Four prehistoric reservoirs at Mesa Verde National Park were constructed and used between AD 750 and AD 1180. They are: Morefield Reservoir (in Morefield Canyon), Far View Reservoir (on Chapin Mesa), Sagebrush Reservoir (on an unnamed mesa), and Box Elder Reservoir (in Prater Canyon). These four ancient reservoirs represent extraordinary engineering achievements by the Ancestral Puebloan people. In an arid environment with very little surface water, these prehistoric people found ways to route and capture runoff to create sustainable domestic water supply reservoirs.
Morefield and Box Elder Reservoirs were valley-bottom structures that captured intermittent stream channel flows. They originated as excavated ponds on the valley floor and both became elevated after the siltation and resultant dredging of years of use. Far View (shown above) and Sagebrush Reservoirs are mesa-top features that captured harvested water. Deforestation and the packing of surrounding ground surface by foot traffic resulted in increased runoff water.