Vasquez and Gumlick Tunnel Intersection, Colorado

The meeting point of the Vasquez and Gumlick water tunnels, part of Denver’s water supply, is contained in a small maintenance facility operated by Denver Water, on the easterm side of the Continental Divide. The three-mile long Gumlick Tunnel passes under the Divide invisibly, two thousand feet below the crest of Jones Pass, which tops out at 12,454 feet. The tunnel, seven feet in diameter, and with a flat bottom, brings water from a collection system that captures water from the Williams Fork River basin, on the west side of the Divide. The Gumlick was originally built as the Jones Pass Tunnel in 1940, and drained here, directly into Clear Creek. In 1958, when the Vasquez Tunnel was finished, the tunnels were connected at the creek. The western slope water now flows back to the western slope through the 3.5-mile long Vasquez Tunnel, which passes invisibly under the Divide near Vasquez Peak, then drains into Vasquez Creek, which is captured by another tunnel system, which shifts the water into the Moffat Water Tunnel, where it crosses the Divide for the third and last time, eastward, to supply water for Denver.