado.
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