| OCR Text |
Show 22 WAR FOR THE COLORADO RIVER Health Service, and in complying, the sincere men of medicine revealed, unintentionally on their part, that never before was it planned to spend so much money be- longing to the American taxpayers for the benefit of so few persons. "The upper Colorado drainage basin is sparsely popu- lated," said the doctors. "The average density is 2.6 persons per square mile, compared with the national average of 44.2 persons per square mile. Grand Junc- tion, Colo.; Rock Springs, Wyo.; Durango, Colo.; Price, Utah; Montrose, Colo.; and Delta, Colo., are the six largest towns in the upper drainage basin, but their combined 1950 population is only 47,600. "Public health services in the Upper Colorado River drainage basin and the state and local health units are not adequately staffed in most cases to cope with local public health problems. The large construction pro- gram that will be required during the development state will be located in rural and isolated areas." 20 And, warned the Health Service, watch out for an increase in mosquitoes. It was on January 30, 1951, four days after Secretary Chapman had given his final approval to the crsp plan, that Assistant Commissioner of Reclamation Wesley R. Nelson sent off two copies to each of the seven states of the Colorado River Basin. Under federal law, the states would have until May 1 to submit their respective views and criticisms of the project. However, in April both the Upper Colorado River Commission and the state of California asked for an extension of time, and Chapman set a new deadline on June 15th.21 |
