Records of the Rocky Mountain Hydrologic Research Center

Chesley J. Posey founded the Rocky Mountain Hydraulic Laboratory (RMHL) in 1945 in Allenspark, Colorado. He discovered the location during a summer he lived in Estes Park. The Articles of Incorporation stated the purpose of the laboratory: "To establish and maintain facilities for the conduct of scientific experiments in hydraulics and related fields, to foster the carrying out of such experiments, and to inform the engineering profession of the results of the investigations undertaken." The laboratory served as a summer residence for students and professionals interested in water experiments.

Posey received his bachelor's degree in 1926 from the University of Kansas and his master of science from the University of Illinois at Champagne-Urbana in 1927. He started teaching at the University of Iowa in 1929 and was head of the Department of Civil Engineering from 1949 to 1962. He taught in the University of Connecticut's engineering department from 1962 until his retirement. He died in 1991 in Iowa.

In 1985 the USGS took the responsibility of RMHL. Due to the laboratory's inactivity for a few years, a disagreement of the laboratory's goals, and the need to pass on Posey's responsibilities, the Trustees decided to ask the United States Geological Survey (USGS) of the Department of the Interior to take over the operation of RMHL.

In 1991 the laboratory's name changed to the Rocky Mountain Hydrologic Research Center to reflect "the organization's capability of conducting a broad range of hydrologic and environmental science investigations in headwater areas of the Rocky Mountains."

Information on the history of the Rocky Mountain Hydraulic Laboratory was taken from Research in the Rockies: An Historical Retrospect of the Rocky Mountain Laboratory and the Rocky Mountain Hydrologic Research Center by the Colorado Water Resources Research Institute, research and writing by Jill Marsh, located in this collection.