Union Reservoir will still be known as Calkins Lake at least on one official map of the area east of Longmont.
The Colorado Geographic Naming Advisory Board last week declined requests from the U.S. Board of Geographic Names and the city of Longmont to officially designate the body of water as Union Reservoir.
Union Reservoir is the name attached to most recent maps of the area, said Ken Huson, Longmont’s water resource manager. Nearly all local residents also refer to the lake at Union Reservoir, Huson told the Leader in October.
But the advisory board voted to recommend to Gov. Jared Polis that the United States Geological Survey name remains as Calkins Lake, Huson said via email. Polis will now have to make a recommendation to the federal government, which will make the final decision, Huson said.
The advisory board made its decision with little comment, Huson said. The Calkins family has also lobbied to keep the Calkins name on the USGS maps, he said.
Calkins Lake was the original name for Union Reservoir, established to honor the first city of Longmont engineer, Carlton Chase Calkins, Huson said. The lake was a small natural depression that collected water and served as a buffalo wallow, Huson told the Leader.
The LaSalle-based Union Ditch Company came to the Longmont area in 1902 to build a reservoir for additional water supply. The next year the company built a much larger reservoir and named it Union Reservoir, Huson said.
Union Reservoir, he said, is the official water right name for the reservoir with the state of Colorado. It is also on all local signage.
