The Warren E. Wurtz Ditch (aka Wurts Ditch) directs water from Bennett Creek and Mitchell Creek (tributaries of the Eagle River) across the Continental Divide into West Tennessee Creek for delivery into the Arkansas River. It’s annual flow involves about 2,070 acre-feet, making the Wurtz Ditch the 13th highest carrier of trans-basin diversions in Colorado. Transmountain Diversions (TMDs) are water transfers across the Continental Divide from the state’s wetter Western Slope to the drier, more populated Front Range communities. Roughly 80% of Colorado’s precipitation occurs in western portions of the state, while 80% of the population resides along the base of the Front Range. Water carried by the ditch was decreed on October 3, 1936, with an appropriation date of June 8, 1929. The City of Pueblo owns the appropriation.
The cache container is a large-sized medicine pill vial that has been wrapped with camo tape. It’s hidden in a crack in a rock, covered by smaller rocks and some sticks. It is placed well above the northern side of the Wurtz Ditch, a short distance into the Atlantic side of the Continental Divide. Have fun in accessing it.