Johnson, Harvey G.

As a farmer in the early 1900s in Fort Collins, Colorado, Harvey G. Johnson learned the value of water. Born on his family's homestead near St. Francis, Kansas, in 1895, Johnson moved to Fort Collins with his family in 1903. His formal schooling ended at grade six when he left school to run his father's farm. Growing up on a farm northwest of Fort Collins, Johnson became well aware of the growing water problems in the town. After running various farms in Fort Collins and owning his own, Johnson retired from farming in 1944.

Beginning in 1936, Johnson became a board member of the Water Supply and Storage Company. He would eventually work simultaneously for various water companies, including serving as president of the Tunnel Water Company, which operated the Laramie Poudre Tunnel; president of the Sherwood Ditch Company, which distributed water from Arthur's Ditch; and a member of the Board of Directors at the Jackson Ditch Company. Also during this time, Johnson served as state secretary for the Farm Bureau and as an agriculture appraiser for the Federal Land Bank. During World War II, he managed immigrant and prisoner-of-war labor on beet farms throughout northern Colorado. In 1944, Johnson entered the farm equipment business with his son, Gordon, selling Allis Chalmers farm equipment.

...