Seniority, absolute versus conditional water, and decreed uses for all 407 water rights on record in Gilpin County, taken from the state's own records. Priority dates run from 1859-12-31 to 2019-12-30.
CFS on record: 209.8 absolute · 45.3 conditional. Flow (CFS) and volume (AF) are never added together.
Worth knowing: Gilpin County has about 1.6x more acre-feet decreed as conditional than as absolute. Conditional water is decreed on paper but not yet put to beneficial use. A buyer or lender who does not separate the two is valuing a different asset than the one on the ground.
In a dry year the oldest rights are served first. This is how Gilpin County's rights are distributed.
| Era | Rights | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pre-1900 | 31 | 7.6% | |
| 1900-1949 | 113 | 27.8% | |
| 1950-1969 | 94 | 23.1% | |
| 1970-1999 | 134 | 32.9% | |
| 2000+ | 35 | 8.6% |
| Decreed use | Rights |
|---|---|
| Domestic | 241 |
| Stock | 108 |
| Irrigation | 102 |
| Municipal | 95 |
| Recreation | 56 |
| Fishery | 53 |
Ranked by the state's own priority administration number, the figure DWR uses to order rights by seniority.
| Priority | Structure | Source | Amount | Uses | Verify |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1859-12-31 | MEAD & POLAR STAR DITCH | NORTH CLEAR CREEK | 69.2 CFS | Industrial, Other | state record |
| 1860-04-01 | JENNY CREEK PIPELINE | JENNY CREEK | 0.5607 CFS | Irrigation, Municipal, Commercial, Industrial, Recreation, Fishery, Domestic, Stock, Augmentation, Snow making, Wildlife | state record |
| 1860-04-01 | JENNY CREEK PIPELINE | JENNY CREEK | 23.413 AF | Irrigation, Municipal, Commercial, Industrial, Recreation, Fishery, Domestic, Stock, Augmentation, Snow making, Wildlife | state record |
| 1860-12-31 | FULLERTON DITCH | NORTH CLEAR CREEK | 38.0 CFS | Industrial, Other | state record |
| 1862-09-15 | JENNY CREEK PIPELINE | JENNY CREEK | 87.9 AF | Irrigation, Commercial, Industrial, Recreation, Fishery, Domestic, Stock, Augmentation, Snow making, Wildlife | state record |
| 1862-09-15 | JENNY CREEK PIPELINE | JENNY CREEK | 0.66 CFS | Irrigation, Commercial, Industrial, Recreation, Fishery, Domestic, Stock, Augmentation, Snow making, Wildlife | state record |
| 1876-12-31 | PECKS GULCH DIVERSION | PECK GULCH | 0.101 CFS | Municipal, Domestic | state record |
| 1876-12-31 | TASCHER RANCH LINE PL | EUREKA GULCH | 0.023 CFS | Municipal, Fire, Domestic, Other | state record |
| 1876-12-31 | TOIMBY RANCH FEEDER D | NEW YORK GULCH | 0.047 CFS | Municipal, Fire, Domestic, Other | state record |
| 1895-05-01 | SANDIFER WELL 3 | GROUNDWATER: CLEAR CREEK | 0.004 CFS | Domestic, Stock | state record |
This page is the summary. The full file for Gilpin County covers every one of the 407 rights, with its priority date, seniority number, absolute and conditional amounts, decreed uses and a link to each official record, as a spreadsheet.
Buying, lending on, or listing irrigated ground here? Ask for the county file, or for a single property's water summary. The first one is on me.
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Records last updated 10 September 2026.