The Waterwheel, in

Eagle County, Colorado Eagle County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 55,731. The county seat is the Eagle, Colorado, Town of Eagle and the most populous community is Edwards, Colora ...

, is a historic device to lift water from the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...

to a height where it may be distributed for irrigation. It was built in 1922. It is located southeast of McCoy, Colorado at the Colorado River. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1977, at a time when it was in deteriorated condition. It has since been rehabilitated by the Colorado Water Restoration Foundation, Ltd. It stands high and is about wide. It was built of

jackpine Jack pine (''Pinus banksiana'') is an eastern North American pine. Its native range in Canada is east of the Rocky Mountains from the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories to Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, and the north-central and n ...

logs crafted by hand tools. It lifted water in 35 buckets around its perimeter, which emptied into a wooden trough that flowed into an irrigation ditch. It could be raised out of the water in winter to avoid damage from ice, and lowered to appropriate level to capture the river's flow. It is significant as the last surviving water wheel out of many once in use on the Colorado River. It was built by Earl Brooks, a rancher, and Franklin Dixon and Jim Jones, without any formal design being available or produced. With

References

Water wheels National Register of Historic Places in Eagle County, Colorado Buildings and structures completed in 1922 {{Colorado-NRHP-stub

See also

References