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We're watchin' you, Gumlick

The longest-serving commissioner in Denver Water history had a true passion for water.
August P. Gumlick giving his best deer-in-headlights impression in a Cheesman Dam valve. He served a record 30 years on the Denver Board of Water Commissioners.

 

Former Denver Board of Water Commissioners President August P. Gumlick served from 1929 to 1959 — the longest anyone has ever served on the board to this day. He's shown here posing in a valve underneath Cheesman Reservoir in 1930.

From the beginning, Gumlick took an active interest in Denver Water, working full-time hours on water matters for the commissioner’s pay of $600 a year (which is what commissioners are still paid today).

His namesake tunnel (formerly called the Jones Pass Tunnel) carries water from the Williams Fork Diversion System under the Continental Divide to the Vasquez Tunnel, which then sends water to the Moffat Tunnel Collection System. Learn more about the history of the Northern Collection System.