Barker Reservoir is a water supply reservoir in the Colorado Front Range located near the town of

Nederland, Colorado Nederland (, ) is a statutory town located near Barker Meadow Reservoir in the foothills of southwest Boulder County, Colorado, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census it had a population of 1,445. History Nederland was established ...

in southwestern

Boulder County Boulder County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado of the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 330,758. The most populous municipality in the county and the county seat is Boulder. Boulder County comprises t ...

Barker Dam provides water to a downstream hydroelectric power generating facility, and its reservoir provides water to the city of

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...

. In 1908, the Central Colorado Power Company began construction of Barker Dam to provide electricity to nearby mining communities and the city of Denver. Completed in 1910, the dam and Barker Reservoir were named for the owner of the land, Mrs. Hannah Connell Barker. Mrs. Barker refused to sell the land to the utility but was eventually forced to do so through a process similar to the contemporary legal procedure of eminent domain. The dam was constructed by hauling concrete and other materials along a specially constructed spur of the

Switzerland Trail The Switzerland Trail is the site of a historic narrow gauge railroad line that was operated at different times by the Greeley, Salt Lake and Pacific Railway, the Colorado and Northwestern Railroad, and the Denver, Boulder, and Western Rail ...

narrow-gauge

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

, which went bankrupt and was broken up in 1919. In 2001 the city of Boulder purchased the reservoir, dam, and associated facilities. The city operates the reservoir primarily for municipal water supply and secondarily to generate hydroelectric power. An aqueduct with an inlet just below the dam supplies water to Kossler Reservoir. There is then a 1828 foot drop to a hydroelectric plant near the base of Boulder Canyon, several miles downstream.

References

{{authority control Protected areas of Boulder County, Colorado Reservoirs in Colorado Bodies of water of Boulder County, Colorado