{gallery}03_05_09/irrigation{/gallery}Shoshone Irrigation District Manager Bryant Startin inspects one of the tunnels up for repairs at the Buck Springs undershot, southeast of Powell. The culvert runs 80 feet below the Garland Canal and is in dire need of repairs. Mending will occur the winter of 2010-11. Roads will have to be cut on each side of the canal into the gully to access the repair sites, Startin said. Tribune photo by Gib MathersWith some of its structures more than 100 years old, the Shoshone Irrigation District has a fair number of facilities needing repair. Perhaps topping the list is the Corbett Dam and Tunnel. The dam intake area, sluice gates, dam concrete work and repair of about one mile of the 3-mile Corbett Tunnel floor are included in a list of maintenance projects the district plans to complete.

Although those projects have not received a price tag yet, Shoshone Irrigation District Manager Bryant Startin said the repairs should be made within the next five years.

Those and other projects are possible thanks to studies funded by the Wyoming Water Development Commission, which also will pay for portions of the repairs.

The Buck Springs undershot, shooting beneath the Garland Canal west of Powell also needs attention and will get repairs the winter of 2010-11. That job will cost $123,000, with the commission paying $81,139 for the undershot and the district picking up the remaining $41,861. That will entail tearing out and replacing 40 feet of two matching entrances and their headwalls below each side of the Garland Canal. The culverts are 300 feet long.

Another Buck Springs repair job is replacing about 300 feet of concrete lining on the Garland Canal above the overshot for $123,000. The commission will pitch in $49,638, leaving the district to pay $73,362.

In a gully, about 80 feet below the Garland Canal, Buck Springs makes lazy loops through grass and brush, gliding through two 5-foot wide matching culverts. Like dull marbles embedded in chalky sand, the eroded concrete greets the creek.

The water eases over the stony concave floor of the culvert. An icicle resembling a sickly white saguaro cactus clings to the floor as though taking its fill of nutrients from the brackish waters.

Wading, bent at the waist, with 80 feet of earth overhead is eerie. A few cobwebs, like wispy entangled silk, hang from the rough ceiling that looks like packed gypsum and bleached stones.

The undershot, about 13 miles west of Powell and a few miles west of Road 18, needs to be fixed.

The original tunnel was constructed in 1907, Startin said.

“It's something that is out there, and nobody thinks about it,” Startin said. “But if it collapsed, it could be a major event.”

If the undershot falls, Startin said he is not sure if the Garland Canal would slump, but he believes the upstream draw would fill like a small lake, possibly undermining the canal.

The Wyoming Water Development Commission covers 67 percent of the costs of projects by refunding the price of materials and bankrolling initial studies or estimates. Once the job is underway, the district pays engineering and labor costs, Startin said.

The district's share is derived from revenue generated by the district's power plant north of Ralston, Startin said.

In a 1989-90 commission study, $50 million worth of repairs were identified within the Shoshone Irrigation Project.

That includes the Shoshone, Heart Mountain, Willwood and Deaver irrigation districts.

This winter, about 4 miles of pipe is being laid near Lane 11 and Lane 11H east of Powell, with a price tag of $450,000. The commission's share is $337,000.

During the winter of 2007-08, three miles of pipeline were laid north and east of Powell on Lanes 6, 7 and 8 for $450,000. The commission paid $325,000 on that project.

During the winter of 2006-07, a flume was constructed across Eagles Nest Creek west of Ralston for $189,000.

The commission pitched in $90,000 and the district, the remaining $99,000.