In 1908, the Central Colorado Power Company began construction of Barker Dam to provide electricity to nearby mining communities and the city of Denver.

Mrs. Barker refused to sell the land to the utility but was eventually forced to do so through a process similar to the contemporary legal procedure of eminent domain.

The city operates the reservoir primarily for municipal water supply and secondarily to generate hydroelectric power.

[4] An aqueduct with an inlet just below the dam supplies water to Kossler Reservoir.

There is then a 1828 foot drop to a hydroelectric plant near the base of Boulder Canyon, several miles downstream.