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Show HUNGRY HORSE PREDICTION 49 "The Reclamation Bureau submitted reports on pro- jects before it knew the purpose of the projects, or the locations of the main structures, or had made sound estimates of construction costs." Cochran prepared this table: Const. Cost Subsidy by p subsidy by Fed Govi. ROJECT Fed.Govt. per 160-A farm Columbia Basin ........................ 93% $144,300 Missouri Basin ............................ 94% 75,200 Crsp (with first phase of Cent. Utah Proj.) ............ 92% 171,700 Crsp (with full Cent. Utah Proj.) ............................ 93% 312,400 These, said Cochran, were conservative figures. They impressed certain officials in the Truman administration enough to issue - at the "direction of the President" - Circular a-47. But such frightening information ob- viously made no impression at all on the chieftains of the Eisenhower administration. A-47 was virtually ignored when it came to approving Reclamation Bureau proposals, not only in the case of the crsp, but for the Frying Pan-Arkansas Project, and others. Now the thought behind Will's warning became clear. When the crsp was born, neither the Upper Basin sponsors nor the Reclamation Bureau could be certain of what tack the Budget Bureau would take. Money was collected in the Upper Basin at so-called "project rallies," and with it the Upper Colorado River Com- mission got out a multi-colored and expensive brochure purporting to explain how the project's costs would be repaid. The document was more remarkable for its omissions than for what it said. |