In 1902, the 3.5 mile (5.6 km) Berthoud Pass Ditch began diverting water from the headwaters of the Fraser River over the continental divide into the basin of Clear Creek. Initially, this water was used for irrigation, but the cities of Northglenn and Golden purchased the ditch in the mid-1980s. The ditch has a capacity of 53.4 cubic feet per second (1.51m3/s),