contingent upon the upper basin's delivering to the lower basin not less than 75 million acre-feet of water in any period of 10 consecutive years and delivering additional water for use in Mexico under certain circumstances. The dividing point between the two basins is at Lee Ferry, near the northern border of Arizona. Water allocated to the upper basin was further apportioned to the individual States of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming by the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact of 1948.

This compact also created the Upper Colorado River Commission, consisting of representatives of the Federal Government and each contracting State except Arizona.

The flow of the Colorado River is extremely erratic, ranging from 4 to 22 million acre-feet annually at Lee Ferry. There is a tendency for the high years or the low years to be grouped, thus accentuating problems of river regulation and use. In prolonged dry periods, there is not enough water to permit the upper basin to increase its use of water under the 1922 compact and, at the same time, make the required deliveries to the lower basin. In wetter periods, however, flows are more than sufficient for these purposes. Large storage reservoirs, that can be filled when flows are high and that can provide additional water when needed for compact fulfillment, are required. Favorable sites for such reservoirs are found in the deep canyons of the Colorado River and its principal tributaries in the upper basin. A plan for the Colorado River Storage project, including a series of dams and reservoirs to provide storage capacity in combination with power development and other services, was presented in a Bureau of Reclamation report in 1950, which was subsequently printed as House Document No. 364, 83d Congress, 2d session. The report was formulated in cooperation with other Federal agencies and with the Upper Colorado River Commission. An initial group of participating projects that would develop water for irrigation and other purposes in the upper basin and that would be linked financially with the storage project was also described in the 1950 report. Following several years of congressional deliberation, the project was authorized in 1956.

(c) Authorization. --Construction of 4 storage units of the Colorado River Storage project and 11 participating projects was authorized by the act of April 11, 1956 (Public Law 485, 84th Cong., 70 Stat. 105). Additional projects have been added since the original legislation was adopted. Authorized developments are:

Glen Canyon unit on the Colorado River in Arizona and Utah,

Flaming Gorge unit on the Green River in Utah and Wyoming,

Navajo unit on the San Juan River in New Mexico and Colorado, and

Curecanti unit, consisting of three dams on the Gunnison River in Colorado.

Participating projects originally authorized are:

Central Utah (initial phase), Utah,

Emery County, Utah,

Florida, Colorado,

Hammond, New Mexico,

La Barge, Wyoming, 1/

Lyman, Wyoming and Utah,

Paonia, Colorado (works additional to existing project),
Pine River extension, Colorado and New Mexico, 1/

Seedskadee, Wyoming,

Silt, Colorado, and

Smith Fork, Colorado.

The Eden project in Wyoming, by terms of its authorizing act of June 28, 1949, became financially related to the Colorado River Storage project as a participating project. In 1962, their authorizing legislation named the following two as participating projects:

San Juan-Chama, Colorado and New Mexico, and Navajo Indian Irrigation (being constructed for the Bureau of Indian Affairs by the Bureau of Reclamation).

And in 1964, the following three projects were also named:

Bostwick Park, Colorado,

Fruitland Mesa, Colorado, and

Savery-Pot Hook, Colorado and Wyoming.

(d) Benefits. -- The Upper Colorado River Basin has a scarcely tapped potential of agricultural, industrial, and recreational assets. It contains tremendous quantities of uranium, coal, and other minerals. Realization of the potential in economic growth and contribution to the national welfare is dependent on maximum utilization of limited water supplies. The Colorado River Storage project and participating projects conserve the very limited precipitation which falls principally in the form of snow in the high mountains and utilize it for municipal, industrial, and agricultural growth. Project development provides municipal and industrial water supplies, flood control, extensive recreation, and fish and wildlife preservation.

3. Industrial Development of Upper Drainage Basin. Agriculture, particularly livestock raising, and mining are the principal industries of the upper drainage basin. Oil refining, lumbering, transportation, trade, recreation, and construction are of lesser but growing importance.

Industrial development of minerals and exploration for new minerals have been retarded by the remoteness of large portions of the drainage basin from industrial and transportation centers. The basin, however, provides many raw materials for important industrial areas centered at Denver, Pueblo, Provo, and Salt Lake City.

Large coalfields in the upper drainage basin are being extensively worked. Oil and gas are produced in the San Juan River Basin, the Uinta Basin, and in northwestern Colorado. Several producing fields have been developed, and widespread exploration is continuing. Pilot plants are being operated to determine the best methods of extracting oil from shale. These plants portend an important industry for the future.

The largest industrial centers of the Intermountain West are located in Colorado and Utah, immediately east and west of the Upper Colorado River Drainage Basin. The 1/Later found to be infeasible and deleted from the plan.

greater part of these industrial areas is by compact definition a part of the upper basin and therefore may utilize water from the Upper Colorado River system. In both of these adjacent areas fertile agricultural lands support a diversified agriculture with livestock raising predominating. Agriculture in turn supports various manufacturing extablishments engaged in the processing of food and kindred products. Both areas have important meatpacking and beet sugar refining plants. Other industries closely related to agriculture, such as milling and baking and the processing of dairy products, eggs, poultry, fruits, and vegetables, are prominent. The mining, milling, and refining of metals and the manufacture of steel are basic industries in both Colorado and Utah. Oil refineries in each State are sustained in large measure by crude oil from the Upper Colorado River drainage basin. A great variety of products is manufactured for world trade. During World War II the industrial areas in both Colorado and Utah were developed on a broad scale for the manufacture, repair, processing, and storage of military supplies and equipment.

4. Upper Drainage Basin Climate. A wide range of climate in various parts of the upper drainage basin is caused by differences in altitude and latitude and to a lesser extent by topographic features. Extremes of temperatures range from 52° F. below zero at Kendall, Wyo., to 109° F. above zero at Shiprock, N. Mex. The northern portion of the drainage basin is characterized by short, warm summers and long, cold winters. In the southern portion summers are longer and winters are moderate at low altitudes but colder temperatures prevail in the mountains. A peculiar climatic condition exists in parts of western Colorado where topographic features create an air drainage in localized sections along the foothills. This condition mitigates frost damage and favors the growing of such fruits as peaches, pears, apricots, cherries, and berries.

Precipitation increases with altitude, being heaviest in the high eastern and northern portions of the basin. Most precipitation falls in the form of winter snows and spring rains. The higher mountain peaks are snow-capped most of the year.

Weather records for representative stations in the upper drainage basin are summarized in the following table.

5. Preliminary Investigations for Flaming Gorge Unit. Preliminary investigations were first performed in this area in 1904 when studies were made into the possibility of providing flood control storage in the Upper Colorado River Basin to prevent flood damage which was then occurring in the Lower Colorado River Basin below what is now Hoover Dam. This investigation was continued in more detail in 1914 when the reservoir area and several dam sites in Horseshoe Canyon were explored by means of drilling. An incidental purpose of the development would have been the production of electric energy. However, nothing came of the investigations and they were discontinued at that time.

In 1923 and 1924 a public utility operating in Utah investigated the possibility of providing a power development in the Flaming Gorge area from which power would have been transmitted to the Salt Lake City area, some 140 miles distant. The company concluded that the project was entirely feasible and that its construction would present no serious engineering difficulties. However, for reasons which are not apparent, the company discontinued its investigations and abandoned any plans it may have had to construct a power development on the Green River. Nothing much was done in this area until about 1946

when the Bureau of Reclamation resumed investigations in this section of the Upper Ipper Colorado River Basin.

Three items included in the 1922 Colorado River Compact (mentioned briefly in subsection 2(b)), were to have a significant effect on the future planning and construction of the Flaming Gorge unit. The first was the apportionment in perpetuity of 7-1/2 million acre-feet of water annually for beneficial use in the upper basin. The second was the requirement that the upper basin not cause the flow at Lee Ferry, which is the dividing line between the upper and lower basins, to be depleted below 75 million acre-feet in any progressive continuing 10-year period following ratification of the compact. Third was the requirement that the upper basin deliver at Lee Ferry, water to supply one-half of any deficiency in water deliveries to Mexico which the United States at some future date might recognize. In 1945 the United States signed a treaty which included an agreement to deliver between 1.5 and 1.7 million acre-feet of water to Mexico annually.

An inspection of the recorded Green River runoff revealed that sufficient water in the river was available to expand upper basin uses, which were nearly 2 million acre-feet in 1948, to the full 7-1/2 million acre-feet apportioned by the 1922 compact. It was equally apparent, however, that in so doing, the outflow at Lee Ferry during subnormal streamflow periods would be reduced to less than that required to be delivered to the lower basin by the compact. Operation studies using the 1914-45 streamflow period revealed that about 23 million acre-feet of active reservoir capacity would be needed simultaneously with full upper basin development to meet the obligations to the lower basin and Mexico during a subnormal runoff period similar to that which occurred between 1931 and 1940. To this was added 20 million acre-feet of storage capacity to protect the active storage capacity against 200 years of sediment accumulation, and about 5 million acre-feet to maintain minimum power pools.

A reservoir in the Flaming Gorge area about 5 miles below the present site was initially selected to provide about 4 million acre-feet of the required 48-million acre-foot total (later reduced to 34 million acre-feet). Flaming Gorge would have as its main purpose the delivery of water to the lower basin in periods of subnormal runoff. Power production was not a prime purpose of this project and its inclusion was dictated by the requirements for the repayment of project costs. However, since power was to become a major, though incidental, purpose of this project, the release of water for irrigation had to be compatible with the production of dependable energy.

6. Selection of Site for Flaming Gorge Unit. As a preliminary step in beginning the planning investigations of this section of the Green River, all of the basic data that was available was gathered. Such things as maps, hydrologic and climatological records, geologic foundation, materials, and power market area reports were assembled to assist in conducting the final type investigation which would lead to the selection of a specific site, a specific height, and a specific powerplant capacity for this unit.

Two geographical limitations were immediately apparent which would govern the scale of development in this section of the river. One was the Dinosaur National Monument below Flaming Gorge through which the river passed and which it was decided should not be included in the plan selection studies. The other limit was the town of Green River, Wyo., a town of about 3, 000 people, which straddled the river about 91 miles upstream from Flaming Gorge.

The stretch of the river between these two geographical limits, which was now under consideration, dropped about 700 feet in 120 miles. Only about 200 feet of this total occurred in the uppermost 70 miles which lay mostly in the State of Wyoming. The slope of this section was about one-third the slope of the remaining 50 miles in Utah.

The topography of the section of the river in Wyoming is very different from that which lies in Utah. In Wyoming, the river is entrenched in the relatively flat and rolling but deeply eroded topography. As the river enters Utah, however, it runs into the northeast flank of the Uinta Mountain Range. From here on, down through and including the Dinosaur National Monument, the river is deeply entrenched in very spectacular narrow canyons which provide a multitude of different possible damsites.