Ditch riders part of a ?dying breed?

BOULDER — During irrigation season, roughly April to September, Boyd Sheets is out at Boulder Creek getting his hands and feet wet every morning by 6 a.m. Sheets is a ditch rider, and he’s up with the birds to adjust the head gates of three of Boulder’s ditches ? Farmers Ditch, North Boulder Farmers Ditch, and Boulder and Left Hand Ditch.

A head gate is a mechanical ?on-off switch? that allows water from the creek to flow into the ditch. The head gate setting determines how much water goes into the ditch.

Around 7:20 a.m. Sheets is on the radio with District…